Speaking Truth to Power at Andrews Air Force Base

For more than five years, peace activists from Baltimore and Washington have protested the Joint Service Open House & Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The air show is probably the largest in the world, as several hundred thousand visitors get up-close and take a personal look at the Pentagon’s war machine. Children can climb on board an F-117 Stealth and an Iraq-tested C-130, or watch several aerial demonstrations, including the Navy's Blue Angels.

There are many entrances to the 4,320-acre base which hosts more than 20,000 military people, civilians and families. At 2 PM on May 17, 2003, seven of us stood on a public sidewalk about a hundred feet from the main gate and began a modest protest against the air show’s blatant militarism. Almost immediately, numerous police cars arrived and uniformed officers surrounded us. The chief of police ordered us to leave, claiming they received a complaint.

That evening in Baltimore, we were to honor Philip Berrigan on the 35th anniversary of the Catonsville Nine’s draft board raid to protest the Vietnam War and U.S. intervention in Central America. In fact, I had flowers and sound equipment in my car for the commemoration. Thus I chose not to argue First Amendment rights, though I did ask the chief for his name. His retort was “Cuff Him!’ Gary Ashbeck of Baltimore’s Jonah House asked for a police officer’s badge number, and he was arrested.

We were not released until 6:30 PM after being charged with failure to obey a lawful order, which carries a possible 60 days imprisonment and/or a $500 fine. Moreover, we were about twenty miles from my car and unable to find a bus.

Eventually, we took a taxi and found an impoundment notice painted on my car’s back window. It was parked legally but other prisoners had warned me about the Morningside, Maryland Police Department’s propensity for towing vehicles, especially in minority neighborhoods. I did miss that night’s remembrance to the legendary resister, but getting arrested for protesting militarism is probably the best way to honor Phil Berrigan.

The Gods of Metal Plowshares disarmed a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber during the air show on May 17, 1998, the 30th anniversary of the Catonsville Nine. They poured blood upon it and hammered on the hatches and doors of the bomb bay area. The Plowshares--Fr. Larry Morlan of Bloomington, Illinois, Fr. Frank Cordaro of Des Moines, Iowa, Kathy Shields Boylan of Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C., and from Baltimore’s Jonah House, Carol Gilbert, OP, and Ardeth Platte, OP--were arrested, convicted and sentenced to terms from four to ten months.

The following year, another group which included Elizabeth McAlister and Philip Berrigan went on base to leaflet and banner. They were arrested and charged, but for some unknown reason the case was dismissed.

On Oct. 30, 2000, in a stunning rebuke to nonviolence, a judge at Andrews Air Force Base handed down severe sentences to three peace activists. Two were from the Jonah House: Greg Boertje-Obed would get six months imprisonment and Kristen Betts, sixty days. This was the first arrest of Sam Hochstetler, from the Bruderhof community, and he got a thirty-day sentence.

Their crime was to unveil a banner that read "Swords into Plowshares” in May 2000 during the air show, while handing out leaflets that read: "Weapons of Mass Destruction - Nothing to Celebrate!" The prosecutor argued the action interfered with the national defense, and the judge concurred.

In May 2002, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld, Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers and veterans of the war on Afghanistan attended the show. Two of us were outside the main entrance to AFB to protest. County police asked us for identification, but we refused to comply, though, I told them my name. After looking over a photograph album given to them by base security, they told me I was not Max Obuszewski. It is not reassuring that these are the people responsible for protecting the populace from terrorists.

While Gary and I were under arrest for asking questions, AFB personnel in plainclothes came over to photograph us. Photographs are taken of most protesters, and base security videotapes the demonstrations.

Our charge was so specious and the forced removal of peaceful people from public property so unconstitutional that I doubted the case would go to trial. I was wrong, and on Aug. 15, 2003, Gary and I, defending ourselves, appeared in district court in Hyattsville, Maryland before Judge Beverly Woodard.

In these times of criminalizing dissent, nothing is certain when peace activists go to court. The judge disregarded my Motion For Discovery, which was a request to obtain all files, photographs, videotapes and any other information Andrews Air Force Base security maintains on demonstrators. She was impossible to read during the trial, but the prosecutor was quite intent on finding us guilty. I started thinking about Greg getting six months for his peaceful protest at AFB.

The prosecution called three police officers to testify, and surprisingly two of them were truthful witnesses. Having been arrested some fifty or sixty times, I can attest many police officers are not reluctant to prevaricate on the witness stand.

The Morningside Chief of Police had no compunction in bending the truth in an attempt to convict us. When we had an opportunity to cross-examine him, he was quite indignant that he had to answer questions posed by pro se attorneys.

On the stand, he claimed there was a national alert, of which he could not be specific, and when a complaint came in they rushed to the main entrance. In reality, he knew demonstrators were to gather outside Andrews Air xBase. He testified that military officials came out from the base to tell him to remove us. This was untrue and quite curious as we were on a public sidewalk, not federal property. Even more ludicrously, he claimed we caused the congestion around the entrance to the xbase.

The chief testified the defendants were “ranting and raving” and “running their mouths.” However, he was unable to remember anything we might have said. He was very angry and probably the impetus for the case going to trial.

We called four witnesses who were at the May 17 protest and then both of us testified. Eight witnesses, all but the chief, testified the protesters were simply doing a low-key, nonviolent witness against war and weapons of mass destruction.

The Failure to Obey charge has four elements which must be satisfied for someone to be convicted. The judge recognized we had no willful [malicious] intent and that we did not cause a “disturbance against the public peace.” So she acquitted us. She did not believe the claim that seven protesters created a disturbance, adding that she avoided driving near the base because of the constant traffic congestion.

Despite being found not guilty, we sense in some ways the police and military won. Our constitutional rights were violated, and the military was not required to produce any files it maintains on nonviolent demonstrators.

So Gary and I are seeking an attorney to file a civil suit for false arrest. As someone who is out on the streets bearing witness against the many ills of our society, I argue the Bill of Rights is in a precarious position during these times of THE PATRIOT ACT. Citizens must be adamant that dissent is an important part of citizenship, something worth defending vigorously.

Max Obuszewski does media outreach for the American Friends Service Committee in Baltimore. Contact him at mobuszewski-AT-afsc.org