Disrupted lives of those arrested during RNC in St. Paul

[annm4peace]

* remember, these people did not cause riots, they did not set off bonfires, they did NOT overturn fires. the were political arrests.




(The RNC of 2008 is a fading past for most of the country, and much of import has happened on this continent since last Fall. Just as there are many folks beginning their fight against the State for the tumult in Oakland last January, there are a number of friends still caught up in the web of Oppression in Minnesota. The RNC 8 have had their Terrorism enhancements dropped but are left with potential jail time for their conspiracy charges ( http://rnc8.org ), Dave Mahoney is approaching trial and facies over 20 years in prison for six bogus felony charges (terroristic threats for pointing a finger?!), and Santa Cruz citizen Jesse Forrey is still stuck living in Minneapolis awaiting trial. Some of the who are dealing with the aftermath of the RNC are not as widely know as the RNC 8 but are still having their lives torn apart. This is just a reminder that folks in the Twin Cities and all over are still dealing with the aftermath of the RNC, and an offering of sentiments from a local Californian transplant who is fighting to go home.

Jesse James Forrey is a friend, a brother, a musician and artist, writer, student, and teacher. He spends his time helping raise the children in his life, playing the banjo, taking and offering community classes, and volunteering his time to help create healthy communities. Jesse, 27, was arrested at the RNC protests of last September in the Twin Cities and is fighting a felony charge, facing up to five years in jail. He is from Santa Cruz, California and courageously waits to return to his home and family. He has hired a private attorney to help him through trial and needs all the support he can get. For more information visit http://www.supportjessejames.wordpress.com and http://rncaftermath.com .



http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/apr/support-jesse-james-and-rnc-others

Support Jesse James and the RNC Others

The RNC of 2008 is a fading past for most of the country, and much of import has happened on this continent since last Fall. Just as there are many folks beginning their fight against the State for the tumult in Oakland last January, there are a number of friends still caught up in the web of Oppression in Minnesota. The RNC 8 have had their Terrorism enhancements dropped but are left with potential jail time for their conspiracy charges ( http://rnc8.org ), Dave Mahoney is approaching trial and facies over 20 years in prison for six bogus felony charges (terroristic threats for pointing a finger?!), and Santa Cruz citizen Jesse Forrey is still stuck living in Minneapolis awaiting trial. Some of the who are dealing with the aftermath of the RNC are not as widely know as the RNC 8 but are still having their lives torn apart. This is just a reminder that folks in the Twin Cities and all over are still dealing with the aftermath of the RNC, and an offering of sentiments from a local Californian transplant who is fighting to go home.

Jesse James Forrey is a friend, a brother, a musician and artist, writer, student, and teacher. He spends his time helping raise the children in his life, playing the banjo, taking and offering community classes, and volunteering his time to help create healthy communities. Jesse, 27, was arrested at the RNC protests of last September in the Twin Cities and is fighting a felony charge, facing up to five years in jail. He is from Santa Cruz, California and courageously waits to return to his home and family. He has hired a private attorney to help him through trial and needs all the support he can get. For more information visit http://www.supportjessejames.wordpress.com and http://rncaftermath.com .

We are told we are “innocent until proven guilty” but are kept in jails, or released on strict conditions until the State makes its case against us. I cannot help but feel sorrow when I talk about all of this. I want to believe: in fairness, in freedom, in people, both strangers and friends alike. I want to believe in us, our ability to create a beautiful life. but there are things that I cannot ignore.

I have been in the Twin Cities for eight months now. Eight months. I had planned on being here for one week, but following my arrest in September I have been forced to stay here until my case is closed. I have been found guilty of no crime, yet I have been away from my home for so long, away from my three year old friend Autumn whom I have helped raise. How do I compensate for missing these months of her life? I can not get them back, and I can only try to explain to her that I would be with her if I could.

I was conditionally released from the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center after five days in jail on $2,500 bail. The prosecution asked for $10,000 and the judge offered $7,500 or $2,500 with conditions. A bond was not available because I do not live in Minnesota, nor do I have any immediate family in the area, and my financial means are very modest. Some friends gathered their money together and I accepted their conditions: I was to check-in weekly with “Project Remand”, and could not leave the metropolitan area without permission. I have been given a place to stay with friends here, as well as the warm clothes needed to survive this, my first, freezing winter, and all things considered have been getting by. But not a day, not a single day in the last six months have I not thought about the West Coast, my friends and my family. The struggle inside of me to accept that I can not be with them, the distance and sadness has made this one of the hardest times of my life. And I have done nothing wrong. I am not even accused of hurting anyone, yet my life has been irrevocably altered.

Throughout this I have thought about those whose lives are wrapped up in this Criminal “Justice” System and my heart skips. It goes out to the families whose parents never come home at night, or whose unarmed son is shot to death in public by the police, it goes out to the woman who begged the judge to release the temporary restraining order on her husband so he could come home and help her take care of their two kids only to be turned down because the case was still pending. My heart has broken in these past eight months. But I choose to let it be broken open so that I can feel what is happening in this world.

[Echo In Light]

1. K&R - Journalists arrested also (Amy Goodman)

[Bozita]

2. I watched a lot of the RNC Copfest live online as it was happening.

Watched those indy live videos for hours. Pretty hard to be pro-cop after those performances.

[Overseas]

3. K&R !! //nt

[defendandprotect]

4. There should be Federal review of this - perhaps Congress?

This treatment is barbaric --
Repug/corporate/capitalism is fascism and intended to drive us all insane . . .
And, perhaps as much as war and TORTURE, we need to look inside our prisons because
many tell us that they are being tortured, as well. It's been a long time since the
1930's prison reform and much of it has been eroded, returning to the days of
"punishment" and "forced labor" -- striped uniforms, chain gangs.
We seem to have lost much of the opportunities for social work assistance --
education -- libraries -- physical health.


And look at who is reminding us of these concerns ....
A protester who is being treated so undemocratically, so unjustly -- that it is disrupting
his life for months since ---

Throughout this I have thought about those whose lives are wrapped up in this Criminal “Justice” System and my heart skips. It goes out to the families whose parents never come home at night, or whose unarmed son is shot to death in public by the police, it goes out to the woman who begged the judge to release the temporary restraining order on her husband so he could come home and help her take care of their two kids only to be turned down because the case was still pending. My heart has broken in these past eight months. But I choose to let it be broken open so that I can feel what is happening in this world.

Last night for a little while I wached a program - I think on one of the PBs stations - about
animal abuse -- Elephants killed for their tusks -- and it was centered on a rescue facility
and in the course of showing the animals there, they showed a baby elephant wandering and
hitting her head on posts and walls as the narration informed us that she had witnesses the
killing of here mother -- in all detail.

After these decades of GOP/corporate fascist rule we too should all be acting as this poor
baby elephant is acting.

Let's rid ourselves of patriarchy - of the war on nature - the war on women and children -
the exploitation of animal-life and natural resources which are destroying our planet --
and the exploitation of other human beings according to various myths of "inferiority."

And most of all, let's uninvent the dollar bill -- the yardstick used to prove to us the
worthlessness of our fellow human beings, animal life and nature unless grounded up for profit!

P L E A S E ---