Aug 2 #Zumwalt12 Arraignment For Civil Disobedience In Bath BIW @GeneralDynamics

Zumwalt 12: Bruce Gagnon,  Dud Hendrick, Cynthia Howard, Constance Jenkins, Tarak Kauff, Richard Lethem, John Morris,George Ostensen, Joan Peck, John Peck, Jason Rawn, and Russell Wray, 

The Zumwalt 12 will be arraigned on August 2 following their arrest at the Bath Iron Works ‘Christening’ of a $4 billion destroyer ship.

After the Zumwalt 12 sat down in the street and were arrested at Bath Iron Works on June 18 they were taken to police headquarters and charged with ‘Obstructing a public way.' Their arraignment will take place in West Bath District Court at 1pm on August 2.

The Zumwalt 12 intends to plead not guilty and will seek a unified trial.  Bar Harbor attorney Lynne Williams will represent the group.

Statements from some of the Zumwalt 12 about their action.

Connie Jenkins: “We felt we were carrying out our responsibility as citizens to use the first amendment to speak against expensive and provocative US endless wars.  As we can see from the recent “Chilcot investigation” in the UK, that found the legal justifications for military action were far from satisfactory, we in the US have a legal and moral responsibility to stand against these wars – and to prevent the next ones.”

Dud Hendrick: "This destroyer, the Monsoor, is another piece, another symbol, albeit a small, but expensive one, of how misguided our leaders are.   How wed to imperialism and world domination they are. The price tag on this destroyer is $4 billion and rising.  Alternatively, we could enable 40,000 students to attend four years of college debt free.  Whether we call it socialism or not, that would seem to make more sense than building one more warship to better arm a country that already spends more than the next seven biggest spending countries and already has the world’s most powerful navy by far." read more on Common Dreams

Bruce Gagnon: "We wanted to "interrupt the celebration of endless war and corporate profit" going on inside the event. All the Maine big wig elected officials were there - Republican and Democrat alike - all on their knees begging for more $$$$ to build more damn warships while the rest of the nation is put on life support.

We called for the conversion of BIW to build rail, solar, wind, and tidal powers systems so the future generations can have a life. The Pentagon is the recipient of the golden treasure chest that the pirates in Washington have grabbed. Nothing good can happen until we take the national treasury back.

We don't need a war with Russia and China. We are dealing with fascists now and we must move into the streets quickly. We found a lot of support from the law enforcement crowd today - one police officer told one of the Zumwalt 12, "You all are the conscience of the community."

Resist and survive.....you are not alone!"

Arrests underway in Bath at General Dynamics' BIW shipyard on June 18, 2016.

John Morris: “We will seek a unified trial so that we can communicate with the greater community why we did what we did at BIW on June 18.  These arrests for non-violent civil disobedience carry on the long tradition of such actions at the shipyard.  We want to see BIW converted to build commuter rail systems, solar, wind, and tidal power which are urgently needed to help us deal with climate change.  We have taken these steps in order that our children and grandchildren can have a real future.”


This poster state the rationale for the action:

White People: What Will We Do To Change Our Legacy Of Violence?

Photo credit: Natania Kremer on Twitter during #MillionsMarchNYC on Dec. 13, 2014

Photo credit: Sass Linneken

You may remember this photo of rising 9th grader Laykenn Kurtzer in dialogue with an older man who was protesting her monthly vigil for racial justice in central Maine. Their body language struck me as interesting and I wanted to find out more about what they said, so I contacted Laykenn for an interview.

Laykenn said that they crossed the bridge because they wanted to ask what made him think that there was no racial tension in Lewiston. "He was kind and willing to talk to me; he was very civil about it," said Laykenn.

"I went over because I just wanted to talk, not argue."

Besides repeating "all lives matter" several times, Laykenn reports that the man's main point was that the vigil was in the wrong place.

"He said that we should be standing in front of a police station where cops have killed black people without getting in trouble, or having any charges brought against them. He said that cops aren't bad but they should be getting punished. He told me he would go with us and hold a Black Lives Matter sign to protest at a police station in another city."

I wondered if they asked him if he has gone to any of those protests (there have certainly been ample opportunities) but Laykenn said no.

Laykenn said, "I explained that we stand here because we are trying to get people to be aware of the Black Lives Matter movement."

Their discussion lasted about half an hour, with the man circling back to his main talking points several times.

Laykenn and mom Sass Linneken are regulars at the monthly vigil organized by the group Showing Up For Racial Justice, (SURJ) Central Maine chapter.
Here they are standing on the Auburn side of the bridge to Lewiston in May, 2016.

One possible effect of the counter protest was that people in many cars shouted "all lives matter" as they passed. Laykenn's impression was that there were slightly more negative responses than positive ones, while at most of the monthly vigils they've attended the reactions of those passing have been more positive than negative -- often in the form of beeps and thumbs up. (My thought is that this change could also be due to the Republican Party openly endorsing racism at their recent convention, or a response to recent news of police being killed in Dallas and in San Diego.)

One thing that clearly disturbed them was when "a big pickup truck got really, really close to the sidewalk where we [i.e. the SURJ vigilers] were standing and blew out black exhaust all along the bridge. That was scary."

Personally, I have seldom been at a demonstration for either racial justice or peace in central Maine without at least one large pickup truck aggressively creating noise and/or smoke in response to the messages displayed. I suppose the drivers think they are engaging in dialogue?

In response to my share of the photo of Laykenn's conversation I heard from Grace Braley, a peace organizer in southern Maine. She was reminded of the inscription on a statue of Melchior Ocampo she saw in Morelia, Mexico:

Es hablando no matandonos como habremos de entendernos. 
(It is with talking, not killing, that we have to understand each other.)

In case you're wondering why I didn't interview the man in the photo, too, I have a couple of reasons.

At first I did not know who he was (nor did Laykenn), then another SURJ member contacted me to say that he is a local minister who leads a group called the Jesus Party along with his wife. (Laykenn said there was a woman standing with him holding a sign that said something about god that they can't exactly remember. Laykenn did not speak with the woman.) After my sister Hope did some internet research I found that this man is often online complaining that no one listens to his "all lives matter" message.


Laykenn listened, but since my blog does not exist to promote hateful messages I decided not to attempt to interview him. That is one of the things I will do as a white person who wants to change our legacy of violence. What will you do?