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Excerpt - Busted for the First AmendmentDirect Action: An Historical Novel, by Luke HauserThis website and all pages and contents ©2003 GroundWork, San FranciscoMonday, November 15, 1982The highlight of the next couple of weeks was an action at Livermore by Pilgrim and Imagine affinity group. Their AG had been doing monthly leafletting at the Lab since Spring, keeping the protests visible. Apparently too visible. In September, Lab security warned Imagine to stay clear of the entrance gates or face arrest. That was the wrong threat to make to Pilgrim, who counted the June blockade as his thirty-first career bust, and had notched number thirty-two with the Walnettos in October. Once he heard about the ban on leafletting, he and his AG announced the date for their return visit, and asked other LAGers to come out and support them. Mort, Hank, and I took the afternoon off and rode out to the Lab together. A light drizzle coated us as we stood along the roadside holding signs, waiting for Pilgrim and Imagine to finish their last-minute planning. The AG finally broke from their huddle. The rest of us shored up our picket line and held our signs high as six men and two women came up the roadside toward us. Pilgrim, full of bustling vitality, was out in front in his usual jeans and flannel shirt. His sparse white hair jutted out of a bright red headband. As he reached our lines he turned, and his AG joined hands in a circle for a moment. Then, armed with leaflets and xeroxes of anti-nuke articles, they strode up to the Lab gate. One of the cops at the guardhouse ambled over, wearing a tired smile. "You're not planning to get arrested again today, are you, Pilgrim?" "No, officer, just came to exercise our right to pass out a few leaflets." "Do you have a permit to do that?" "Sure have," Pilgrim said politely. "Let's see it." "It's called the United States Constitution, first amendment." The cop shook his head. "Not good enough. If you attempt to distribute any materials we'll have to arrest you." Pilgrim reached into his sidebag. "Would you like a leaflet, officer?" The police quickly took Pilgrim and the others into custody. The arrests didn't come as a shock to anyone, least of all the AG, who planned to plead not-guilty and try to get a trial. "There's a good chance of them winning, or of getting the charges dropped," I said as we gathered up the signs and banners afterward. "They can't stop you from leafletting in a public space. It's still a free country." "Appreciate it while you can," Mort tossed out. "Yeah," Hank said. "1984 is coming up fast."
What happens next?!?? You'll have to order the book to find out!
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