You Have the Right to Remain Silent

I was at a nonviolent training in preparation for trespassing and staying limp during arrest at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. Attendees didn’t want to be silent.

I wanted to tell them the program teaches how to overthrow democracy.

I wanted to tell them we have a right to protest.

I wanted to tell them we shouldn’t be training foreign armies.

One of our instructors, an attorney, twisted these statements and threw them back at us. She countered and contradicted and told us if we got into arguments with guards who were doing their job, it would be harder to defend us in court.

Times are tougher today. Last month in Fort Worth, Texas, 22 people were sentenced to over 500 years in prison for being at a protest while wearing black, being at a protest where a gun was fired, being at home and moving political magazines out of the house while one’s partner was protesting while wearing black. And so on. The details are horrifying. 

Conspiracy laws were passed during the Vietnam War to threaten protesters. They are being applied today. Protesters’ words are being used against them. Protesters are vulnerable.

Protesters always need to grasp clearly that they are putting their hand into the fire, and they may get burned. There are plenty of reasons to protest today, and if action seems imperative, act. That includes standing on a corner waving a sign.

Just hold fast to the knowledge that if you are arrested you have the right to remain silent.