Texas grandmother sweeps streets of Washington as punishment for protest

[struggle4progress]

By Gerry Smith
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Diane Baker's voice was barely audible above the rumble of the trash can she pushed down the sidewalk. But her actions tended to speak louder, anyway.

Four months ago, Baker was one of 71 people arrested during a protest in Washington for crossing a police line to sit on the steps of a Senate office building.

As punishment, the 60-year-old was sentenced to sweep the streets of the nation's capital for eight cold, blustery hours Tuesday.

"I'm a rather fragile, small woman," said Baker, a hospice chaplain at United Church of Christ in Dallas. "Being a minister, I offered to do counseling, but this is what they gave me." ...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/01/31/31texasprotester.html

[MADem]

1. Seems a bit vindictive given her medical condition

Baker, a mother of four and grandmother of two, suffers from myoclonic epilepsy, a degenerative muscle condition that causes her voice to quiver and hands to shake. As she signed in to begin her community service, she struggled to write her name.

With morning temperatures in Washington in the high 20s, Baker prepared for the cold...She wore 10 multicolored T-shirts with messages ranging from "End the War in Iraq" to "Shut Down Guantanamo" and "Save Darfur." She also wore her clerical stole with a dove....But on top of her layers of pacifism, Baker donned a fluorescent red vest with bold letters to remind her of why she was holding a dust bin and broom: "DC Superior Court Community Service." ...

Her arrest in September was just another small consequence in a lifetime of civil disobedience. She has had handcuffs slapped on her wrists 25 times..."But my arms are thin, so I usually get out of them," she said with a mischievous smile.....As Baker slowly dragged her trash can down the streets of downtown Washington, she acknowledged that she had learned a lesson, albeit one on the "stupidity" of the justice system in "a country built on freedom of speech."

"They like to use this as a system of shame," she said, crouching down to pick up a cigarette butt lodged in a crack in the sidewalk. "But I'm not ashamed to be an American."

[peacetalksforall]

2. Does a judge hand out these assignments or some other official?

Was this all within Washington, D.C., the city or was it a federal official? Anyone know?

[ptvet]

3. Diane

Met her in Texas last year, she had just finished a march from Houston to Crawford I believe. All I can say is wow.

http://ptmccleese.smugmug.com/gallery/1365008#64401852
(yes another link to a photo!)