RedRed Update from Sacramento!

A felony charge for breaking glass? That must of been some window! Don't the Feds have insurance for that kind of stuff?

It would be helpful if someone could make a list of everyone who has been charged, what the charges are,if they are still in jail and post it here. The Sacramento 64

MY favorite charges were the many dress code violations. I have a gas mask, which I habitually bring with me to cover events like these, because you never know when the cops are going to unleash their arsenal of chemical weapons. Don't want to miss the good shots due to temporary chemical-induced blindess. But I learned that gas masks were declared illegal in Sacramento. (This was news to several police officers, who told me they hadn't heard about the ordinance against gas masks, even though several people had already been arrested for violating it.)

Since I didn't want to get my camera arrested, I left the mask at the welcome center, and instead carried a wet bandana in a plastic bag...just in case. It was only later that I learned that this, too, had been declared illegal. It would almost be funny, except several of my friends spent the night in jail for "wearing and/or possessing a bandana." Again, most of the police officers were unaware that this was illegal, and actually thought I made it up when I asked them about it. Guess Homeland Security came up with this one.

This is especially outrageous, since the people who passed the ordinance knew full well that it is not constitutional. Obviously, it was only done in an effort to round up radicals and keep them away from the ministerial. The charges would never stand up in court, but by then, they figured, the convention would be over. By the way, my dog wears a bandana around her neck...good thing I didn't bring her down there with me.

In any event, all those who were arrested and deprived of their civil rights for the "crime" of possessing a bandana need to make the city of Sacramento pay and pay and pay for violating their rights. Let's make this a very expensive lapse of judgement on their part.

On a bright note, we have done great work in building community, many positive things happened in Sacramento, and we learned a lot about tactics that we will use the next time. THANK YOU FOOD NOT BOMBS!!!

If anyone from food not bombs reads this, can you post your recipe for the sweet rice? Mmmmm!

What would we do without these updates? Thank you Catwoman. We in Oregon are still watching, and doing our thing to support the effort. Even Mabel is watching.

"Guess Homeland Security came up with this one"

Well, these are the same folks who brought you duct tape as protection against nerve gas and nuclear fallout. I wonder if the soldiers in Iraq were issued duct tape when they feared Saddam's gas attacks?

Hey folks,

I'm one of the people who volunteered to staff the hotline, try to talk progressive and radical lawyers into working for free to get folks out of jail during the Sac mobilization, etc.

Yeah, there's been a lot of craziness going on, such as that ordinance that the Sac City Council passed just a couple days before the convergence, and dropping Red Red's charges then promptly recharging her and arresting her again. And so forth.

It is true, to the best of my recollection, that destruction of property worth more than $400 is a felony under California law, but I do not believe that Red Red broke the window at issue. Also, Dean (one of our fabulous lawyers who agreed to work for free during the days of the mobilization) has agreed to take Red Red on as his personal client, so she's in good hands.

Anyway, I just wanted to remind people that the Sac legal team is trying to get a listserve up and running for the use of all arrestees who have access to email and who want to be on the list.

As one purpose of the listserve is for people to discuss possible lawsuits against the city, the police, etc., I will propose to the other members of the collective that the listserve be open not just to arrestees but also to anyone else who suffered from police misconduct (being beaten, being Tasered, stomped on by cops' horses, etc. (But please understand that this thought just occurred to me, and the collective hasn't reached consensus on it yet).

And here's an excerpt of the latest (as of yesterday) Biotech IMC update from the collective:

"Our records show a total of 73 individual arrests for the mobilization. We expect the majority of these will be thrown out by the court. For now, we are asking arresstees to work with the legal representation assigned by the courts (unless you prefer to secure your own legal representation). A list serve will be available shortly to facilitate communication between arrestees."

My own 2 cents is that although some public defenders' offices suck, there are good folks in the Sacramento public defenders' office who are going to try their hardest to make sure that all of the mobilization arrestees are really well-represented. Others in the collective generally agree with me, hence the suggestion to work with the lawyers assigned by the court -- especially since the lawyers who volunteered during the mobilization have to get back to their own lives and their own previously-existing clients now, and just don't have the time and resources to defend everyone who was arrested during the actions (again, except for Dean who decided to take on Red Red as his own personal client and will represent her).

People who were arrested but never filled out our outtake forms and police misconduct forms -- and people who were mistreated by cops but didn't fill out a police misconduct form -- please contact the legal collective at  saclegalteam@yahoo.com and provide your nickname and your legal name, phone, address, charges against you (if any), and tell us in detail about police misconduct, whether you were told that your were arrested for wearing a bandanna or for flying a black flag, having dreads, etc.

Thanks.