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War
Tax Resister and Peacemaker
ioneering war tax resister Wally Nelson died May 23 in Massachusetts, where he had lived with his partner of 54 years, Juanita Nelson. He was 93. On June 2, about 500 people attended a memorial service for him. Below are Juanita’s bio of Wally, written for the memorial, a tribute by war tax resisters Ruth Benn and Ed Hedemann and two of Wally’s more illuminating observations. The hearts of all pacifists, including—of course—the staff and board of this organization are with Juanita now. Wally’s
Life Because Rev. Duncan Nelson wanted to farm but could not afford land, the family spent three years as sharecroppers. Wally learned that color meant nothing to the bosses. The white landlord gained control by pitting poor whites against poor Blacks while oppressing them all. The Black landlord treated his Black tenants the same, except that they could call him by his first name. The plantation experience spawned Wally’s conviction that there is only one race, the human race, and “human” is all he would offer on any query about “race.”
He and a brother left school in the seventh grade to spend seven years supporting the family due to their father’s ill health. When they returned to school in Batavia, OH, they initiated a successful struggle to include Black students in extracurricular activities. He lived in Chicago during the Depression, eking out a living shining shoes and scrubbing floors at the World’s Fair. Keeping the pledge he made in 1934 that he would “not support any country in war,” he registered as a conscientious objector while a student at Ohio Wesleyan University. After a year of alternative service at a Civilian Public Service camp, he walked out, realizing he should never have registered. That step led to 33 months in federal prisons, where he joined others in opposing segregation and other indignities before being released in 1946 following an 88-day hunger strike. He participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, now known as the first Freedom Ride. Sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a racially integrated group of 16 men traveled the upper South testing the Irene Morgan decision in which the Supreme Court banned segregation of interstate travel. (A 1995 video chronicling a re-enactment of that trip is called, “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow.”)
The next year, 1948, was a pivotal year. Wally began a lifelong relationship with Juanita, and they joined the newly launched organization Peacemakers, dedicated to the belief that “one person, living according to firmly held beliefs, can begin in a small but significant way to change the world.” They also began a lifelong practice of refusing to pay federal income taxes so as not to fund the killing and weapons they condemned. In 1950 they joined in community with fellow tax refusers Marion and Ernest Bromley. During that period, Wally became the first paid field worker for CORE and directed some of the organization’s summer workshops on nonviolent direct action in Washington, DC, which led to the desegregation of public places in the nation’s capital. For the rest of his life, Wally continued to practice direct action, which included a 21-day fast in 1968 in support of the United Farmworkers’ campaign for just wages and working conditions. To lessen their personal ties to the economy of greed, he and Juanita moved first to a village in New Mexico in 1970, and then to Woolman Hill in Deerfield, MA, in 1974, where they have grown most of their own food, selling some produce to meet their modest cash needs. Wally always emphasized consistency and commitment. Upon his release from prison at the end of World War II, he visited a former Sunday School teacher. The man was bewildered that Wally, who’d been an outstanding youth leader, had ended up in prison. “I hold you partly responsible, Mr. Dozier,” Wally replied. “You taught me the Bible passages, “Thou shalt not kill” and “Love thy neighbor.” Perhaps the problem is that I really believed what you taught me, and you didn’t.” —Juanita Nelson You
Don’t Gotta Wally’s influence reached far beyond the tiny organizations with which he worked. Ralph DiGia of the WRL staff attributes to Wally and the war tax resistance of the Peacemakers his decision to ask the WRL Executive Committee in 1956 not to withhold income taxes from his paycheck as a protest to military spending. That was a far more radical step than WRL had taken previously, and to this day the organization continues to support the war tax resisters on its staff by refusing IRS levies.
Wally was a principle organizer of and speaker for the Peacemakers’ two-week-long “Orientation Program in Nonviolence,” held once or twice a year in the 1960s and 1970s. After moving to western Massachusetts he and Juanita were among the founders of Pioneer Valley War Tax Resistance, and that community of war tax resisters has persistently pushed total noncooperation with military taxation. The simple lifestyle that Wally and Juanita have practiced over the years is a model for those who seek to withdraw from our consumerist society. Though Wally’s primary identity was not with the WRL, we are all part of the greater community of nonviolent activists who see each other at countless events, share experiences, argue and struggle to find the way through that labyrinth called nonviolence. Following World War II, WRL staff members Ralph DiGia, Jim Peck, Bayard Rustin, and Igal Roodenko had all shared remarkable experiences with Wally in prison or on such projects as the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, and those bonds brought Wally into the lives of many WRLers. He conducted workshops at the WRL Training Programs and conferences that were consistently considered among the best in each program. WRL’s relationship with Wally was built on friendships and love. It was easy to make friends with Wally just by standing on an April 15 vigil line at the IRS or chatting with him over a meal, and when you crossed paths with him over the years, there was always a hug and warm greeting. He was one of a kind, as the June 2 memorial service in Deerfield—attended by some 500 people—attested to. At the service, Wally’s niece mentioned an African saying that suggests that as long as one person remembers you, you will not die. To the extent that it’s valid, Wally will be with us for a long time. —Ruth Benn and Ed Hedemann A few copies of the 1995 video “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow” are available for $25 (including postage) from Juanita Nelson, The Bean Patch, Woolman Hill, Deerfield, MA 01342. WRL’s classic manual War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, by Ed Hedemann, is available for $12 plus 20 percent postage from WRL, 229 Lafayette St., New York NY 10012, (212)228-0450. Donations in honor of Wally can be made to Pioneer Valley War Tax Resistance, PO Box 223, Greenfield, MA 01302, or Valley Community Land Trust, PO Box 1552, Greenfield, MA 01302.aring his experience of war and speaking out for peace and social justice. |
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