Guest Blogger: Naomi Dagen Bloom

[EDITORIAL NOTE: After nearly four decades of experience, I can attest to the fact that Naomi Dagen Bloom is the quintessential West Side New Yorker. She's been stirring things up and making herself heard in the city all her life, and she recently started a blog, A Little Red Hen. (Please do stop by.) Her guest blog is titled Grandmothers on Trial in America about the criminal trial last week of some elder peace protesters.]

How far would any of us go in defense of an idea? Thanks to Ronni Bennett for this chance to share how we elders can make our voices heard.

I am a supporter of the Granny Peace Brigade of New York City, 18 grandmothers whose anti-war protest last fall resulted in a charge of “disorderly conduct.” A few were women I knew from Gray Panthers and Grandmothers against the War vigils. With an age range of 59 to 91, they could be poster women for elder America - black, white, one legally blind, another with a walker, some on small retirement incomes, others in two-income families.

Last week, their trial took place in Criminal Court. Over the six days, as I sat on the hard
courtroom benches, my thoughts returned over and over to the same question: what does this tell us about the limits of peaceful protest in my city?

The idea for this action began with Raging Grannies in Arizona. Last summer the Tucson group, known for singing anti-war songs, decided they needed a more dramatic action to wake up a complacent population about the illegality of the war in Iraq. They marched to a local recruiting center and demanded to enlist. Briefly arrested; their case was immediately dismissed.

When she heard about the Tucson grannies, Joan Wile, 74, grandmother of four, thought it should happen in New York City, media capital of the world. Organizer of the long-running vigil, Grandmothers against the War, that meets Wednesdays in front of Rockefeller Center, Joan is a singer and songwriter who performs with New York Dixie Chicks. Contacting women from Code Pink, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Peace Action, she suggested an action similar to Tucson for the Army recruiting center in Times Square.

On 17 October 2005, they arrived at 42nd Street. They read their statement:

“We are grandmothers heartbroken over the huge loss of life in Iraq…We have all had the privilege of living long lives and are willing to put ourselves in harm’s way so that our own and others’ grandchildren have the change to enjoy full lives as we have.”

When they rang the doorbell at the recruiting center, those inside locked it. With varying levels of difficulty, the grandmothers sat down outside the center and chanted, “We insist; we want to enlist.”

Within 20 minutes police arrived, put them in handcuffs, led them into a paddy wagon.

This has been a time-consuming experience for the group. Visits to family have been cancelled, days lost from work for those not retired. The questions remain: why arrest 18 grandmothers for “disorderly conduct”? Wasn’t it enough punishment for them to spend four hours in jail cells with no water, with nothing to read - when they were first arrested? Why was so much taxpayer money used to continue the case through three hearings and a trial that ran six days? Though they were found not guilty, the questions remain.

Each grandmother would tell you that it was worth it. They have the satisfaction of knowing that many more citizens are paying attention and feel empowered to protest the war. On the west coast, the Bay Area Grandmothers against the War have organized actions. Similar groups in Michigan and Florida, have begun. Perhaps there is one in your community.