Anti-Drone Activist's One-Year Sentence Will Not Deter Movement

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Anti-Drone Activist's One-Year Sentence Will Not Deter Movement

Thursday, 31 July 2014
By Ben Kuebrich, Waging Nonviolence | Op-Ed


Like most of her supporters in the courtroom, I was enraged when I heard N.Y. Judge David Gideon sentenced Mary Anne Grady-Flores to one year in jail on July 10. But a deep hope prevailed, which characterizes the local anti-drone movement in New York and is no small part of the impact we’ve had.

When Grady-Flores was handcuffed in DeWitt Town Court, the 115 people in attendance stood up and sang. Resonating deep from her roots in the Catholic Worker movement, we called out in unison that night in the courtroom:

Rejoice in the Lord always
Again I say rejoice
Rejoice, rejoice
Again I say rejoice

We shook the room with our song. Some embraced each other and some cried, but everyone sang. When the court guards had enough and told us to leave, the singing only grew louder. We stayed for 10 minutes in that courtroom, repeating the same song, hoping that Grady-Flores could feel us through the court walls.

Grady-Flores was sentenced to one year in jail for violating an order of protection at the behest of Col. Earl Evans of the U.S. Air National Guard’s 174th Attack Wing at Hancock Field in Syracuse, Judge Gideon gave her the maximum sentence despite a pre-sentencing report from the parole office recommending that Grady-Flores receive a conditional discharge, which would mean no jail time. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25297-anti-drone-activists-one-year-sentence-will-not-deter-movement