It’s not only North Carolina which is passing extreme Rightwing laws and then slapping the cuffs on those meddlesome octogenarian war hero delinquents displaying the temerity to exercise their 1st Amendment rights in protest against them.
In Wisconsin, where demonstrators against far Right Republican Governor Scott Walker have been holding a protest sing-along in the state capitol building every single day, without incident, for over two years since the passage of a radical anti-union bill, police have begun to use a similar tactic.
Below is video of Tom and Joan Kemble, the 85- and 80-year old parents of journalist Rebecca Kemble of The Progressive, being hauled away for singing peacefully in the state Capitol last week. Read Kemble’s full story here where she notes: “It was awkward to be part of the swarm of journalists crowding around my own parents as the police were closing in on them.”
“When Mom was surrounded by cops who were handcuffing the woman next to her and Mom looked her in the eye singing the verse of We Shall Overcome that says, ‘We are not afraid,’ I burst into tears,” writes Kemble. I must admit, so did I when watching the video.
“The courage, care for her friend and incredibly centered and peaceful defiance she showed in the face of the overblown police action was deeply moving,” Kemble continued. “And when Mom and Dad were handcuffed and led downstairs singing the words, ‘Walker won’t be governor, Walker won’t be governor, Walker won’t be governor someday,’ my daughter’s heart swelled with pride.”
“So far, seventy-nine Wisconsinites have been arrested and ticketed,” at the “Solidarity Sing Along”, reports WI native John Nichols at The Nation today, “from 85-year-olds to young moms with kids.”
Seriously, what the hell have we come to in this country?!…
UPDATE 8/1/2013: Joan and Tom Kemble were my guests on this week’s BradCast. And they even sang for us! Listen here…
I think it important that readers realize that this is a multi-part video that pertains to so-called “emergency” rules to restrict access to the WI state capitol for groups of people wishing to express their first amendment rights.
They include a second segment with a stirring rendition of The Internationale and successive speakers.
These Octogenarians were arrested for singing as their means for exercising their First Amendment rights in a publicly owned building.
How ironic is it that Republicans who claim to be the outspoken defenders of “liberty” move so forcefully to silence those who would dare to question them.
We saw the same method deployed when Cindy Sheehan, a Congressional invitee to Bush’s State of the Union Address, was promptly arrested by Capitol Police because she was wearing a tee shirt bearing the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.
That arrest produced another photo:
Hopefully, the ACLU will challenge this latest right wing assault on the First Amendment in court.
Unfortunately, my comments regarding the situation in North Carolina have to be repeated for Wisconsin:
As a veteran, I cannot help but wonder if certain GOP officeholders are aware that Article VI, Clause 3 of the supreme law of the land requires that “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution….” And is this how so many of those self-styled patriots tell us, “Thank you”–those of us willing to uphold the Fundamental Charter at risk of life and limb?
You said it well when you asked what has this country come to? It is what happens when the democrats sit home on election day and let the T-Party take over our country. As only about 10% of the people know what the heck is going on I don’t hold out much hope of anything changing. Between the crooked Supreme court activist judges and the republican gov’s controlling the elections it don’t look to good.
Fox Business host stuart Varney accused AARP of signing seniors up for food stamps as a “buy-the-vote campaign”. If that’s true then the converse would also be true that the Republicans trying to cut funding for food stamps targetting seniors and the poor would be (starving) killing the opposition to win an election.
Newman Tomes @ 3 said:
I might also suggest that it is what happens when Democrats do not give their voters something to be excited about voting for, and also when both Democrats and Republicans do not allow citizens to oversee the results of their own elections.
Just sayin.