Justice Denied

Judge advises Pentagon 27 to vote harder

Pentagon 27 after dismissal of our charges today

An intriguing sculpture on the facade of the district courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia foretold that justice would be further delayed and ultimately denied in the Pentagon 27 protest case. Since the government dropped charges, we were denied the trial that many of us hoped would shine a light on the dark doings of the U.S. war machine. (A trial that some of us had traveled 650 miles for, a 1,200 mile round trip.)

Sculptor Raymond Kaskey created a figure of blind justice in the classical tradition.

Then he juxtaposed justice with animal images that had us baffled until we read the plaque which says:

The tortoise with a billowing sail on its back was the heraldic device of Cosimo de Medici whose motto was "Festina Lente," "Make haste slowly," slow but sure. In the sculpture, Justice with her billowing draperies, in lieu of the sail, is placed above the tortoise that rests at the base of the pedestal to emphasize the concept of deliberation in the administration of justice. This same message is conveyed by the reference of the fable of the tortoise and the hare, whose moral is "Slow and steady wins the race." To signify movement, the hare's leap is broken into four frames in bas-relief across the arch below the balcony. The pedestal that forms the base of the sculpture is inscribed with the epigram "Justice Delayed, Justice Denied."

Judge Ivan Davis was quite the joker and, though condescending, indulged the defendants in a long wrangle over whether they could plead “not guilty” to charges that were being dismissed. (Short answer: no.) At one point defendant Mark Colville said he suspected there was some winking and nodding going on between the Pentagon police — who tried but failed to issue us no trespass orders outside the courtroom — and the U.S. District Court which claims no jurisdiction over that. The judge assured Mark that there was no such winking going on but, if it were, then it would be ignored. Huh?

His lecture on the three branches of government didn’t impress but the judge’s statement that left us gasping was that the only avenue provided for people in the U.S. to have a voice in their government is — wait for it — to vote.

Au contraire.

Judge Davis also made a point of telling us that the definition of a fool is someone who keeps doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. This was intended as a dig at the Catholic Worker movement which has returned to the Pentagon time and time again to object to waging war on innocent people. Over the years, they have been driven away from the entrance and confined in a small pen such as a dog might occupy in your yard. That’s an example of a different result. Meanwhile the Pentagon budget has ballooned to $1 trillion, and Iran is still defeating us at every turn.

Maybe the judge thinks he doesn’t need to worry about his daughter’s future amid WW3, but the rest of us are 100% certain that this is an urgent problem that deserves our full attention.

Defendant Patrick O’Neill, who celebrated his 70th birthday by inviting us to protest with him, is currently in hospital following a health crisis. He, his wife Mary Ryder, and their daughter Bernadette had their charges dropped before today in recognition of their situation. Defendant Scott Schaeffer-Duffy made t-shirts for us to wear for the court appearance, with the goal of bringing Patrick into our midst.

It was lovely that there were more supporters present today than the 24 of us who were summoned to appear. There are plenty of reasons why people can’t always risk being arrested for speaking truth to power, and that’s understandable. One of the supporters who joined us was a person who has lost family members in Gaza, and another supporter had just returned from being tortured by the Zionist entity for taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla. Maybe he should have just stayed home and voted harder?