Dear Friends,
Yesterday, I was
tried before Magistrate Judge Shana Matini as a result of the May
29th Poor People's Campaign witness outside the office of Sen. McConnell
(see below info about this action). I viewed the trial as an
important opportunity to continue the witness of the PPC, this time in
a courtroom! While conveying the urgent message of the PPC, we
were also faced with challenging an extremely difficult and limiting statute
that I was charged under. Ultimately, I came out of this trial with yet another
deeply held conviction!
By way of
background, I was charged under a disorderly conduct statute which was
changed several years ago to grant police wide latitude in ordering
arrests. The subsection of the statute that I was charged with reads as
follows:
(b)(1) It is unlawful for a person, alone or in
concert with others, to engage in a demonstration in an area where it is
otherwise unlawful to demonstrate and to continue or resume engaging in a
demonstration after being instructed by a law enforcement officer to cease
engaging in a demonstration.
(2)
For purposes of this subsection, the term “demonstration” means marching,
congregating, standing, sitting, lying down, parading, demonstrating, or
patrolling by one or more persons, with or without signs, for the purpose of
persuading one or more individuals, or the public, or to protest some action,
attitude, or belief...
It was a long day
dealing with the court system. All who were present to
offer their support showed amazing patience and
resilience. The trial, originally scheduled for 9:30 AM, did not
actually begin until 12:55 p.m. During this break I received a
remarkable phone call of support from 160 people involved in the PPC
who were meeting outside of Baltimore. I am ever so grateful for this
heartfelt solidarity as well as from an earlier phone message that was passed
on to me from Rev. Barber, co-chair of the PPC.
During the trial
I represented myself. Mark Goldstone, an outstanding lawyer and friend who has
assisted and represented activists in court cases dating back to the
1980's, acted in an advisory capacity. The government put on its case,
which included one witness, a U.S. Capitol police officer who arrested me, and
submitting into evidence a short video and one photograph that was taken after I
was arrested. I cross-examined the officer who basically testified that
although he did not see me blocking or obstructing anyone, I was still
obstructing the hallway. He also said that I was "actively
demonstrating," chanting and praying. When the government rested
its case, I offered a motion for judgment of acquittal which was denied.
After the judge
called for an hour lunch recess, the trial resumed around 2:30 PM. I then began
my case. I called two witnesses whom I questioned: Rev. Graylan Hagler and Sr.
Ardeth Platte, both long-time friends and steadfast peace and justice
makers, both of whom gave eloquent and moving testimonies. Graylan, who is
senior pastor at Plymouth Congregational Church and co-chair of the DMV PPC,
was the first to testify. While Graylan was not arrested for this particular
action (he was arrested at several other PPC actions) he was present for the
May 29th witness. He spoke about his ministry and the purpose of the
PPC. During Graylan's testimony we entered into evidence the "Souls of
Poor Folk: Auditing America Fact Sheet, April, 2018" and the "Poor
People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Fundamental
Principles."
Ardeth, a
Dominican sister who is 83 and celebrating 65 years as a professed
religious, testified next. She conveyed to the court her experience as an
educator, an elected official and her decades-long work for
nuclear disarmament and the abolition of war.
Both Graylan and
Ardeth testified that our action on May 29th was a nonviolent witness whereby
we were actually lobbying and advocating for policy change. It was emphasized
that our presence that day was to be a "witness." It was
asserted that if lobbyists can lobby without getting arrested, why can't we, as
people of faith and conscience, do the same? They both testified that they
didn't see me or anyone blocking or impeding the Senator's office or
hallway. After they were both cross-examined by the prosecutor, I rested my
case. The government then offered its closing argument and I offered mine (see
below). Toward the end of my closing statement Magistrate Matini
interrupted me and said that she had given me enough leeway to speak about my
views and that I should just stick to the facts of the case. I then proceeded
to finish my statement.
Before rendering
her verdict, Magistrate Matini, did something that most judges I've been before
rarely do-- she offered a supporting viewpoint to something I said. She said that
there was additional information she wanted to add to my closing. Regarding my
reference to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist Doomsday Clock now
set at 2 minutes before midnight, she remarkably stated that she recently
learned that the world is now closer than 2 minutes before midnight. She then
declared that while she may share similar views that were put forth in the
defense case, she was bound by the statute of the law and that there
was sufficient evidence to find me guilty. At sentencing I shared with
her that I was a volunteer at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and that despite
the fact that she found me guilty I believe in my heart that I committed no
crime. The government prosecutor recommended that I be fined $500. She
responded by saying that as a judge she has latitude sentencing. She said
she did not believe in fines because it is unfair to the poor who cannot pay
them and while the rich can easily pay them. Thus, I was surprisingly sentenced
to time served (the time I was actually police custody) with a
mandatory assessment of $50 to be paid to the victims of violent crime
fund. At the end of the hearing I thanked the judge for what she said.
I want to express
my appreciation to Mark Goldstone, who did a superb job assisting me as legal
adviser. I am also deeply grateful to Rev. Graylan Hagler and Sr.
Ardeth Platte for being extraordinary trial witnesses. I am
especially thankful, too, for all who were present in court offering
their support--Sr. Carol Gilbert, Mike Walli, Kathy Boylan, Rev.
Chuck Booker, Malachy Kilbride and Bill Barbieri--and for all those
who could not attend the trial and who sent messages of support and were
in prayerful solidarity.
In these
turbulent times, let us continue to keep our eyes on the prize and hope on as
we strive together to help create the Beloved Community!
With great
gratitude, Art
Art's Closing
Statement
You have heard
evidence form Rev. Graylon Hagler and Sr. Ardeth Platte about the Poor People's
Campaign nonviolent witness on May 29 and what they saw me do.
Regarding the
legalities of the case, I renew the Motion for Judgment of Acquittal that I
made earlier. Additionally, there is no evidence that I obstructed or
blocked anyone from going into or leaving the Senator's office, or that I was
boisterous. Despite what the government has claimed, I did not unlawfully
assemble. Simply put, my action was a lawful witness with people
of faith and conscience who are committed to making God's reign of justice,
love and peace a reality in our country and world.
There is no
evidence that anyone from Senator McConnell's office asked me to leave the
hallway because I was interfering with the work of the office. There is no sign
saying that I could not be present outside his office or in the hallway
Why should I be
arrested for nonviolently making an appeal to those in position of
power that we can't kill? Why should I be arrested for
praying?
The action I and
my friends took on May 29 is part of a long biblical tradition of n.v.
resistance to injustice and killing.
I acted in the
tradition of Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Caesar Chavez of the United Farmworkers and Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the
Catholic Worker and countless other nonviolent peace and justice makers.
Regarding Dr. King, why is it that we have a National Holiday honoring Martin
Luther King, Jr., who broke the law on numerous occasions in order to
expose and resist violence and social injustice? Because we recognize
that his actions were morally and legally justified and necessary in
order to bring about constructive change and justice in our society. My
actions, I submit, were in concert with Dr. King's.
What do we do
when human law conflicts with God's law? Do we uphold human laws that sanctions
injustice and killing? Or do we uphold God's command to love one another and
not to kill?
As a person
of faith I believe we have to uphold God's law first.
It was never my
intention to commit a crime on May 29. I was simply trying to appeal to
political leaders to avert more needless death and suffering by calling
for an end to state-sanctioned violence and racially
motivated killing in our society.
Since our May 29
witness there have been more war and gun-related deaths.
For example, just
look at what happened on August 9, 2018 in Yemen, as but one of numerous
gruesome acts resulting from the U.S. backed--Saudi war against Yemen.
On August 9, 2018
the Saudi military used a U.S.-made Lockheed Martin bomb in an attack on
a school-bus in Yemen which killed over 50 people, including 40
children, in the market of Dahyan in Saada province. Here are the
names of two of the children killed: Ali Mohammed Hasssan Da'i--10 years
old; Ali Zaid Hussein Tayeb--9 years old. Imagine if these children were
members of our own families or friends of ours--how would we feel? It is a
grave miscarriage of justice that those responsible for this criminal act
will never be held to account.
On May 29 I, and
other friends in the Poor People's Campaign, were witnessing to prevent
such massacres from occurring.
On May 29 I, and
others from the Poor People's Campaign, were also appealing to the Sen.
Majority leader to call for the conversion of the U.S. war
economy which, with the passage of the recent 2019 military
budget bill, has reached a staggering $717 billion. How can this
exorbitant military spending be legal when some 140 million people are
living in poverty in the U.S.? How can such a budget be tolerated when last
year 45 people in D.C. who experienced homelessness died without the dignity of
a home? Just think how this massive misuse of money and resources could be
better spent meeting urgent human needs. This money could instead provide
health-care for all God's children everywhere, housing for the
homeless, and jobs for the unemployed. This $ could also go a long way to
help alleviate poverty, provide clean drinking water in places like Flint, MI,
rebuild Puerto Rico, and reverse the climate crisis by decreasing
our reliance on fossil fuels and investing in environmentally friendly renewable
energy. Now is the time to convert our war economy, cancel plans for a
Space Force, and disarm our nuclear arsenal, killer drones and all weapons
of war.
On May 29, the
Poor People's Campaign was also trying to address the tragic proliferation
of guns in the U.S. and to demand an end to racial violence. With
some 300 million guns now in the U.S., the epidemic of
gun-violence across the nation claims countless lives daily. And we continue to
witness the horrific killings of people of color by police and vigilantes.
In our action on May 29 we were pleading with Congress to ban assault
weapons (and I would add all guns), and demand an end to the
scourge of racial violence and gun-violence!
If the victims
were here and could grace this courtroom with their presence, what would they
tell us? What would the several million victims of U.S. warmaking in
Iraq say to us? What would the tens of thousands of victims in Afghanistan and
Yemen say to us? What would the victims of the Charleston, Las Vegas,
Orlando and Parkland shootings say to us? What would Amadou
Diallo, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Nia Wilson, Mike
Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray, to name but
a few, say to us?
In his famous
song, "Blowin in the Wind," songwriter Bob Dylan sings: "How
many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?
This question is as relevant now as it was when Dylan first sung this
verse. How many more people have to needlessly die before we take action
to prevent it?
Tragically, we
live in a world where killing has become the norm. Renowned
psychiatrist, Robert Jay Lifton, refers to the time we live in as one of
"malignant normality," where the abnormal has become normal.
(I was interrupted by the Judge and had to abbreviate most of this
paragraph which is in brackets). [Examples of this date back to when
the Nazi doctors cooperated with the Nazi regime to kill rather than
to heal. Today, psychologists continue this practice by participating
in torture at Guantanamo. And we now have political leaders, including
those in the highest positions in government, who have tried to
normalize destructive behavior. This malignant normality is now
most painfully evidenced by the fact that the ending of all life on our
planet has become a real possibility. The Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists has now turned it's Doomsday Day Clock to 2 minutes before
midnight, due to the colossal dangers posed by the apocalyptic twins of
climate crisis and nuclear war. And so, as Einstein once
said, we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe].
St. Paul writes
that: "Love is the fulfillment of the law."
William Penn:
"Always put justice above the law."
Despite what the
government has claimed and charged me with, this case is really about the love
and justice that St. Paul and William Penn speaks about.
The task at hand
before us all is to uphold the law of love and justice and to do all we can to
nonviolently stop the killing, abolish war and all weapons, end systemic
racism and inequality, protect and cherish the earth and all of God's creation
and to seek to create the Beloved Community. This is what I and my
friends tried to do on May 29. I invite you, Judge Matini, and
Prosecutor Mason to please join us in the Poor People's Campaign as we seek to
bring about a moral revival in our country that can help transform
our political and economic order into one that is based on love,
justice, nonviolence and, which has as its greatest priority,
serving the common good.
Judge
Matini, I committed no crime. I submit that the police order to
arrest me was not lawful. I believe that I, nor my associates, should
never had been arrested as we were acting within our first amendment
rights. I therefore ask you to find me not guilty. Thank you for
your patience in listening to me.
The Poor
People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is bringing together people across
the country who are organizing to build a broad and deep national moral
movement—led by the poor, impacted, clergy and moral agents and reflecting the
great moral teachings—to unite our country from the bottom up.
For more info, go
to https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ or contact the DMV Poor People’s Campaign (washingtondc@poorpeoplescampaign.org).
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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