It looks like somebody in Washington, DC didn't like this image very much.
(h/t AMERICAblog)
The thirteen protesters who chained themselves to the White House fence, among them, our own Clarknt67, are headed to court tomorrow to face charges that they violated the orders of a federal law enforcement officer. The charges carry a maximum jail sentence of six months.
Six months for chaining themselves to the fence? Yeah, that caught their attorney by surprise too!
It’s the first time since at least 2006 that protesters have faced the charge, according to Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Mark Goldstone, the group’s attorney, said his research suggests it’s the first time prosecutors have ever used the charge against protesters at federal sites anywhere in the District (emphasis mine).
“Of all the locations to get arrested at in D.C., one would think that the White House location would be where you’re most likely to get prosecuted,” but prosecutors are more likely to press charges against protesters outside the Capitol or Supreme Court, Goldstone said Thursday.
The thirteen activists who chained themselves to the fence that day knew that there would be consequences to their actions and they are prepared to accept those consequences. And legally, the US attorney is well within his rights to file these charges. But these charges seem to be without precedent, and likely signal that somebody didn't like the image of thirteen Americans, among them several members of the military discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", chained to the fence surrounding Obama's White House.
To be clear on what these activists could be facing, take a look at how trans activists Autumn Sandeen was treated after she was taken into custody.
My peer female protesters -- Cadet Mara Boyd, and Cpl. Evelyn Thomas -- were in a holding cell behind the U.S. Marshal's station. They heard that same U.S. Marshal in the fuchsia blouse state the following to one of her peer officers (emphasis added):
"Did you see it? The nerve of it to be wearing a Navy uniform. Did you see the shim in the Navy Uniform?"
Calling transgender people "it" is clearly a way of dehumanizing transgender people. "Shim" -- a term relative to "she-male" -- is also a dehumanizing term to identify transgender people. President Obama, your U.S. Marshal calling me "it" and "the shim" is the equivalent to calling an African-American by the n-word, or calling a Gay-American by the antigay f-word, it is absolutely unacceptable.
(Author note: This was after her first arrest at the White House in May 2010.)
This is an obvious case of what the Chinese call 杀鸡吓猴（shā jī xià hóu）-- Kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys. Send these 13 patriotic Americans to jail and there will be no more angry activists on the White House fence.
It's a shame that somebody in the Justice Department doesn't apply 杀鸡吓猴 to the Wall Street meltdown, home foreclosure fraud, or torture. Oh no, we can't have that. We have to move forward and learn from our mistakes. But the uppity faggots? Let them sit in jail for six months, so everyone knows who they are messing with.
