In OKC today we held a protest of the FBI raids and harassment. We got a permit from the city to do it on one of the corners where the federal building is, which happens to be diagonally across from the Murrah bombing memorial and museum.

But security guards from the federal building, and the cops they called, forced us, on threat of arrest on federal charges, to go to another corner. We went to the Murrah corner, primarily because street construction in that whole area limited the choices and it had the most room so that we didn’t block other pedestrian traffic. Anyway, in very short order, we were asked by a museum representative to leave that corner, and since technically our permit said the NW corner, and because it’s the Murrah memorial and they have some legitimate grounds for paranoia, we moved to our third and final corner. Our NLG attorney is investigating the feds’ right to prevent us protesting on ‘their’ sidewalk outside the security barricades, so stay tuned.

We had 12 come out on pretty short notice — actually not bad for OKC. But we plan to do another on 10/5 with speakers and hopefully press coverage (though that is very hard to get here).

The attached pictures show one of us, a man holding a “Veteran for Peace” sign (John Walters), being the last hold out on the original corner, as law enforcement gave him the final notice to leave before arresting him. He at that point complied and joined us on corner 3.

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(click image for more photos)

*New York*–The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and its Mass Defense Committee provides legal defense and educational resources to activists, including those subjected to the September 24 raids and grand jury subpoenas in Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. The Guild denounces the attacks on free speech, freedom of association, and the right to dissent that these actions represent. The raids and summonses reflect escalating hostility toward individuals and groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian and Colombian people and are blatantly political attacks on peaceful activists.

National Lawyers Guild lawyers, in their continuing efforts to protect the right to dissent, are coordinating defense of these activists. The NLG offers several resources for activists who are subject to similarly aggressive and politically motivated breaches of their rights.

*NLG Hotline: 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3265)*

-A hotline for U.S. activists who have been contacted by the FBI. Callers are matched with NLG defense attorneys in their states who have experience dealing with similar cases.

*Know Your Rights Brochure*: www.nlg.org/resources/know-your-rights

-A two-page brochure that summarizes the rights of citizens when they are contacted or stopped by the police or federal authorities. Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Farsi and Punjabi.

*Operation Backfire:* www.nlg.org/publications/operation-backfire

-A booklet that discusses government attacks on activists and subsequent prosecutions. Available for free download.

The National Lawyers Guild recommends that activists consult and make use of these resources. The Guild advises anyone visited by the FBI to assert your right not to answer any questions, to get the card of the FBI agent and state that you will have an attorney contact the agent on your behalf.

Grandfield OK teacher lost job after teaching The Laramie Project

On Friday, March 20, two members of NLG Oklahoma visited Grandfield after hearing that the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas based anti-gay group, was planning to demonstrate at the high school. They intended to join a counter-demonstration led by a handful of local students.

As it turned out, WBC did not appear, but a few Oklahomans who wanted to show support for Taylor and the students, did, including the wife of an active-duty GI who served two tours in Iraq.

NLG-OK members James Branum and Rena Guay met with Taylor, about 10 students and a parent, to learn first hand about what has been going on in the small rural town. It was a sad but not entirely unique or surprising story of intolerance of dissenting points of view.

Branum, an attorney based in Lawton, discussed with the group what rights the students were entitled to, and how to handle abridgments of those rights. NLG-OK has agreed to provide legal support for any students that encounter harassment.

We’ll be organizing a fundraising pledge drive for donations dedicated to legal support should it become necessary. We will continue to monitor the situation going forward, and will report here any developments that we can share.

Here are some of the non-local news stories that have been published about this incident:

USA Today
The Oklahoman
Truthdig
Feministing
RH Reality Check

Oklahoma soldier’s choice offers a lesson was published Sunday January 25.

Daniel Sandate was released from Ft. Sill on January 20 and is now living in the Oklahoma City area, where he is working with the Oklahoma Center for Conscience.

Another chapter member interviewed Sandate about his experience in the Army. The interview video can be viewed in four parts on YouTube.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4