Nine defendants have been sentenced to 30, 50, 70, and 100 years.
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During the middle of my interview with Spencer McNaughton of Uncloseted Media, I was asked to denounce murder. I felt a bit ambushed by the question – why should I or anyone need to denounce murder? I gave a simple answer in the moment. Of course I denounce murder! Murder’s not my style, I said, I’m a radical pacifist. I didn’t say as much, but even killing a spider makes me feel grief. So why am I still thinking about this question? In part because “What is a murder?” turned out to be an important legal question in our trial,…
Hand in handWalking across the hot asphaltTo haphazard shopping carts,Through motion sensor doorsInto the chilly blastHeading straight for the produceSplitting off to grabPeppers and apples and tomatoesAnd cabbage and oranges,Limes and lemons, meetingIn front of the vegan selectionLeaning into you in the bulk aislePicking out pasta,Lentils and legumesSpilling spices into sacksOn to the bakeryTo see what is on saleSeveral sorts of sourdough to selectComparing cans’ contentsChoosing too many flavours of juiceAnd many bottles of mineral waterPicking up food for our fur familyAgreeing in the frozen aisleThis cut of French fryThat flavour of ice creamChecking out in a rushBagging groceries togetherAnd…
Chevrefoil(after Marie de France) The honeysuckle and the hazellive in symbiosis.When hewn apartthe axe, the scissors,the wielder kills both. The lichen is a dual creature,fungi and algae,that cannot be separated,would never exist without both. The aspen forestspeaks to itself,each other,to keep each tree alive;when burned the roots surviveand grow the forest anew— We are all three of theseinterdependent beings.In severance, I starve.
Hell has gotten fatHer knees acheHer back creaksHer body groans under the stressOf its own weightShe is gouty and soreHer feet complainWhen she goes for a walkShe huffs and puffsAnd sweatsAs she struggles to stay in shapeIn the shower and the bathThe demimonde goddess’ underbellyMakes washing hard for herWhen she stands on the scaleShe must bend double to see her numbersShe goes to her couch to lieThe Great Hungry Black EarthAnd listens to the soundOf her heart strainingOf her gut churningGather round her feetChildren of HellListen to what your Mother says“You are overfeeding me dears!I cannot control my eatingAll the…
Versión en español a continuación I want to begin by extending my love and appreciation to all those who have supported me, my codefendants, and loved ones through out this situation. The strength this support has given me is beyond what I can describe. The weight of the sentences that have been handed down is crushing but we should not be surprised. The government has shown it is willing to separate loved ones across borders, cage people in squalid detention centers, bring violence into loving neighborhoods, and gun people down in the streets. Their attempts to bury people in their…
Versión en español a continuación “I guess everybody’s a domestic terrorist now.” I can’t say how many times I’ve heard these words in the last few months. After the murder Alex Pretti, top officials were quick to defend the ICE officers who extra-judicially executed him by labeling him a domestic terrorist. They said the same about Renee Good. Over the last year, I have been forced to keep my silence as the government spun a conspiracy theory labeling my friends and I as domestic terrorists, as members of a shadowy terrorist conspiracy that does not exist. I have watched them…
Versión en español a continuación The government is using zines and a printing press to sentence me to 50 years, a life sentence in prison. My crimes have been made clear by the prosecution, they don’t want people like me to have access to these constitutionally protected and invaluable resources. This is an attempt at silencing decent, at creating fear amongst its citizens to insure no one speaks against this current administration. The fictitious narrative presented by the government doesn’t exist in reality. It is their design created to criminalize people for protesting, for not conforming. We are living through…
Versión en español a continuación As I stared at the numbers that came in from federal sentencing, I can only say I’m heartbroken and distressed. Maximum years per charge assigned, to be served consecutively, to ensure the greatest amount of suffering is inflicted. And for what, besides to “send a message”? What justice, this? And to know this isn’t the end of the state’s case is all the more anxiety inducing. State level charges are waiting to be or have been filed, and trials are inbound for those convicted so far, and for several others, including myself. We face a…
This conviction is the continuation of a campaign of terror and violence that has been allowed to imprison people speaking out against the immigration policies of this administration. Experts warn that my conviction will have a “chilling effect” on previously constitutionally protected activities; this was made clear as the intent when Judge O’Connor said he wanted to make an example of us, with clear disregard for the facts of the case. This is a government telling its citizens that to raise a voice of dissent carries a life sentence, maybe even death. To my friends, to Renée Good, to Alex…
This bright and dusty city is divided by walls and chain link fences. Down below me, a small protest march approaches. They are walking up thru a series of narrow chain link covered paths, barely wide enough for 3 or 4 people to pass, connecting wider chain liked plazas that maybe a few hundred people could fit into. I am standing in the corridor between the 2nd and 3rd plaza wearing a backpack. I can see and hear the march of a hundred or two hundred approaching, chanting. I can feel the eyes of many guards watching. There are some…