The new regime has now upped the ante on people who oppose its policies. Bajun Mavalwalla, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, has been charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure law enforcement.” How vague is that? Does standing in silent protest “impede” law enforcement. The Instagram video shows that the only physical contact he had with ICE officers was ICE officers pushing him.
A descendant of a man who stood with Gandhi, Mavalwalla was not arrested the day of the protest in Spokane, but was targeted a month later. A conspiracy requires two or more people planning to do something. Mavalwalla met the others arrested when he was put into jail with them. No question, this is a test case to see how much the new regime can threaten any of us who oppose its policies.
18 USC Sec. 372 states that the conspiracy is to by “force, intimidation, or threat” to “impede” any government officer in the discharge of duty. What action “impedes” law enforcement? Elected officials demanding to see the conditions under which persons are being held? A prayer vigil at a detention center?
Prayer for the Day
Ah, O God, we are entering a dark time,
A time when peaceable assembly is threatened;
We shudder when laws are used to silence dissent,
Forbidding us to act when we see injustice.
Strengthen us in this time of fear, O Lord,
And give us hope that true justice will prevail.
In the name of the One who is the fount of hope,
Even Christ Jesus Our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? …Why does it [government] always crucify Christ and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?
Henry David Thoreau, from Civil Disobedience (1817-1862)
When you say “no” and get on the streets, and do an act of civil disobedience, it changes your psychology.
Gail Bradbrook, molecular biophysicist, founder, Extinction Rebellion
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiprah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him, but it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.
Exodus 1: 17-20