PHOTO/DONATED
ITHACA, NY — On July 10, Mary Ann Grady Flores was sentenced to 12 months in jail for photographing a peace protest at the entrance to Hancock Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York. In sentencing Grady Flores, Judge Gideon noted her peace activism with the “Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars,” stating that the “court has observed a constant testing of limits, and as children learn while growing up, the testing of limits can be a learning process with boundaries and consequences to be had.”
The boundary that the judge refers to is an order of protection on behalf of Hancock Base Commander Colonel Earl Evans, that specifically names Grady Flores. By taking photos on the road next to the base, Grady Flores was in technical violation of that protective order.
Why would an Air Force Colonel need an order of protection against Grady Flores, a 58 year-old grandmother? At the trial, Colonel Evans stated on the record that he wouldn’t recognize Grady Flores if he saw her on the street, and that he doesn’t fear her. In effect, the government is deploying a criminal code to suppress Grady Flores’s Constitutional rights, namely her freedom of speech and her right to peaceable assembly.
A similar situation is apparent in Benton Harbor Michigan, where longtime community leader Rev. Edward Pinkney faces 25 years in prison for technical irregularities related to a petition to initiate a recall election. In this case, the Benton Harbor District Attorney seeks to criminalize a community leader who dares to exercise his Constitutional rights.
In both of these cases, the U.S. government is targeting important leaders of the movement by criminalizing their free speech. The government has already shown its disregard for the Constitution by creating a secret assassination program, often using drones.If we the people are going to keep our rights, then we must defend our leaders from criminalization, and prepare for a long struggle to liberate ourselves from a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.
