Here We Standというインターネットラジオ番組のＨＰの下に、ケヴィンさんの人柄を伝える文章が載っていたのでご紹介します。
https://bbsradio.com/herewestand
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私の知るケヴィン・アネット
人はどのようにしてケヴィンのような聡明で勇敢な魂の人を描写するでしょうか？私がやってみようと思います。何年も一緒にいる私がそうする義務があると思います。
初めて私がケヴィンを見たのはある暴動の現場でした。彼は１７歳で、メガフォンを抱えていました。警察が人々を押しやっていましたが、ケヴィンはそこに恐れなく、屈することなく冷静を保ちつつ立っていました。その様子は、何も知らずに傍観していた自分にとって、何か滑稽に見えました。
ここには長い髪の変わった人達がいて、アメリカの領事館の外で怒り狂っていました。彼らはバンクーバーの警官達と争っており、ケビンもいました。
彼は静かに話し、警察に彼らのやっていることを止め、本当の犯人を捕まえるように説得していました。その独裁者とは、３万人の人々を殺害した人達でした。強く勇敢で、良い意思と理性と情熱にあふれた声が、その嵐の中心にありました。それがケヴィンでした。
私もこれらの中の一人、傍からケヴィンのような聡明な魂を愛する大多数の人間だと思います。なぜなら私達はあまりにも彼がやっていることのリスクを犯す勇気もないし、彼が自分の立場のために、人生を通して耐えてきたことに立ち向かう勇気もないからです。自分達に彼のような勇気がないからといって、彼を愛さないということは全くありません。しかし長い間、自分の臆病さから彼に近づくのを恐れていました。
私が彼に近づくことができた時、さらに彼に対する賞讃の気持ちが強くなりました。私の彼に対するその気持ちは年と共に増していっています。私はケヴィンと一緒に行っていた高校やヒル大学の時には、おどおどした女の子でした。私は１１年生の時にそこにやって来たのですが、全くよく馴染みませんでした。特にそこの教師の一人が私をレイプし、そのことを言わないように脅かされた後では。
そのことにより、私の内側は怒りで燃え、自分を嫌な目に合わせたり口封じしたりする人間に対しては、誰でも直感的に避けた（？）からでした。それと似たような、目をそらすことのできない正義の怒りを、ケヴィンはいつも抱えてきたのです。
お互いがそれぞれの道を進むまで、私達はヒル大学で１年間共に過ごしました。しかし私にとってはケヴィンと連絡を絶ってしまうことは難しいことでした。彼はもし知り合いになったら、放ったままにしておくことができないタイプの人間です。
私達のクラスの卒業生で、何にも知らない人は、ケヴィンは最も首相になりそうな人だと言っていました。その言葉の面白いところは、ケヴィンは生まれつき革命的であるということです。私はそれをいい意味で言っています。彼はどんな間違ったことも、例えそれをしているのが誰であろうともです。
また彼は、誰も他の誰かを苦しめず、利用することのない世界を夢見ています。私が見るかぎりでは、彼は一度もその夢を捨てたことはありません。
（つづく）
以下の文章から訳しています。
The Kevin Annett I know
How does one describe a bright valiant soul like Kevin? I want to try. After all these years, I owe it to him.
I first saw Kevin at a riot. He was seventeen and holding a megaphone. The cops were shoving people around but Kevin was standing there unafraid and unbending, keeping his cool.
The scene looked kind of funny to me, an uninformed bystander. Here were all these long haired freaks going crazy outside the U.S. consulate, fighting with Vancouver's finest, and there was Kevin, speaking calmly, trying to get the cops to stop what they were doing and arrest the real criminals, the visiting Chilean dictators who'd just murdered 30,000 people. A strong, brave, passionate voice of good will and reason right in the eye of the storm. That was Kevin.
I'm one of those, I guess we're the majority, who love bright souls like Kevin from the sidelines because we're too afraid to risk what he does and face what he's endured through his life just for being who he is. Just because we lack his valor doesn't make us love him any the less. But for a long time my cowardice made me afraid to approach him. When I did I was even more impressed. My admiration for him has only increased over the years.
I was a mousy girl in the high school I went to with Kevin, University Hill. I showed up there in grade eleven and I never mixed much, especially after one of the teachers there raped me and I got threatened to shut up about it. That made me burn inside with anger and a gut feeling for anyone who gets screwed over and shut down to protect some asshole. The same kind of righteous outrage that won't look away that Kevin has always carried.
We only spent a year together at U Hill before Kevin and I went our own separate ways. But it was hard for me to lose contact with Kevin. He's not the kind of guy to stay unnoticed, as you may have noticed.
Some ignoramus in our grad class said Kevin was the one most likely to become Prime Minister. The funny thing about that statement is Kevin is a born revolutionary. I mean that in a good way. He can't tolerate any wrong, no matter who's doing it. And he dreams of a world without somebody screwing or exploiting somebody else. From what I can see, he's never let go of that dream.
In 2004 I reconnected with Kev face to face after he'd been thrown out of the United Church for exposing their residential school house of horrors. I came to one of the information pickets he and a few Indians were holding outside one of the downtown Vancouver churches. There was that same smiling, fearless Kevin. He was happy to see me there. He didn't judge me like I judged myself, for being too chicken shit to do anything about all the bullshit in the world for so long. It was enough for him that I was there.
I think Kev is the only man I've ever trusted. He is gentle to his core but as hard as iron. He has an other worldly quality about him that lets him be present with anyone. He really is able to love his enemies to their face, not just as a nice idea. Like on the day we picketed that church together, the United Church minister came out and started screaming at Kevin and heckling him, taunting him, hitting him low blows about not being a good father and husband. Kev's wife had left him by then and he'd had his daughters taken from him. But in all his pain and personal loss, and with all that hatred thrown in his face, Kev didn't strike back. The hate and vile shit didn't faze him. He stared his attacker down and kept trying to reason with him and reach his heart. I've never seen anything like it.
I don't think a sick world like ours will ever understand or honor a man like Kevin. That's why I had to write this. At least someone sees him and maybe if there is a God that's enough for Him. I know Kev's always been there for people like me, the silenced and messed up victims who never get their say or day in court. Fighting for us is enough for him. Knowing that there's even one like Kevin Annett in our world is enough for me.
I didn't think I could write this because of all my demons and my shame for wasting my life. But at least part of me is inspired by Kevin's light, knowing that it will never go out. My love and respect for him has no words. He is still walking his lonely road and I wish him all the hope and love and happiness that he has brought me and so many others.
Anna
