Plaintiff Mookie Moss, who was shot six times with “pepper bullets” and unjustly beaten with police batons while protesting then-President Bush, penned this open letter to ACLU supporters and members:

Dear ACLU supporter,

Eleven years ago, hundreds of people had gathered in Jacksonville, Oregon to greet then-President George W. Bush. Most were there to protest the administration’s policies on the war in Iraq, the emerging torture culture, as well as, dubious and destructive environmental policies that greatly affected our local and national forest health.

It was a peaceful event, and many people had brought their children to participate in the democratic process. To have a sitting President stay in our small Southern Oregon town was an incredible opportunity to make our voices heard.

Despite our assurances of a peaceful demonstration to local and state law enforcement, things quickly turned violent when riot police marched on the 200 or so people on the anti-Bush side. The police, while obscuring their identities wearing balaclavas, marched with weaponry at the ready towards our assembly of children, grandparents, farmers, teachers, and community members. The riot clad officers ordered the large group to move, and proceeded to forcibly move us without waiting to see if the order had been understood and without allowing time for us to follow it. With the helicopters circling overhead and the general state of confusion and fear initiated by the police, chaos set in.

From my vantage point, I watched officers shove to the ground an elderly man who was peacefully holding an anti-war sign. When I observed his inability to regain his feet, I took a step over him and turned my back to the advancing police in an attempt to get him upright and out of harm’s way. I was promptly shot 6 or 7 times in the back at close range with chemical irritant filled bullets at this time. After being quickly checked out by a medic in the crowd, I returned to get the names of the officers involved in the shooting. At that time I was beaten aggressively by a police baton. Both incidents left me injured.

An evening of political civility had descended into what could only be described as a police-created riot. Dozens of terrible stories began to emerge from that night in Jacksonville. A mother holding her daughter in her arms was aggressively shoved by officers with batons drawn; children were coughing and crying from the chemical irritant in the air; young students, there to see a sitting president and to express their political views, learned a disturbing lesson regarding the criminalization of dissent that still exists in this country.

I’m very grateful that the ACLU has championed our cause for over a decade now. Through our collective actions, the fight for our constitutionally protected rights marches forward with the hope that violence against the citizenry by agencies tasked with protecting and upholding laws becomes a thing of the past. The lawsuit filed on our behalf by the ACLU has been the difference between the promise of justice and the repeated government attempts to make this case disappear.

Just last month, over eleven years after the events in Jacksonville, a federal judge granted class-action status to the protesters who were present that day. We will finally have a chance to tell the story of what actually happened that night, in a courtroom setting before a judge.

If you were present at the protest, your rights may be affected by the lawsuit. Read the full notice of class-action status.

Thank you to all ACLU of Oregon members for your support. Not many organizations can take on these long-protracted battles against government abuses. Without you, and without the ACLU, our story may have never been heard. 

Mookie Moss

 


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