Councilman Kwame Abayomi and Kay Dellinger of Coalition Against Global Exploitation Initiated Hearings

On March 13, 2003, the City Council convened a hearing to facilitate public comment on Resolution 03-1046, legislating measures in Baltimore City to counter the U.S.A. Patriot Act, "Patriot Act II," and other legislative orders. The hearing was attended by the legislation’s sponsor, Councilman Kwame Abayomi who introduced the resolution and Councilman Robert Curran, Chair of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee, who presided over the hearing. The legislation, drafted by local activists in conjunction with the ACLU, contains legal language requiring the City to resist enforcing certian aspects Ashcroft's infamous Patriot Act.

Lone Dissenter Says Resolution Creates “False Security”

About 15 activists from diverse organizations attended the meeting Ken Morgan of Baltimore was the only person to criticize 03-1046. Though he said in principle he was for the Resolution, he felt it did not go far enough. “I think it gives you a false sense that somehow that doing this will address the concerns of working people in the US and specifically in Baltimore when it really doesn’t,” he remarked. He talked about police brutality against poor and black people and how there had “never been a City Council hearing about it.” He suggested that the resolution needed to be strengthened by the recognition of other erosions of civil rights in our country.

Fascism in Action?

All other speakers supported the bill. Powerful testimony from speakers compared the current situation in the U.S. to the beginning stages of Nazi Germany. In introducing the bill, Councilman Abayomi said, “The last time any government took that authority and power, it was under the most historically fascist form of power – it was the Third Reich,” Further he said, “if this Act goes unchallenged, unabated, all of us better find another country.”

Many of the witnesses spoke of the unjust treatment of immigrants. Kay Dellinger, speaking for the Coalition Against Global Exploitation, said, “If any other country treated Americans like we have the detainees, our government would accuse that country of human rights abuses and denounce it in the strongest terms. Our government would demand the immediate release of those held. And yet they can treat immigrants who came to this country so unjustly.”


Chuck Michaels, author of book on U.S.A. Patriot Act


Chuck Michaels, Maryland resident and author of a book on the Patriot Act entitled, No Greater Threat, America After September 11 and the Rise of a National Security State, addressed the sweeping character of the Act and the rapidity with which it was passed. He pointed out a number of very broad and vague passages in the bill allow the government extraordinary leeway in gathering information about individuals without the slightest evidence of their guilt. Included in this are “sneak and peak” authority to go into any citizens’ home without their knowledge, look on their computers, download information from their computers, and leave without informing them for as long as 60 days.

Piggy-backing on the critique of how quickly the law was passed, union activist Richard Ochs of Baltimore related the interesting coincidence that occurred as the Patriot Act was bulldozing its way through congress. U.S. Senators Leahy and Daschle intervened to delay the act’s passage. But an anthrax-laced letter addressed to Daschle put an end to further scrutiny. He pointed out the only suspected perpetrator of the anthrax mailing is an American and the source of the anthrax, according to the FBI, “was Fort Detrick.”

“The Patriot will not stop terrorism,” stated Bob Kaufmann. “Unless we have a foreign policy reflecting the golden rule, we will be manufacturing terrorists far faster than we could ever catch them.”

The Return of COINTELPRO

Several speakers recalled another time in recent history when dissent was stifled by U.S. government repression. Josh Brown, activist and Baltimore resident said that the Patriot Act “resurrects COINTELPRO-type programs such as in the 50’s-‘60’s and ‘70’s when the FBI sought to disrupt and discredit thousands of individuals and groups engaged in legitimate activity -- the criminalization of dissent which is meant to be a tenet of our democracy.”

While many people spoke in the abstract about the legislation, Max Obuzweski talked about the recent arrest of 8 people, including himself, for handing out leaflets against a war in Iraq in the Towson Town Center in Towson. He and other were charged with “trespass, disorderly conduct, and failure to obey a lawful order.” While they were detained, 3 of the 8 were handcuffed to a bench for 14 hours. Obuzewski stated that police taunted those arrested by chanting “USA, USA, USA” over a loudspeaker and simulating the sound of bombs dropping.

From the many other opinions offered in favor of the resolution, including those of a representative from the ACLU, there was a strong consensus that it would take many communities and people resisting this Act on many levels to stop the oppression.

More Scarey: The U.S. Government or the Terrorists?

Kay Dellinger reflected on the unprecedented attack of civil liberties brought about by Ashcroft and the federal government. “I believe our country is waging a war on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which is unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime. The government has unlimited power and can do whatever it wants to its citizens. I am much more afraid of my government than so-called terrorists. I could accept being killed by a terrorist, but I cannot accept this government destroying the constitution, a document that has been ardently admired by hundreds of millions of people around the world.”

A majority of the 19 City Council members co-sponsored the draft of the legislation when it was initially introduced. Included in the sponsorship were: Kwame Abayomi, John Cain, Paula Branch, Ken Harris, Sheila Dixon (Council President), Robert Curran, Keiffer Mitchell, Catherine Pugh, Helen Holton, and Stephanie Rawlings Blake. It is anticipated that the legislation will be voted on by March 24. A copy of the proposed legislation, Council Bill 03-1046 can be found on below.