Letters & Statements Concerning the Confiscation of BPFNA's Summer Conference Banner

August 3, 2004

The Honorable Tom Ridge, Secretary
U. S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Secretary Ridge:

The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America gathers, equips, and mobilizes Baptists to build a culture of peace rooted in justice. Our members gather once a year for a summer conference. This year over two hundred of our members gathered for our annual conference at Towson University, in Towson, Maryland, on July 19-23, 2004.

I am writing to you in regard to a matter of great concern to our organization.

Each year, our organization creates a new banner for our summer conference; the banner expressed visually the theme for the year. Each year we hang the new banner front and center where we gather for worship, teaching, and fellowship. Surrounding us on the walls are the banners from previous years, since our formation in 1984.

This year's conference theme was "The Stones Will Cry Out," a reference to several passages in the Bible that reference God's dream for our world, a dream so powerful that if we as human subjects do not proclaim this message, "even the stones will cry out!"

The banner was packed in a suitcase being carried by our Music Director for the week, Franklyn Busby. Franklyn was traveling to BWI airport on Southwest Airline Flight 228, on Saturday, July 17, 2004. He departed Chicago-Midway at 8:15 P.M., and arrived at Baltimore-BWI at 11:05 pm.

When Franklyn Busby arrived in Baltimore, the bag that he had checked-- which contained the banner, his laptop computer, and his clothing and personal effects-- did not show up in baggage claim. Thinking that it was simply a case of his suitcase being placed on the wrong plane, he called Chicago's Midway Airport to let them know the problem, and he requested that they send the bag on the next plane; he was thankful that he had some clothing in his carry-on bag.

Franklyn was subsequently informed that our banner and his luggage were being held by Transportation Security Authority (TSA) as a potential security threat and that he was to show up at their Midway offices on Tuesday, July 27, 2004, for a hearing.

Franklyn has reported to us that when he inquired as to why the suitcase was being held, he was given no satisfactory explanation. Instead, he was informed that our banner could be destroyed without a hearing. Franklyn also reports that when he tried to ascertain what the TSA found so dangerous in our peace banner, his questioning was sharply cut off.

He further reports that upon his return to Chicago Midway, Franklyn went to the area where he was to speak with the TSA. He gave the TSA official his name and indicated that he was there concerning a bag that had been confiscated. The TSA official pointed to his bag and indicated that Franklyn could take it. There was no explanation, and no apology. Franklyn took his bag and left. All of the contents were there including his computer and the banner.

On behalf of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, I wish to register my concern about this incident. We would like to have an explanation as to why Franklyn's bag with our peace banner was held, and what can be done in the future so that this type of incident does not recur. As someone who frequently travels both domestically and internationally, I find it disturbing that personal property can be searched, seized, and held indefinitely, and without explanation. This incident has certainly done nothing to make any of us in the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America feel "more secure." In fact, it has had an opposite, chilling effect.

Sincerely,

Gary Percesepe, Ph.D.
Coordinating Director, BPFNA

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The BPFNA board's statement regarding the banner confiscation....

July 30, 2004

Thank you to everyone for sharing your thoughts and ideas about the confiscation of our Summer Gathering banner and Franklyn's luggage. Thank you also for being patient while we tried to gather facts so that your responses could rise from what actually happened rather than what we were thinking could have happened.

Upon his return to Chicago Midway Franklyn went to the area where he was to speak with the TSA (Transportation Security Authority). He gave the person there his name and indicated that he was there concerning a bag that had been confiscated. The person there pointed to his bag and indicated that Franklyn could take it. There was no explanation nor apology. Franklyn took his bag and left. All of the contents were there including his computer and the banner.

It does seem that the incident reinforces that anyone travelling through the US is subject to the "Patriot Act" and the license that it gives TSA and other government agencies to search and seize without explanation or obvious threat.

Grace and Peace,

Bob Paterson-Watt
BPFNA Board President

April Baker
BPFNA Board Vice President