It might have been nice to be able to speak dispassionately about the state of civil rights after Sept. 11, to theorize about the possible side effects of hastily-passed anti-terrorist acts and the burgeoning police state as if these matters have no direct effect on me, to comment disinterestedly on the over 1,000 immigrants being held indefinitely without trial.
Heck, it might have been nice to pass the winter break with no worries beyond that of my American Airlines flight crashing into a sandbar on my way to visit family and friends in New York.
Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury.
On Sept. 21, only 10 days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, Albuquerque got its first taste of what the war on terrorism means for civil rights. During a peace protest that evening, four people - who were of course, protesting peacefully - were arrested, including Rachel Harmon-Keeney and my friend Ben Tucker.
The slow wheels of "justice" have finally turned their way to their trial dates. Ben Tucker's trial is Thursday at 9 a.m. in Room 502 of the Metro Courthouse with Judge Michael Kavanaugh, and Rachel Harmon-Keeney's is Friday at 8:30 a.m. with Judge Marie Baca.
Ben is charged with inciting a riot. A pretty hefty accusation. So what was he actually doing?
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He was not, as the arresting officer claimed, calling out to people on a bullhorn. I might not have been close enough to see him, but I was more than close enough to hear his amplified voice.
He was not bombing anything. He was not telling people to run across the street and break some windows. He was not even chalking.
What he was doing, in the moments just before he was arrested, was trying to observe someone else being arrested. I should clarify: he was not interfering in the arrest, just watching it. If that constitutes inciting a riot, our standards must have gotten really low.
In a statement he wrote shortly after his arrest, Ben said that it is "imperative for the U.S. government to act justly, humanely . and we as citizens are obliged to dissent if it acts otherwise." This is the very heart of free speech. It is also the very reason Ben was arrested.
We are not merely facing the possibility that under new anti-terrorist legislation, non-violent civil disobedience will fall under the definition of terrorist acts. We are facing the actuality that even when no law is broken, the police will be considered justified in fabricating charges to protect us from voices of dissent.
But it is not enough for me to speak only in the general terms of threats to civil rights. Ben is not just a victim of abridged freedom of speech. He is not just someone who is willing to stand up for social justice. Ben is one of the most wonderful people I've ever met.
You might not guess it if you only know of him from his activism, but he is amazingly sweet. I always see him meeting people he doesn't even know with kindness and warmth. When his friends are troubled, he is always ready to comfort them.
Like a day or two after Sept. 11, when I was still worrying over my friends and family in New York, and I wandered into his office because I just needed to see that someone I cared about was still alive. My unexplained appearance must have seemed a bit odd. But he didn't question me. He just let me stay and distracted me from my worries.
He is the perfect Jewish mother. If you come to his home, you can be sure he will feed you, even if you're a vegetarian in the house of meat.
Limitations on civil liberties are not some necessary sacrifice that isn't really going to hurt any good people. It is because of these limitations that this kind, generous, wonderful person, this mensch is being tried for something he so obviously didn't do.
We, the people, should not sit idle while our system of "justice" is used to suppressing one of our voices, to attacking the very freedoms it's supposed to protect.
by Sari Krosinsky
Daily Lobo columnist
