Michael Hoover > Village Voice > June 14 - 20, 2000 > > PETTY TO THE MAX > BY C. CARR > Feds Throw the book at Mumia Protesters > http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0024/carr.shtml) > > They were found guilty of petty offenses, charges way too minor to warrant > a jury trial. And now, as punishment for the equivalent of a parking > ticket, a couple of leading activists in the fight to save Mumia Abu-Jamal > face a supervised probation so restrictive they won't be able to do their > political work. They think that that was the whole point. > > C. Clark Kissinger and Frances Goldin were among 95 demonstrators arrested > at the Liberty Bell pavilion in Philadelphia last July 3, the 17th > anniversary of Abu-Jamal's sentencing. He faces execution in Pennsylvania > for the murder of a police officer, and his supporters have long maintained > that he did not get a fair trial. During the July 3 action, protesters > blocked several doors to the Liberty Bell, and park rangers closed the > pavilion for three hours. Some climbed onto the roof to hang banners. Some > sat outside against the bumper of a police van. > > Kissinger and Goldin say they did none of those things. They were out on > the plaza with the third member of their affinity group, Mark Taylor, head > of Academics for Mumia Abu-Jamal. "We sat down in an area where a truck was > coming, filled with already arrested prisoners," recalls Goldin, "and > before we could move, we were whisked away by the park rangers. And cuffed. > They never said 'Move.' They never said anything." > > Charged with "failure to obey a lawful order," Goldin, Kissinger, and six > other activists decided to plead not guilty, and that's where their > troubles began. They are now convinced their real crime was to ask for a > trial. > > During the course of their three days in court, the park ranger who > arrested Goldin could not identify her, and none of the videotapes entered > into evidence showed the two defendants blocking anything or even sitting > down. While the activists were not exactly surprised when the judge found > them guilty anyway, fining them $250, they find the supervised probation > draconian and sinister. > > "This was a fait accompli, that they were going to get probation," says > Jordan Yeager, Goldin's attorney. "In fact, the representative from the > probation department was there in the courtroom waiting to handle the > processing. That was before the case had been closed, before all the > evidence on whether they were guilty or not guilty had been received." > > Under the terms of the probation, they cannot travel outside their home > federal court district (the five boroughs), cannot associate with convicted > felons (Abu-Jamal), have to surrender their passports, must turn in forms > every month listing all sources of income and how it was spent (for > themselves and everyone in their households), all organizations to which > they belong, and everyone they've been in contact with who has a criminal > record. They are also subject to surprise visits from their probation > officers. Goldin's dropped in a couple of weeks ago at 7:30 in the morning > "to make sure I don't have an opium factory on my premises." > > Goldin, who turns 76 next week, is Abu-Jamal's literary agent, has his > power of attorney, and handles all his finances. (She also represents the > Voice's Wayne Barrett.) Kissinger, 59, is a full-time organizer who has > traveled the country to rally support for Abu-Jamal. Both visit him > repeatedly on death row. > > Ron Kuby, the longtime civil rights lawyer who is representing Kissinger, > calls their punishment "unprecedented. These are the most restrictive > conditions I've ever seen in a case that didn't involve a felony. Clearly > the restrictions are designed to impede lawful, constitutionally protected > political activity." > > Andrew Erba, a Philadelphia lawyer who has filed appeals on behalf of > several of the defendants, says that he has never before seen probation > attached to a civil-disobedience arrest. Indeed, the movement foot soldiers > who climbed the pavilion and blocked its doors simply entered their guilty > pleas by mail and paid a $250 fine. > > "I think the federal government is sending out a message," says Erba. "Mix > civil disobedience, Mumia, the potential protest in July [at the Republican > convention], and I think you come out with the message 'Don't demonstrate > on federal property.' " > > However, Richard Goldberg, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the > cases, says it isn't so. "What I argued to the judge in court was that > these people, when they came up for sentencing, denied their guilt even > though they had been convicted," says Goldberg. "They indicated that they > would do the same in the future, and because they did not indicate any > intent to stop illegal conduct, the decision was made to request probation, > and the judge imposed it. So the argument for probation was based on the > positions taken by these defendants. Not as a result of some alleged > policy." > > Goldberg says the terms of the probation are not harsh, but "standard." > > Last week, Kissinger was scheduled to turn in his required forms at the > U.S. probation office in Brooklyn, but he had decided to "draw the line." > > Shortly after his sentencing, federal agents served two subpoenas on > Kissinger's wife, Judy, ordering her to turn over all her financial records > for the past 10 years_everything from cashed checks to credit-card > statements. A grand jury is investigating a former employer of hers for > Medicaid fraud, but Judy Kissinger is a medical technician who worked in > the lab and doesn't even know what people were charged for tests. All of > her financial records are also his. Clark Kissinger thinks this could be > part of a whole new level of harassment aimed at Abu-Jamal's supporters > just as the movement is picking up steam. > > So, in an informal rally on June 6, out on the street, Kissinger announced > that he had paid his fine and surrendered his passport, but he was not > going to turn in all the forms they wanted. Nor would he stop his > association with Abu-Jamal. > > Twenty-five supporters, including Goldin, followed him into the elevators > and up to the fifth floor, waving Mumia placards and chanting, "Brick by > brick, wall by wall, we're going to free Mumia Abu-Jamal!" > > It may have been the first protest staged in the federal probation office. > Workers behind the glass reception window looked alarmed, and one man > popped into the waiting room long enough to announce: "Folks, you are > currently trespassing here. If you do not leave, 911 will be called and you > will be arrested." > > The group responded with another chant: "Mumia is fearless. So are we. We > won't stop until he's free." > > Police began drifting in, and things looked tense for a few minutes. But > Kissinger went in to his appointment and nothing happened. Back outside, he > announced that the officials upstairs were greatly annoyed but had not > demanded his forms. They told him to come back July 11, and that "if I > bring people again, they will report me because I disobeyed the order of a > probation officer. So I want you to know that you're all invited to come > back." > > ------++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------- > "In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, > but the silence of our friends." -- Martin Luther King Jr.