THE RE-OCCUPATION OF LAFAYETTE PARK

Today I thank you all for your support and call for a suspension of further nightly direct action in Lafayette Park.
I am Dr. Bradley Russell, age 39 from Albany. I have Ph.D. in Anthropology and have been interested in issues of economic justice for decades. I am well educated. I am employed. I pay my bills. I have an average middle class existence. I have a wonderful wife and adorable 6 year old daughter. I am deeply concerned about the direction this country has taken in the past 30 years, with the growing influence of money in politics (i.e. the Citizens United ruling) and the dominance of a trickle down economic model pushed by both political parties while the wealth gap continues to grow ever larger with each passing year. It is a failing approach that has decimated the middle class and created a growing underclass in this country. I have been amazed to see the Occupy movement take off and totally change the converation in this country. The independent action to re-occupy Lafayette park was my idea and plan alone. But, I have been very fortunate that many from Occupy Albany have stepped up to support what I was doing and I will always be grateful to all who joined me in sticking their necks out for our collective and basic Constitutional rights. Allow me to say how much all of OA appreciates the professionalism and respect shown by the troopers of the New York State Police. With media reports of clashes between police and protesters rampant, the past week and a half these men and women have shown themselves to be the very model of how the authorities should treat lawful, peaceful protesters. While all arrested agree that the orders to detain and charge us were not lawful, we realize and respect that the NYSP are not the judges or juries. Their job is not to weigh the validity of our legal claim to park access. Their job was and remains to execute the orders given to them by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Trooopers ARE the 99%! Our basic claim to access can be quickly summarized. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of free speech, free assembly and freedom of the press (which the Governor also abridged by threatening reporters in the park covering the event and subsequent police actions with arrest). Allow me to quote, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Supremacy Clause establishes that the Constitution, U.S. treaties and Federal laws shall be the Supreme Law of the land and that in cases there state laws conflict with them, judges must side with, in this case, the Constitution. Put simply, a park curfew cannot legally be applied to a protected political protest on public land. Therefore, no violations have EVER taken place on the part of Occupy Albany participants and supporters. As we see the judge and the DA moving to dismiss the more than 100 improper arrests to date, the justice we all expected is coming to pass and our faith in the legal system has been affirmed. Early on in our occupation DA Soares indicated that he would not prosecute peaceful protesters. What has been less widely reported is his statement in the Times Union on Nov. 9 that, he wouldn't be able to sustain prosecution of trespass violations, and trying to do so would waste precious resources. In other words, they would not be able to get convictions because the arrests themselves were not lawful. The dismissal of these charges stands as a rebuke of the Governors original order to interfere with our lawful protest. That order continues to be in effect. Last night, after the first round of these charges was in the process of being dismissed, four more protesters were AGAIN illegally detained and charged. I call on the governor to immediately stop wasting New York tax payer dollars violating the rights of its citizens. Let me finish by noting that the park is named for General Lafayette, who bravely led troops against the British to secure 24 hour freedoms that would and could not be infringed by the government. He did not fight for Cuomo hours where Law abiding citizens get 17 hours of free speech and free assembly only to see those rights taken away for 7 hours a night. While we are suspending nightly arrests in favor of more diverse actions directed at the 1%, I will be announcing future mass actions in support of our 24 hour right to free speech and assembly of the sort we saw last Saturday in coming weeks. This fight is not over. I hope to see you all at the next one!