Dear Friends -
Today, (25 July) Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson were sentenced for breaking into a federal missile silo in Colorado, smearing it with their own blood and pounding on it with hammers. The Dominican nuns said the act symbolized that they would rather pour out their own blood than have U.S. weapons take the blood of another.
The day began in Colorado with a press conference in front of the Federal building at which the nuns read their pre-sentencing statements; they would not read them in court. Instead, in solidarity with women around the world, they decided to dress as Women in Black and remain mute in the courtroom. It proceeded with the Judge deciding to consolidate the sentencings - despite his prior refusal of that motion.
Once in court, arguments were made by both sides on the length of sentence. The prosecutor and the probation office requested sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years in prison. The nuns' attorneys argued that when the guidelines for sabotage were set to mandate lengthy sentences, the actions defined under
"sabotage" in no way included what the nuns did. The legal precedent is that of Daniel Sicken and Sachio Ko Yin who, some years back, were sentenced in the same court for a similar action. Their judge - Judge Miller - granted downward departure at sentencing saying: "There is sabotage and then there is sabotage!" The prosecution appealed the judge's decision and lost; the 10th circuit court of appeals upheld the judge's decision. The damage in the prior case was far more substantial than that of which the nuns are convicted.
Sr. Jackie Hudson was sentenced to 30 months in prison
Sr. Carol Gilbert was sentenced to 33 months in prison
Sr. Ardeth Platte was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
In addition, a period of 3 years supervised release follows their prison sentences; no fines were imposed but restitution of $3,081.04 was. They were ordered to self-surrender but refused and were taken immediately into custody. Supporters in the packed courtroom chanted: "Close the silos; free the nuns!" and the courtroom was cleared.
The day began in Baltimore with reading and reflecting on the scripture passages for today. The passage from 2 Corinthians 4: 8ff was a gift for today; it reminded us that the nuns (and through and in solidarity with them, we ourselves) are afflicted, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We are grieved that the nuns will have to serve that kind of time for an action that was totally symbolic; but we are relieved that it is not the 8 - 10 years that the prosecution was demanding. The nuns were and are prepared to accept prison, however much they - and we - believe that they committed no crime, certainly no major crime. "We had no criminal intent at any level," said Sr. Ardeth Platte, a member, with Sr. Carol Gilbert, of Jonah House. "We accept the consequences of our actions joyfully.I know it will be a long journey, but we're not afraid." Platte said.
The sisters believe nuclear weapons are the "taproot" of social and economic injustice because the billions of dollars spent on them could go to programs for the poor and needy. Standing against militarism, they say, is a way to challenge skewed priorities that cause orphanages and soup kitchens to exist in the first place.
The Nuns' "crimes" revealed that we in the U.S. accept rule by our own "evil tyrants who threaten and use weapons of mass destruction and ignore international law." Even more shocking to the current "might makes right" school of "law," the Nuns showed that together we could nonviolently accomplish complete nuclear disarmament one weapon at a time starting with open declaration and inspection.
We have no news yet of where the nuns will be taken. We expect they will spend some time in a local or transitory facility before being taken to the federal prisons where they will serve their time. We will be in touch when we have an address for them.
Below are the statements Carol and Ardeth made this morning in front of the courthouse, having determined not to speak in court.
SENTENCING STATEMENT - SISTER CAROL GILBERT, OP
JULY 25, 2003
For many months I have pondered what to say, if anything at all. St. Francis once said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words." It seems that today a few words are necessary. For the past ten months we have tried to cooperate with these courts. We have been asking since day one - what are the charges? What is Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2155, if not sabotage?
We are not saboteurs. Today, we ask no more questions.
We know something is very wrong with a system that can incarcerate us for years in prison for inspecting, exposing and symbolically disarming America's Weapons of Mass Destruction.
We know we should be acquitted for upholding the United States Constitution that declares all laws and treaties to be the supreme laws of the country. Article 6, Section 2 of the United States Constitution "declares this constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall be made under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
We should be acquitted for upholding International laws which this court has deemed unnecessary but which is bound to enforce under Article 6, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. It hurts to hear the prosecutor continue to call Frances Boyle a "self-professed international law guru." We should be acquitted for upholding the highest law - God's Law.
Judge Blackburn talked a lot about law. He didn't want this to be a political trial but a case about law. So did we. That was our deepest hope. But, we were not the ones that turned this into a political trial nor will we make of ourselves political prisoners - that will be the prosecutor and judge.
We have read in the press and in our pre-sentencing reports that the lengthy sentence is for deterrence - both for ourselves and others. But, what the government fails to recognize is that long prison sentences will only energize the movement. As a tee shirt in upstate New York reads, "You can jail the resister but not the resistance." We will not be silenced.
During our seven months in the Clear Creek County Jail we received thousands of letters from the United States and international community, over a thousand signatures from people who stand in solidarity with us and more than 650 letters were sent to the judge asking for compassion and justice. There have been four plowshares actions since ours - one of them in the United States.
This Memorial Day, four plowshares activists enfleshed the Isaiah and Micah prophecies on the USS Philippine Sea in New York harbor during fleet week naming themselves Riverside Ploughshares. No charges were filed.
No, Judge Blackburn needs no more words from us. Judge Blackburn needs no character witnesses this morning. What Judge Blackburn needs is to listen to his God. He needs to heed these words from one of my church's social justice documents, Gadium et spes. # 16. "Deep within their consciences men and women discover a law which they have not laid upon themselves and which they must obey. It's voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, tells them inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For they have in their hearts a law inscribed by God. Their dignity rests, in observing the law, and by it they will be judged. Their conscience is people's most secret core and their sanctuary. There they are alone with God whose voice echoes in their depths."
Tomorrow, (July 26) non-violent citizens in Colorado will inspect and expose America's weapons of mass destruction, the Minuteman 111 , with others joining in solidarity in other states and others exposing other weapons systems at other sites.
Resistance will not be deterred. You cannot silence truth. Truth will be spoken. Law will be upheld.
Judge Blackburn and the prosecutor need to reflect on the story in the Acts of the Apostles of Gamaliel - Chapter 5 vv. 17-42. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a member of the Council, and a teacher of the Law. He was highly respected by all the people. As Peter and the other apostles were taken to the Council and high-priest, Gamaliel cautioned the council not to take any action against the men. He said, "if what they have planned and done is of human origin it will disappear, but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them."
Someday history will prove what we did on the early morning of October 6, 2002 - inspecting, exposing and symbolically disarming a Minuteman 111, a weapon of mass destruction was legal.
Until that day I will continue being led where I would rather not go. I will continue to resist with every fiber of my being so that not one child will ever ask, "Why were you complicit?" .
Lastly, a few words about fear. I don't fear going to prison. I don't fear loss of freedom to move about. I don't even fear death. The fear that fills me is not having lived hard enough, deep enough and sweet enough with whatever gifts God has given me.
The demons are banished by light and like the prophet Micah, this is what God asks of us, only this - " To act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with our God."
There is a story told of Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest, prophet and friend that he was once asked to give the commencement address at a prestigious university. He stood up, walked to the podium and said, "Know where you stand and stand there" and then he sat down. My friends, "know where you stand and stand there." (Bow)
ELOCUTION AT SENTENCING BY ARDETH PLATTE, O.P.
In front of the Federal District Court House on July 25, 2003
While we were at home at Jonah House, we opened our liturgy with the music, "Here I am God. Is it I God? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go God, if You lead me. I will hold your people in my heart ." We closed the liturgy with: "Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow Me and I will give you rest." Faith and the words of the stanzas to these hymns record key notes in my journey of life - in waging peace, led on a quest for a world without war ever again, in an attempt to stop the crimes and sins of government in my name, in disarming weapons of mass destruction and stopping the merchant- sales of the killing machines and technology sold to other nations, and calling for a design of a global economy that will assure people in the entire world all basic human necessities of food, shelter, education and health care, etc.
With a vision for disarmament, a mandate to speak truth, and a mission to halt the sinfulness, illegality and criminality being touted in my name, I march to the Drummer of my soul Who instills faith rather than fear, trust not hopelessness, and love instead of hatred and enemy relationships made through endless threats, innuendos, propaganda, and permanent warmaking.
This journey has included numerous direct actions over decades: forums, vigils, lobby, processions, demonstrations, boycotts, and civil resistance in various areas of the country. Our social analysis, along with the need to unmask urgent and sometimes secretive matters, has led me into nonviolent symbolic public actions of resistance, such as:
1. Christ lives, disarm! Easter Sunday, 1992...entered into a nuclear bunker.
2. Weep for Children Plowshares,1996...at the launching of the 18th Trident.
3. Gods of Metal Plowshares, 1998...bomb bay area of a B-52 used in Iraq.
4. Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares, 2000...the Milstar receiver and an F-18 used in bombing Iraq.
5. Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II, 2002...Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at N8, threatened and prepared to beused.
Sisters Carol, Jackie and I believe that we had a responsibility to inspect, expose, and symbolically disarm this weapon of mass destruction to avert a crime of our government and uphold the laws of the United States, not break them. Don't people claim today that the citizens of Germany should have blocked the trains carrying people to the crematoriums, dismantled the ovens, or done something to stop the mass murder of people by Hitler? How will future generations judge all of us?
I find the charges in the Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II bogus. Ours was a simple, measured, nonviolent, symbolic action wherein the liturgical rituals were crystal clear.
What were the fears within the prosecutor to call for an "in limine" motion that silenced us on all the laws so pertinent to the threats to use the Minuteman III? What fears were within the judge to grant the silencing?
Being stripped of our law defenses made the trial a farce.
The elements of the charges were not substantiated beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecutor. The jury did not recognize the ongoing change in the wording of the charges throughout the trial: from an indictment under sabotage by a grand jury, citing a specific intent to obstruct the national defense, then use of vandalism and trespass, and finally use of destruction of national defense premises recorded on the verdict form. Even the government's witnesses claimed under oath that the national defense was never jeopardized. How can a national offensive first strike weapon be launched as a national defensive weapon? Deliberation by the jury seemed brief and without researching answers to the complexities in such a seriouscase. Are we charged with sabatoge? Yes! Isn't that the reason I face 92 to 115 months in prison?
Could peacemakers lives be that expendable? Will the punitive measures taken against dissenters, enforced under Patriot Bills I and II, be so harsh that any lawlessness on the part of government officials will go unchallenged in the future? Who will be courageous enough to reveal the lies and stop the murderous conduct in Afghanistan and Iraq? Who will demand an end to U.S. interventionism? Who will stand in behalf of the people contaminated by depleted uranium? Who will be there for prisoners illegally detained in Guantanamo? Who will teach the treaties and U. S. Constitution and who will demand the implementation by every court of the land? Who will bring nonviolence into the forefront for conflict-solving?
The sentencing consequences are exaggerated; the prosecutor and probation offices' research is skewed. Why would multi-hundreds of letters and more than 1,000 solidarity communications have no effect for downward departure? Why has the prosecutor's statements to the press been considered acceptable - that a long sentence for us will deter others. Four plowshare actions have been carried out since ours - one on Memorial Day on the USS Philippine Sea with the use of blood poured out on the bomb hatches and hammers used in the same symbolic way? Yet no charges were brought forth.
How will we wage the struggle together to keep democracy alive, to bring our nation from its killing mode to a life-giving mode, to keep the tenets of the beatitudes, commandments and Sermon on the Mount practiced by the nation as well as by us as individuals? Tomorrow's direct action at the silos and bases to inspect, expose and demand disarmament is a bold and worthy beginning. We join you in spirit with deepest gratitude. Whatever sentence I receive today will be joyfully accepted as an offering for peace. With God's help it will not injure my spirits. In the sacred moments or years of imprisonment, I will remain with you in prayer and walk together with you for the good of all humanity and creation. My love and gratitude always.
A report from the August 6-9th Faith and Resistance Retreat and a Message from Bill Frankel Streit in the SHU at Ft. Dix FCI
The Atlantic Life Community's August Faith and Resistance Retreat travelled this year: August 6 at the Pentagon in DC, August 9 at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
On August 6th, remembering the bombing of Hiroshima, 41 people emerged from the subway right next to the Pentagon building. We walked to a nearby entrance, where Pentagon workers were rapidly going inside. 37 held banners, read statements, and sang. 4 of us got right in the middle of the stream of people going to work, Some lay down on the cement, others used sidewalk chalk to draw shadows, remembering the shadows that were all that was left of people in Hiroshima when the bomb exploded. We were surprised by Austin, a four year old, who wanted to join us: he lay down and we drew a shadow around him. One of the blockaders held a picture from Nagasaki, and knelt in prayer.
Arrested and charged with "Interference with the functions of an agency" (or "Interfering with the functioning of the Pentagon" were Art Laffin, Liz McAlister, Malinda Smail, and Susan Crane. Their court date is October 3 in the Alexandia Federal Court. The 37 remained holding banners, even when threatened with arrest, and were able to stay an hour.
The next day, we caravaned to Bath, Maine. At Bath Iron Works, the USS Monson, an Arleigh Burke class Destroyer (holding 56 Tomahawk Cruise Missles) was to be christened on August 9th, at 11:00 in the morning. (the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on the 9th at 11:02).
Maine Veterans for Peace had organized a rally in a nearby park, the blessing of a boat-The Philip Berrigan-and a couple of short addresses from Kathy Kelly, Bruce Gagnon, and Liz McAlister. Then, we all walked to Bath Iron Works. There were large peace doves, banners, and the boat along with many people: estimates ranged from the media's 150 to 400. At any rate, a good crowd.
When we arrived at BIW, some of us got into the line of people waiting to get in for the ceremony. Others stood across the street, holding signs, making statements, and singing.
Those of us in line were told by the BIW security that we were not going to be allowed in, but we waited until we were in front of the gate, and then unfurled our long banner: "We remember Hiroshima, We remember Nagasaki, Never again". Thirteen of us were holding the banner across the gate. We were all quickly arrested and the banner cut from our hands. Grace Ritter (New York), Jane Van Landingham (Mass.), Jim Harney (Maine), George Ostenson (Maine), Cath Robson and Sr. Susan Clarkson (Dorothy Day CW in D.C.), Mary Donnelly (Maine), Lisa Guido (New York), Tom Feagley (Mass), Kevin Wyer (Maine), Tom Lewis (Mass.), Susan Crane and Liz McAlister (Jonah House, Baltimore) were all charged with criminal trespass, and have a court date Sept. 16, at 1 pm.
Bill Frankel Streit, of the Little Flower Catholic Worker in Virgina, is serving a 6 month sentence (along with Steve Baggarly and Steve Woolford) for exposing the blood at the Pentagon during the December Feast of the Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance retreat. He is currently at a FCI in Ft. Dix, New Jersey. We received this statement from him.
By the time you receive this note, I will most likely be tucked away in the SHU (segregated housing unit). I follow Greg Boertje and Steve Kelly, SJ who, before me, continued to resist the powers by noncooperating with this filthy, rotten system. When I first arrived here at Ft. Dix FCI, the authorities here pleaded with me to "program". This request came in the aftermath of Steve Kelly's consistent noncooperation with this unjust racist system.
The time has come for me to refuse to "program". I refuse to "recall" or be counted today in solidarity and support of Sisters Carol, Ardeth, and Jackie. I join the day of resistance, July 26th, and refuse to continue to cooperate with this system that plans nuclear war and world domination and sustains a prison system blatantly racist and unjust.
Our US military empire threatens the earth and space with weapons of mass destruction to reinforce a world order of domination and exploitation creating and maintaining the great disparity between rich and poor. This injustice extends into US prisons where a mass destruction of lives continues in huge sentences. The war on drugs is as steeped in lies and propaganda as the war on Iraq. Both are cloaked, disguised as altruistic while in reality signify a destruction and domination of entire peoples, namely, peoples of color. The powers of darkness are enormous. But I believe the truth is true, that the light shines in the darkness and darkness will never overcome it.
I believe in the power of the cross, nonviolent resistance to the imperial state, the power of love. I believe even one person can make a difference. I believe, as Dorothy Day wrote, that God takes our little actions and increases them like the loaves and fishes. All we have to do is sow the seed; God will bring the harvest. I willingly put my trust and hope in the "foolishness" of resisting this system, I can only call evil. As Gandhi says, "Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good."
Bill, Steve and Steve are scheduled for release on September 6th. Until then you can write Bill at
William Streit
03809-052
Fort Dix FCI
PO Box 38
Fort Dix, NJ 08640
Lots of folks have been asking after Sisters Carol, Ardeth and Jackie. They are still in county jails in Colorado but expect to be moved soon. They will probably be in transit for a few weeks. We will let you know when they reach their (yet to be) designated federal prisons. At that point we will send out their addresses.
Thanks for all your support and your resistance,
Liz, Susan, Gary, Laurel and Kate
Today, (25 July) Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson were sentenced for breaking into a federal missile silo in Colorado, smearing it with their own blood and pounding on it with hammers. The Dominican nuns said the act symbolized that they would rather pour out their own blood than have U.S. weapons take the blood of another.
The day began in Colorado with a press conference in front of the Federal building at which the nuns read their pre-sentencing statements; they would not read them in court. Instead, in solidarity with women around the world, they decided to dress as Women in Black and remain mute in the courtroom. It proceeded with the Judge deciding to consolidate the sentencings - despite his prior refusal of that motion.
Once in court, arguments were made by both sides on the length of sentence. The prosecutor and the probation office requested sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years in prison. The nuns' attorneys argued that when the guidelines for sabotage were set to mandate lengthy sentences, the actions defined under
"sabotage" in no way included what the nuns did. The legal precedent is that of Daniel Sicken and Sachio Ko Yin who, some years back, were sentenced in the same court for a similar action. Their judge - Judge Miller - granted downward departure at sentencing saying: "There is sabotage and then there is sabotage!" The prosecution appealed the judge's decision and lost; the 10th circuit court of appeals upheld the judge's decision. The damage in the prior case was far more substantial than that of which the nuns are convicted.
Sr. Jackie Hudson was sentenced to 30 months in prison
Sr. Carol Gilbert was sentenced to 33 months in prison
Sr. Ardeth Platte was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
In addition, a period of 3 years supervised release follows their prison sentences; no fines were imposed but restitution of $3,081.04 was. They were ordered to self-surrender but refused and were taken immediately into custody. Supporters in the packed courtroom chanted: "Close the silos; free the nuns!" and the courtroom was cleared.
The day began in Baltimore with reading and reflecting on the scripture passages for today. The passage from 2 Corinthians 4: 8ff was a gift for today; it reminded us that the nuns (and through and in solidarity with them, we ourselves) are afflicted, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We are grieved that the nuns will have to serve that kind of time for an action that was totally symbolic; but we are relieved that it is not the 8 - 10 years that the prosecution was demanding. The nuns were and are prepared to accept prison, however much they - and we - believe that they committed no crime, certainly no major crime. "We had no criminal intent at any level," said Sr. Ardeth Platte, a member, with Sr. Carol Gilbert, of Jonah House. "We accept the consequences of our actions joyfully.I know it will be a long journey, but we're not afraid." Platte said.
The sisters believe nuclear weapons are the "taproot" of social and economic injustice because the billions of dollars spent on them could go to programs for the poor and needy. Standing against militarism, they say, is a way to challenge skewed priorities that cause orphanages and soup kitchens to exist in the first place.
The Nuns' "crimes" revealed that we in the U.S. accept rule by our own "evil tyrants who threaten and use weapons of mass destruction and ignore international law." Even more shocking to the current "might makes right" school of "law," the Nuns showed that together we could nonviolently accomplish complete nuclear disarmament one weapon at a time starting with open declaration and inspection.
We have no news yet of where the nuns will be taken. We expect they will spend some time in a local or transitory facility before being taken to the federal prisons where they will serve their time. We will be in touch when we have an address for them.
Below are the statements Carol and Ardeth made this morning in front of the courthouse, having determined not to speak in court.
SENTENCING STATEMENT - SISTER CAROL GILBERT, OP
JULY 25, 2003
For many months I have pondered what to say, if anything at all. St. Francis once said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words." It seems that today a few words are necessary. For the past ten months we have tried to cooperate with these courts. We have been asking since day one - what are the charges? What is Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2155, if not sabotage?
We are not saboteurs. Today, we ask no more questions.
We know something is very wrong with a system that can incarcerate us for years in prison for inspecting, exposing and symbolically disarming America's Weapons of Mass Destruction.
We know we should be acquitted for upholding the United States Constitution that declares all laws and treaties to be the supreme laws of the country. Article 6, Section 2 of the United States Constitution "declares this constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall be made under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
We should be acquitted for upholding International laws which this court has deemed unnecessary but which is bound to enforce under Article 6, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. It hurts to hear the prosecutor continue to call Frances Boyle a "self-professed international law guru." We should be acquitted for upholding the highest law - God's Law.
Judge Blackburn talked a lot about law. He didn't want this to be a political trial but a case about law. So did we. That was our deepest hope. But, we were not the ones that turned this into a political trial nor will we make of ourselves political prisoners - that will be the prosecutor and judge.
We have read in the press and in our pre-sentencing reports that the lengthy sentence is for deterrence - both for ourselves and others. But, what the government fails to recognize is that long prison sentences will only energize the movement. As a tee shirt in upstate New York reads, "You can jail the resister but not the resistance." We will not be silenced.
During our seven months in the Clear Creek County Jail we received thousands of letters from the United States and international community, over a thousand signatures from people who stand in solidarity with us and more than 650 letters were sent to the judge asking for compassion and justice. There have been four plowshares actions since ours - one of them in the United States.
This Memorial Day, four plowshares activists enfleshed the Isaiah and Micah prophecies on the USS Philippine Sea in New York harbor during fleet week naming themselves Riverside Ploughshares. No charges were filed.
No, Judge Blackburn needs no more words from us. Judge Blackburn needs no character witnesses this morning. What Judge Blackburn needs is to listen to his God. He needs to heed these words from one of my church's social justice documents, Gadium et spes. # 16. "Deep within their consciences men and women discover a law which they have not laid upon themselves and which they must obey. It's voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, tells them inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For they have in their hearts a law inscribed by God. Their dignity rests, in observing the law, and by it they will be judged. Their conscience is people's most secret core and their sanctuary. There they are alone with God whose voice echoes in their depths."
Tomorrow, (July 26) non-violent citizens in Colorado will inspect and expose America's weapons of mass destruction, the Minuteman 111 , with others joining in solidarity in other states and others exposing other weapons systems at other sites.
Resistance will not be deterred. You cannot silence truth. Truth will be spoken. Law will be upheld.
Judge Blackburn and the prosecutor need to reflect on the story in the Acts of the Apostles of Gamaliel - Chapter 5 vv. 17-42. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a member of the Council, and a teacher of the Law. He was highly respected by all the people. As Peter and the other apostles were taken to the Council and high-priest, Gamaliel cautioned the council not to take any action against the men. He said, "if what they have planned and done is of human origin it will disappear, but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them."
Someday history will prove what we did on the early morning of October 6, 2002 - inspecting, exposing and symbolically disarming a Minuteman 111, a weapon of mass destruction was legal.
Until that day I will continue being led where I would rather not go. I will continue to resist with every fiber of my being so that not one child will ever ask, "Why were you complicit?" .
Lastly, a few words about fear. I don't fear going to prison. I don't fear loss of freedom to move about. I don't even fear death. The fear that fills me is not having lived hard enough, deep enough and sweet enough with whatever gifts God has given me.
The demons are banished by light and like the prophet Micah, this is what God asks of us, only this - " To act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with our God."
There is a story told of Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest, prophet and friend that he was once asked to give the commencement address at a prestigious university. He stood up, walked to the podium and said, "Know where you stand and stand there" and then he sat down. My friends, "know where you stand and stand there." (Bow)
ELOCUTION AT SENTENCING BY ARDETH PLATTE, O.P.
In front of the Federal District Court House on July 25, 2003
While we were at home at Jonah House, we opened our liturgy with the music, "Here I am God. Is it I God? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go God, if You lead me. I will hold your people in my heart ." We closed the liturgy with: "Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow Me and I will give you rest." Faith and the words of the stanzas to these hymns record key notes in my journey of life - in waging peace, led on a quest for a world without war ever again, in an attempt to stop the crimes and sins of government in my name, in disarming weapons of mass destruction and stopping the merchant- sales of the killing machines and technology sold to other nations, and calling for a design of a global economy that will assure people in the entire world all basic human necessities of food, shelter, education and health care, etc.
With a vision for disarmament, a mandate to speak truth, and a mission to halt the sinfulness, illegality and criminality being touted in my name, I march to the Drummer of my soul Who instills faith rather than fear, trust not hopelessness, and love instead of hatred and enemy relationships made through endless threats, innuendos, propaganda, and permanent warmaking.
This journey has included numerous direct actions over decades: forums, vigils, lobby, processions, demonstrations, boycotts, and civil resistance in various areas of the country. Our social analysis, along with the need to unmask urgent and sometimes secretive matters, has led me into nonviolent symbolic public actions of resistance, such as:
1. Christ lives, disarm! Easter Sunday, 1992...entered into a nuclear bunker.
2. Weep for Children Plowshares,1996...at the launching of the 18th Trident.
3. Gods of Metal Plowshares, 1998...bomb bay area of a B-52 used in Iraq.
4. Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares, 2000...the Milstar receiver and an F-18 used in bombing Iraq.
5. Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II, 2002...Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at N8, threatened and prepared to beused.
Sisters Carol, Jackie and I believe that we had a responsibility to inspect, expose, and symbolically disarm this weapon of mass destruction to avert a crime of our government and uphold the laws of the United States, not break them. Don't people claim today that the citizens of Germany should have blocked the trains carrying people to the crematoriums, dismantled the ovens, or done something to stop the mass murder of people by Hitler? How will future generations judge all of us?
I find the charges in the Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II bogus. Ours was a simple, measured, nonviolent, symbolic action wherein the liturgical rituals were crystal clear.
What were the fears within the prosecutor to call for an "in limine" motion that silenced us on all the laws so pertinent to the threats to use the Minuteman III? What fears were within the judge to grant the silencing?
Being stripped of our law defenses made the trial a farce.
The elements of the charges were not substantiated beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecutor. The jury did not recognize the ongoing change in the wording of the charges throughout the trial: from an indictment under sabotage by a grand jury, citing a specific intent to obstruct the national defense, then use of vandalism and trespass, and finally use of destruction of national defense premises recorded on the verdict form. Even the government's witnesses claimed under oath that the national defense was never jeopardized. How can a national offensive first strike weapon be launched as a national defensive weapon? Deliberation by the jury seemed brief and without researching answers to the complexities in such a seriouscase. Are we charged with sabatoge? Yes! Isn't that the reason I face 92 to 115 months in prison?
Could peacemakers lives be that expendable? Will the punitive measures taken against dissenters, enforced under Patriot Bills I and II, be so harsh that any lawlessness on the part of government officials will go unchallenged in the future? Who will be courageous enough to reveal the lies and stop the murderous conduct in Afghanistan and Iraq? Who will demand an end to U.S. interventionism? Who will stand in behalf of the people contaminated by depleted uranium? Who will be there for prisoners illegally detained in Guantanamo? Who will teach the treaties and U. S. Constitution and who will demand the implementation by every court of the land? Who will bring nonviolence into the forefront for conflict-solving?
The sentencing consequences are exaggerated; the prosecutor and probation offices' research is skewed. Why would multi-hundreds of letters and more than 1,000 solidarity communications have no effect for downward departure? Why has the prosecutor's statements to the press been considered acceptable - that a long sentence for us will deter others. Four plowshare actions have been carried out since ours - one on Memorial Day on the USS Philippine Sea with the use of blood poured out on the bomb hatches and hammers used in the same symbolic way? Yet no charges were brought forth.
How will we wage the struggle together to keep democracy alive, to bring our nation from its killing mode to a life-giving mode, to keep the tenets of the beatitudes, commandments and Sermon on the Mount practiced by the nation as well as by us as individuals? Tomorrow's direct action at the silos and bases to inspect, expose and demand disarmament is a bold and worthy beginning. We join you in spirit with deepest gratitude. Whatever sentence I receive today will be joyfully accepted as an offering for peace. With God's help it will not injure my spirits. In the sacred moments or years of imprisonment, I will remain with you in prayer and walk together with you for the good of all humanity and creation. My love and gratitude always.
A report from the August 6-9th Faith and Resistance Retreat and a Message from Bill Frankel Streit in the SHU at Ft. Dix FCI
The Atlantic Life Community's August Faith and Resistance Retreat travelled this year: August 6 at the Pentagon in DC, August 9 at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
On August 6th, remembering the bombing of Hiroshima, 41 people emerged from the subway right next to the Pentagon building. We walked to a nearby entrance, where Pentagon workers were rapidly going inside. 37 held banners, read statements, and sang. 4 of us got right in the middle of the stream of people going to work, Some lay down on the cement, others used sidewalk chalk to draw shadows, remembering the shadows that were all that was left of people in Hiroshima when the bomb exploded. We were surprised by Austin, a four year old, who wanted to join us: he lay down and we drew a shadow around him. One of the blockaders held a picture from Nagasaki, and knelt in prayer.
Arrested and charged with "Interference with the functions of an agency" (or "Interfering with the functioning of the Pentagon" were Art Laffin, Liz McAlister, Malinda Smail, and Susan Crane. Their court date is October 3 in the Alexandia Federal Court. The 37 remained holding banners, even when threatened with arrest, and were able to stay an hour.
The next day, we caravaned to Bath, Maine. At Bath Iron Works, the USS Monson, an Arleigh Burke class Destroyer (holding 56 Tomahawk Cruise Missles) was to be christened on August 9th, at 11:00 in the morning. (the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on the 9th at 11:02).
Maine Veterans for Peace had organized a rally in a nearby park, the blessing of a boat-The Philip Berrigan-and a couple of short addresses from Kathy Kelly, Bruce Gagnon, and Liz McAlister. Then, we all walked to Bath Iron Works. There were large peace doves, banners, and the boat along with many people: estimates ranged from the media's 150 to 400. At any rate, a good crowd.
When we arrived at BIW, some of us got into the line of people waiting to get in for the ceremony. Others stood across the street, holding signs, making statements, and singing.
Those of us in line were told by the BIW security that we were not going to be allowed in, but we waited until we were in front of the gate, and then unfurled our long banner: "We remember Hiroshima, We remember Nagasaki, Never again". Thirteen of us were holding the banner across the gate. We were all quickly arrested and the banner cut from our hands. Grace Ritter (New York), Jane Van Landingham (Mass.), Jim Harney (Maine), George Ostenson (Maine), Cath Robson and Sr. Susan Clarkson (Dorothy Day CW in D.C.), Mary Donnelly (Maine), Lisa Guido (New York), Tom Feagley (Mass), Kevin Wyer (Maine), Tom Lewis (Mass.), Susan Crane and Liz McAlister (Jonah House, Baltimore) were all charged with criminal trespass, and have a court date Sept. 16, at 1 pm.
Bill Frankel Streit, of the Little Flower Catholic Worker in Virgina, is serving a 6 month sentence (along with Steve Baggarly and Steve Woolford) for exposing the blood at the Pentagon during the December Feast of the Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance retreat. He is currently at a FCI in Ft. Dix, New Jersey. We received this statement from him.
By the time you receive this note, I will most likely be tucked away in the SHU (segregated housing unit). I follow Greg Boertje and Steve Kelly, SJ who, before me, continued to resist the powers by noncooperating with this filthy, rotten system. When I first arrived here at Ft. Dix FCI, the authorities here pleaded with me to "program". This request came in the aftermath of Steve Kelly's consistent noncooperation with this unjust racist system.
The time has come for me to refuse to "program". I refuse to "recall" or be counted today in solidarity and support of Sisters Carol, Ardeth, and Jackie. I join the day of resistance, July 26th, and refuse to continue to cooperate with this system that plans nuclear war and world domination and sustains a prison system blatantly racist and unjust.
Our US military empire threatens the earth and space with weapons of mass destruction to reinforce a world order of domination and exploitation creating and maintaining the great disparity between rich and poor. This injustice extends into US prisons where a mass destruction of lives continues in huge sentences. The war on drugs is as steeped in lies and propaganda as the war on Iraq. Both are cloaked, disguised as altruistic while in reality signify a destruction and domination of entire peoples, namely, peoples of color. The powers of darkness are enormous. But I believe the truth is true, that the light shines in the darkness and darkness will never overcome it.
I believe in the power of the cross, nonviolent resistance to the imperial state, the power of love. I believe even one person can make a difference. I believe, as Dorothy Day wrote, that God takes our little actions and increases them like the loaves and fishes. All we have to do is sow the seed; God will bring the harvest. I willingly put my trust and hope in the "foolishness" of resisting this system, I can only call evil. As Gandhi says, "Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good."
Bill, Steve and Steve are scheduled for release on September 6th. Until then you can write Bill at
William Streit
03809-052
Fort Dix FCI
PO Box 38
Fort Dix, NJ 08640
Lots of folks have been asking after Sisters Carol, Ardeth and Jackie. They are still in county jails in Colorado but expect to be moved soon. They will probably be in transit for a few weeks. We will let you know when they reach their (yet to be) designated federal prisons. At that point we will send out their addresses.
Thanks for all your support and your resistance,
Liz, Susan, Gary, Laurel and Kate