March 21, 2008
MEMPHIS—On Wednesday March 19, 2008 seven members of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center were arrested in the Memphis offices of Senator Bob Corker. Protestors had come to the office for a scheduled meeting in order to present Corker’s staff with 1,000 petition signatures and to ask that the Sentor hold a town hall meeting in Memphis on the Iraq war, which the Senator has not done since taking office. Protestors vowed not to leave the office until a signed letter from the Senator committing to a town hall meeting was recieved.
At approximately 6:00pm Jacob Flowers, Dr. Peter Gathje, George Grider Jr., Ceylon Mooney, Jessica Buttermore, Kathleen Kruczek, and Denis Paden were taken into custody and charged with criminal trespassing in their own Senator’s offices. The arrestees issued the following statement (personal statements of purpose follow):
“Senator Corker has refused our requests. We are disappointed he would not agree to our demand, a town hall meeting. Corker continues to refuse to meet with those he purports to represent.
We still believe that we live in a democracy and that those who are elected by the people should listen to the people. After five years of war with no end in sight the Senator needs to learn to recognize that the people reject this war and reject the massive causalities of the war, over 600,00 Iraqi civilians and 4,990 soldiers not counting the wounded and the squandering of resources namely $3.1 trillion.
We will stay here until Senator Corker meets our reasonable demand to have a public forum to hear from Memphians our thoughts on the war.”
Statements of Purpose:
Jacob Flowers, Executive Director, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center
Homeowner and lifelong Memphian
“I am participating in today’s action because the past five years of occupation in Iraq have decimated the communities in that country and in our own. As each bomb explodes in Baghdad we hear it reverberate in Binghampton. As the children suffer in Fallujah we hear their cries in Frayser. We have spent over a half a trillion dollars on this illegal and immoral war, that is over $720 million dollars a day.”
Dr. Peter Gathje, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Memphis Theological Seminary
Homeowner and Memphian
“I am here today to say to say no to the war in Iraq, which is criminal and immoral. After years of death, lies, and an obscene amount of money apent, it is past time to say this war must end. Our cities and rural areas are devastated and need the monies wasted on this war.”
George Grider Jr., Chair, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center- Veterans for Peace
Homeowner and Memphian
“I am here today protesting the war in Iraq. The war was sold to us based on lies. Four thousand U.S. soldiers have died based on these lies. How many veterans have been mamed- physically and mentally. A half million innocent Iraqis are dead.
I swore an Oath of Allegiance as a naval officer to uphold the constitution. In this small way I feel that is what I am doing.”
Ceylon Mooney, Homeowner and Memphian
“Standing up against war and terror sometimes means laying down in the street. If the normal order of things is mass killing, then may our actions be abnormal.”
Dennis Paden, Veterans for Peace, Concerned Memphian
“The war in Iraq is a violation of common-sense, a violation of human decency, and a violation of any reasonable sense of common-law. The war in Iraq threatens the safety of the world community, the United States, and my family. It is murder.”
Jessica Buttermore, Concerned Memphian
“Direct action against war, the money spent on this war, the lives lost and resulting poor conditions here at home are the reasons I am here.”
