At 6 a.m. on Aug. 13, two Navy commanders went to Jackson's San Juan hotel room to plead their case. The two spent half an hour explaining to the civil rights leader why the live-fire practice conditions on Vieques can't be replicated anywhere else in the world. These people don't want you here. In the Philippines and in Panama, the people reached a point where they said the Navy must leave, Jackson told them. It is undemocratic of us not to listen.
Colonialism is a sin anywhere.
The officers continued to press their argument. They conceded the Navy had not been the best of neighbors. They even said they were amenable to a possible reduction in the number of days devoted to bombing, and to offering additional money to Vieques for local economic development. Dennis Rivera, head of 1199, the health care workers union, who organized much of Jackson's trip, stopped one of the officers in mid-sentence. One officer said he had been raised on Long Island.