the next thing
on march 20, 2003...107 people followed through with their "iraq pledge of resistance" and got arrested for committing nonviolent civil disobedience. we blocked the entrances to the federal building in cc phila. it took a year and a half, but i finally got my day in court yesterday.
it was brief...of the 107, we were the final 7 who were being tried. we basically had the options (if we plead guilty) to pay $250 or go to lock up for 7 days. not guilty (nobody had done that) just pisses off the judge and everybody and they find you quickly guilty and give you 2 yrs probation and longer jail.
we took the 7 days, we have to schedule our time next week tuesday.
the judge was nice, let anybody who wanted to make a statement. we basically spoke to him and he didn't really listen and the "choir"-that is the rest of the activists in the courtroom clapped and listened and stuff.
i tried to explain to the judge how cracked the philosophy was that they were jailing us for standing up against the war (the pledge was the last step of legal protest we had left...talking, calling, and writing my senators, reps, and the bush admin. it didn't work.
the same day we locked it down (the day after the war officially started), my best friend growing up was jumping into northern iraq with his airborne unit. i spent almost a month in iraq back in 2002 and some people that i met had their whole block blown to bits. what a messy time.
we'll see what happens with this jail business. i think it's gonna be hungry and boring and people not being nice. one of the probation officers told me that they have basketball courts, though. that would be nice.
it was brief...of the 107, we were the final 7 who were being tried. we basically had the options (if we plead guilty) to pay $250 or go to lock up for 7 days. not guilty (nobody had done that) just pisses off the judge and everybody and they find you quickly guilty and give you 2 yrs probation and longer jail.
we took the 7 days, we have to schedule our time next week tuesday.
the judge was nice, let anybody who wanted to make a statement. we basically spoke to him and he didn't really listen and the "choir"-that is the rest of the activists in the courtroom clapped and listened and stuff.
i tried to explain to the judge how cracked the philosophy was that they were jailing us for standing up against the war (the pledge was the last step of legal protest we had left...talking, calling, and writing my senators, reps, and the bush admin. it didn't work.
the same day we locked it down (the day after the war officially started), my best friend growing up was jumping into northern iraq with his airborne unit. i spent almost a month in iraq back in 2002 and some people that i met had their whole block blown to bits. what a messy time.
we'll see what happens with this jail business. i think it's gonna be hungry and boring and people not being nice. one of the probation officers told me that they have basketball courts, though. that would be nice.
posted by Joshua Grace | 10:22 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for sharing this, Joshua. You know there's a lot of people who love you and want to support you. By putting this "out there" you kind of help us feel like we're a part of you as you go through this; of course, my particular desire to be with you in this will manifest itself in much more than simply reading about your experience, but I thank you for that too.
Peace, brother...
you are an encouragement, robert. it's not too late to come in with me, you know? lol
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