Granny D's day in D.C. Court
All of US
The following is E-mail from a new friend from Canada! We at International Freedom Foundation believe the people of the world look to America to set an example & wonder what message are we sending! Are we standing for freedom or oppression?
On May 24, 2000 a 90-year-old grandmother was arrested in our nations Capitol for reading the Declaration of Independence! Please read the following attachment - Granny D Haddock is a true American hero.
When a woman of 90 years shares her knowledge, you owe it to yourself & your children's children to listen, learn & respect the wisdom of her years! I hope you cry & become determined to make changes!
In our disposable society how many 70-90-year-olds are put in nursing homes! This woman is awesome! Do you have the courage of a 90-year-old woman?
I wish my own Mother thought, understood & could act like this! Do you?
Katman
Katman
It is people like this who inspire me to pursue my "truthseeking" & to convey my knowledge any way I can, be it letters to the editor, my website or any other means of communication.
XXXXXXXXX
Kamloops, BC
Granny D's day in D.C. Court
90-year-old Doris "Granny D" Haddock was in court in the District of Columbia on Wed., May 24, to plead guilty to the charge of demonstrating in the Capitol building last April 21. Some 31 others were charged with her.
The judge, Chief Judge Hamilton of DC federal district court, was silent after Doris made her statement. In sentencing, he said to Doris & the demonstrators [this is approximate until the court transcript becomes available]:
"Sometimes some people are ahead of the law. It will change, catching up to where they are. In the meantime, some people like you have to act on behalf of the silent masses." He went on for several minutes with a beautiful statement. We'll get it on GrannyD.com as soon as possible. He could have imposed sentences of 6 months imprisonment & $500. Instead, he sentenced everyone to time already served, plus $10 (that was a reduced administration fee, not actually a fine. The usual fee is $50). He met with Doris in his chambers after the session & told her to "take care, because it is people like you who will help us reach our destiny". Some of his clerks were in tears at the meeting.
Doris & friends then went to picket the $26 million dollar Democratic
Party fundraiser at the Washington MCI Arena, where $500,000 fat cats sat at tables on the arena floor eating barbecue & listening to the President & Vice President, while regular people --$50 contributors-- paid $3 per bottle of water to watch them eat. Doris was well interviewed there by NPR & several newspapers. When Doris crossed the street in front of the security-bristling arena she was approached by a squad of 6 DC policemen & women. They wanted to meet her.
Doris Haddock, called "Granny D" by her grandchildren, burdened by arthritis & emphysema, walked 3,000 miles from California to Washington to deliver her message. And, deliver her message she did. Her statement before the Court is reprinted below:
Doris "Granny D" Haddock Court Statement May 24, 2000
Your Honor, the old woman who stands before you was arrested for reading the Declaration of Independence in America's Capitol Building. I did not raise my voice to do so & I blocked no hall.
The First Amendment to the Constitution, Your Honor, says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, & to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, so I cannot imagine what legitimate law I could have broken. We peaceably assembled there, Your Honor, careful too not offend the rights of any other citizen nor interrupt the peaceful enjoyment of their day. The people we met were supportive of what we were saying & I think they--especially the children--were shocked that we would be arrested for such a thoroughly wholesome American activity as respectfully voicing our opinion in our own hall. Any American standing there would have been shocked. For we were a most peaceable assembly, until Trent Lott's & Mitch McConnell's police came in with their bullhorns & their shackles to arrest us. One of us, who is here today, was injured & required a number of stitches to his head after he fell & could not break his I was reading from the Declaration of Independence to make the point that we must declare our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money in our election campaigns.
And so I was reading these very words when my hands were pulled behind me & bound: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty & the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
Your Honor, we would never seek to abolish our dear United States. But alter it? Yes, it is our constant intention that it should be a government of, by & for the people, not the special interests, so that people may use this government in service to each other's needs & to protect the condition of our earth.
Your Honor, it is now your turn to be a part of this arrest. If your concern is that we might have interfered with the visitor's right to a meaningful tour of their Capitol, I tell you that we helped them have a more meaningful one. If your concern is that we might have been blocking the halls of our government, let me assure you that we stood to one side of the Rotunda where we would not be in anyone's way. But I inform you that the halls are indeed blocked over there.
They are blocked by the shameless sale of public policy to campaign contributors, which bars the doors & the halls to the people's legitimate needs & the flow of proper representation. We Americans must put an end to it in any peaceful way that we can. Yes, we can speak when we vote, & we do. But we must also give our best effort to encourage the repair of a very broken system. We must do both. And the courts & prosecutors in government have a role, too. If Attorney General Reno would properly enforce the federal bribery statute, we would see lobbyists & elected officials dragged from the Capitol Building & the White House, their wrists tied, not ours. I would be home in New Hampshire, happily applauding the television news as my government cleaned its' own house.
In my 90 years, this is the first time I have been arrested. I risk my good name --for I do indeed care what my neighbors think about me. But, Your Honor, some of us do not have much power, except to put our bodies in the way of an injustice--to picket, to walk, or to just stand in the way. It will not change the world overnight, but it is all we can do.
So I am here today while others block the halls with their corruption. $25,000,000 dollars are changing hands this very evening at a fundraiser down the street. It is the corrupt sale of public policy, & everyone knows it. I would refer those officials & those lobbyists, Your Honor, to Mr. Bob Dylan's advice when he wrote: "Come senators, congressmen, Please heed the call. Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall."
Your Honor, the song was a few years early, but the time has now come for change. The times are changing because they must. And they will sweep away the old politician --the self-serving, the self-absorbed, the corrupt. The time of that leader is rapidly fading. We have come through a brief time when we have allowed ourselves to be entertained by corrupt & hapless leaders because they offer so little else, & because, as citizens, we have been priced out of participation & can only try to get some enjoyment out of their follies. But the earth itself can no longer afford them. We owe this change to our children & our grandchildren & our great grandchildren. We need have no fear that a self-governing people can creatively & effectively address their needs as a nation & a world if the corrupt & greedy are out of their way, & ethical leadership is given the helm.
Your Honor, to the business at hand: the old woman who stands before you was arrested for reading the Declaration of Independence in America's Capitol Building. I did not raise my voice to do so & I blocked no hall. But if it is a crime to read the Declaration of Independence in our great hall, then I am guilty.
See http://GrannyD.com
When elections are for sale, so is our freedom.
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