Martin Gugino, ¡Presente!
Martin Gugino served as a witness of conscience for progress in peace and justice in Buffalo, usually alongside the Western New York Peace Center, and especially as a member of its taskforce LASC, the Latin America Solidarity Committee. For fifteen years he showed up for Black Lives Matter, climate justice, Latin American solidarity, Plowshares, Witness Against Torture, killer drone protests, prisoner rights, justice for migrant families, vigils at the Erie County Holding Center …
He never wanted to stand out at events (although he was quite tall). He always wanted to stand for others, as an everyday person. He was based in a Catholic Worker tradition, and was enthusiastic, gentle, principled, undaunted, and guided by belief in the sacred power of non-violent resistance to injustice.
Through his strong commitment to free speech, one evening in June 2020 he went to the steps of City Hall to speak with the police there about the legality and constitutionality of a curfew called against the peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators there. His attempt at dialog with the militarized personnel was met with a violent response; the order was given to advance with force, and it left him bleeding and unconscious on the sidewalk.
Some of the authorities at the time called him a trouble maker. The only “trouble” from Martin Gugino was the John Lewis kind of “Good Trouble” needed to make progress for peace and justice.
From when Martin was interviewed by WBFO later, in February 2021: “Martin Luther King said, the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice, because everyday people go out and try to do something that’s right, even though met with opposition…Every day, you should be as good as you can be. I mean, that’s just obvious. Be as good as you can be no matter what the situation is, but it’s especially important now.”
-Terry Bisson, Latin America Solidarity Committee
Martin speaks on Criminal Justice for Talking Peace Radio
Martin’s obituary from Buffalo Toronto Public Media
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