[AKidsRight.Org] Syracuse NonViolent Action (delayed) - do you plead guilty to a crime?

jmurtari@akidsright.org

Good People & People of Faith:

I just wanted to give a brief update to what is (not) happening at
the Syracuse Federal Bldg. as efforts continue to get Senator Hillary
R. Clinton to meet with parents.  I also wanted to get your thoughts
on NonViolent Actions and pleading guilty to a 'crime?'

I won't take the time to recap past events.  If you wish to give
me some useful feedback and aren't familiar with events please
review the BLOG at http://www.AKidsRight.Org/actionc_syr and also
recent list messages at:
http://www.AKidsRight.Org/archive/archive2005

Recent Delay from March 31 to April 7 (maybe later)
--------------------------------------------------
My planned activity to write "Dom I LOVE YOU - Senator Clinton Help
Us" on the Federal Building wall with chalk will certainly provoke an
arrest from building officials and jail time.  I try to get my
personal 'affairs' taken care of and worry most about my mother, whom
I live with.  Her health has been good, but a routine checkup last
week called for more tests.

I'm still waiting to hear test results for my Mom (88).  Her Doctor
wanted a hurry up sonogram done to measure a blockage he heard via
stethoscope in one of her carotid arteries, it is called a "Carotid
Bruit."  She has been feeling well and I hope it will require no
action, but he did say that if the blockage was large it would
require some type of treatment (which sounds a little scary).

Everytime I end up in jail, it is with some risk to her and I'm
fortunate to have cousins in town that check on her and help with
groceries while I'm 'tied up.'  It is a risk she understands.  I am
her only child. Domenic is her only grandchild.  Last week I was
ready to go to the Federal Building and take a 'leap of Faith',
accepting whatever the consequences might be ... that has been
delayed and it is frustrating....

However, this could be a serious matter and she needs my help and
support.  Any of you can go to the Federal Building and write "I LOVE
YOU" to your kids with love in your heart and show Senator Clinton
how much you care about this issue -- ONLY I, can be a son to my
mother.

If any of you have had elderly parents with these carotid blockages,
I sure would appreciate anything you can share about the experience,
how any treatment went, etc...?  If you are interest in seeing a
picture of Mama, check http://www.AKidsRight.Org/grandma_dm.htm

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!  If I can get some type of word
today and things sound 'okay', I will be going to the Federal
Building on Thursday at 2PM.  Check the web site (above) for details.

NonViolent Action and pleading guilty to a crime.
-------------------------------------------------
In all my other events and activities I have been able to plead 'not
guilty' when accused of a crime.  I violated no laws.  On a couple of
occasions I have been found 'guilty' by a Federal Magistrate, but if
I would have had the protection of Jury I am confident the verdict
would have been 'not guilty.'

When I have the chance to write "I LOVE YOU" on the side of the
building with chalk -- I'll be doing something that even I think
should not be normally 'allowed', or we would have graffitti all over
the place.  Is this justified? Do I plead guilty to a crime?

We all have heard of Batman, Robin, the Hulk, and other
Fathers-4-Justice campaigners.  I don't think any of us feel it
should be okay to climb a bridge and lower a banner, and laws that
prohibit such conducts are probably okay -- but should they plead
guilty at a trial?  What does sound morality and Faith require?

Before trying to give an answer, how about another question.  During
the 'slave' years in the United States, when slavery was actually
recognized by our Constitution -- how would you have expected a slave
to plea that tried to be 'free' and had run away with his family?
Also, keep in mind we are talking about NonViolent Action, not the
slave who first kills his master to be free (or the parent who takes
their child and runs, denying the other parent contact).

I guess it depends on how you define a crime and a criminal.  Here is
a definition I saw at dictionary.com (Isn't the internet great!).

====
Main Entry: crime      Pronunciation: 'krIm       Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin crimen fault, accusation, crime

1 : conduct that is prohibited and has a specific punishment (as
incarceration or fine) prescribed by public law -- compare DELICT,
TORT

2 : an offense against public law usually excluding a petty violation
-- see also FELONY, MISDEMEANOR

NOTE: Crimes in the common-law tradition were originally defined
primarily by judicial decision. For the most part, common-law crimes
are now codified. There is a general principle 'nullum crimen sine
lege,' that there can be no crime without a law. A crime generally
consists of both conduct, known as the actus reus, and a concurrent
state of mind, known as the mens rea.

Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster,Inc.
=====

Also, please note I am not saying there should not be punishment
imposed for the acts we may perform, or that we shouldn't be ready to
accept jail time -- but just, should the person involved speed the
judicial process by pleading guilty to the crime?

NonViolent Action - what action for parents?
-------------------------------------------- 
In the past people practicing NonViolent Action have been able to
perform actions directly related to their 'right'. In India,
followers of Gandhi just need to dry sea water and violate the
British 'salt laws'.  During segregation, a Black just had to sit in
the front of the bus to violate the abhorrent law peacefully.  What
about parents?

I think we are VERY wrong and foolish if we 'protest' the system by
NOT paying child support for a child we can't see.  We are foolish if
we 'take' the child away and then the other parent can NOT see them.
These things are not NonViolent Action.  So what is a parent to do?

I think the F-4-J folks have a great symbol, dress up in a public
place and release a banner.  I have tried carrying pictures of
parents and children outside the offices of Senator Clinton in a
Federal Building. Take some chalk and write "I LOVE YOU" on the
ground, on a wall. NOT hurting anyone else, NOT causing any real
damage, but to which any onlooker would be clear of your
motivation...

What about your 'state of mind'?
-------------------------------
What about that 'mens rea'?  Isn't one of the simple associations we
can make about criminal behavior being selfish?  That the act was
also performed with knowledge and free will?   If you were a Judge
trying a runaway slave, or perhaps a Black man who violated a local
statue and sat in the front of the bus -- do you expect them to 
plead 'guilty'?

Here are some thoughts I had in a letter I had occasion to write
back in 2004 and I welcome your FEEDBACK:

===============
To:  U.S. Magistrate Judge Gustav J. DiBianco:

  ... The tension of the recent weeks has caused me to do some soul
  searching. I hope all of us can try to find another path to
  resolution. I am not a criminal, but I find myself in the criminal
  justice system?

  You know criminals. People who commit acts whose goal is to
  selfishly benefit themselves or to harm others. The punishments of
  our criminal system are meant to remind these people of the
  consequences of their actions and to bring change of heart. They
  want to avoid punishment and the system "works." I am not a
  criminal.

  As someone involved in NonViolent Action (and in a very small way
  trying to follow the example set by Gandhi and Martin Luther King),
  I am demonstrating my willingness to sacrifice to convert the
  attitudes of the good people who surround me. I know you find it
  hard to understand this struggle for the rights of parents to
  nurture their own children (I did before it happened to me). Fifty
  years ago GOOD people found it hard to understand why black people
  wanted to sit in the front of the bus. Why did they want to drink
  out of the same water fountain as a white person? It had gone on
  for so many years. I wish we could find ourselves in a Southern
  Courtroom in Mississippi.

  ... you must have at times imagined yourselves back then. Called
  upon to prosecute and to judge a black man who violates a local
  ordinance (for the fifth time!) and continues to try and sit in the
  front of the bus (without anger or malice towards anyone). What
  type of response is required and who is "responsible?" ...  The
  risk of jail would hurt, but the black man and his family would
  have also faced a visit from the Klan; the potential destruction of
  their home around them. One has to admire the faith they had to
  persevere!

  The man is not a criminal. He accepts the risk of punishment as
  part of a willingness to sacrifice and help those around him better
  see the indignity he is subject to. If we seek to "blame" him I
  believe we must also find he is not responsible alone for those
  actions. Indeed, all the members of the community also share in
  this responsibility by being asleep to the great injustice that was
  being done. In some sense they all share the burden of the pain he
  will be forced to endure?  Without going into theology, this
  example helped me to understand part of the Passion of Jesus of
  Nazareth -- forced to the cross because of our collective inability
  to love others as we should. He bore the punishment for our
  indifference.

  Judge, please understand I have no illusions of grandeur! I am
  content if no one ever notices my activity. We remember King and
  Gandhi, but there were thousands of others who died in those causes
  and history has forgotten their names. That is fine with me,
  because like those many others, I do know my Son, Domenic, will
  remember what his father did because of his love for him.

  You show great concern over the time Federal Police require to
  respond to my actions. I'm sure I'm the least of their
  worries... People in pain will do hopeless acts. I know by the
  letters I get in jail and email that this effort has touched people
  hearts and hopefully changed their actions. A mother called me
  after my last jail sentence and told me her son had committed
  suicide from despair after a family Court proceeding. That he felt
  helpless to see the children he loved. If there is even ONE less
  police call out there -- I'm sure it would justify hundreds of
  these minor arrests.

  I hope you can perceive a difference between my effort to petition
  Senator Clinton, a good person -- and the efforts of "protesters"
  you have seen in your Court before? ... You know I try to be honest
  with you and always take the witness stand. I am not a criminal...

  My efforts to petition Senator Clinton will hopefully stop when we
  are able to arrange a meeting between her and parents and not
  before. Increasing jail sentences or additional orders should not
  modify my behavior. I am not a criminal. How can it be otherwise? I
  do not need a change of heart.

  I must also apologize for my failure in leadership and planning. If
  I could get more people involved we would certainly get a meeting
  with Senator Clinton and this would not be happening. I regret that
  deeply and it is my responsibility. I am trying the best I can. As
  always, I and my family appreciate the kindness and forbearance you
  and Mr. Southwick [the US Attorney] have extended in this difficult
  situation.

  Respectfully, John Murtari
=========================
-- 
                                       John Murtari
____________________________________________________________________
Coordinator                            AKidsRight.Org
jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org                "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents"
Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211)        http://www.AKidsRight.Org/

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