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Friday, April 23, 2010

Mother Ticketed for Teaching Her Kid Principles | Criminal Justice | Change.org

Is it hypocritical to support the idea of civil disobedience while claiming to respect the law? Given my admiration for figures like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr, I used to think this was an easy question. After becoming a parent, though, I realized that there's a surprisingly fine line between sit-in and a tantrum. It's hard to teach a child to both respect and question authority.

But should it be a crime to teach your child about civil disobedience?

Renee Lynn Espeland learned the answer the hard way this month when she allowed her 12-year-old daughter, Frankie Hughes, to participate in a nonviolent sit-in in Des Moines, Iowa. The sit-in occurred in Senator Tom Harkin's office on April 7. On that day, mom and daughter — both members of the Catholic Worker community — were protesting war funding as part of the Peaceable Assembly Campaign. (Organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence, the campaign seeks to end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and end Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.)

When cops came to clear the office, some protesters refused to leave, and young Frankie decided to join their "die-in." For her actions, she received a trespassing charge. But that wasn't all. The next morning, cops served her mom with a misdemeanor ticket for "Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor." That's what a mother gets, apparently, for allowing a child act with moral conviction.

In subsequent interviews, Frankie showed herself to be a remarkably independent and thoughtful young woman. "How crazy," she told the Des Moines Register: "[My Mom] didn't contribute to anything. I did what was in my heart. No one suggested I do what I did." Then later to the Progressive, Frankie explained: “I did it because it’s just completely and totally wrong to give money to something that kills hundreds and hundreds of people... I’ve sent letters. I’ve called. And it never seems to get their attention. I’ve tried pretty much everything. We’re completely nonviolent. We just have to get their attention.”

Posted via web from Firesaw

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