There are countless images that come to mind when thinking about your picturesque elderly person. From old men sitting on porches to grandmothers gathering around a table set for playing bridge and talking about memories past. There’s the image of a stampede in unison with coupons in hands toward their local Italian restaurant for the early bird special. Well the senior citizens that I’m about to mention are marching to a different tune. I like to call them senior superheroes!
There are those who sit and watch CNN rhetoric all day with chocolate chip cookies rising in the oven, and then there is Joy First. She is a Wisconsin grandmother, and activist. ?Her passionate pursuit for civil rights and transparent democracy have created quite an extensive arrest rap sheet. From marching into the campaign offices of Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani with other protesters, to attempting to persuade the Democratic Wisconsin US Representative David Obey to halt financial support for the war in Iraq. She has been?arrested in Washington D.C, Wausau, Wisconsin, and Des Moines, Iowa. Overall, she has over 30 arrests and citations combined – all linked to civil rights injustices.
Robert (Nashua) Chantal, a 60 year old activist, who instead of drinking a beer and watching a football game, sits in a federal prison in Georgia until 9/11/13 for trespassing on?government property during a peace protest. During the protest he pulled out a ladder and used it to climb over a fence (erected initially to keep protesters out) into the Fort Benning School of the Americas in Georgia. The purpose of the annual protest was to bring to light and vocalize the closure of the training of inhumane military tactics the government teaches to Latin American troops, who take their military skills back with them to Latin america. Parts of the program specifically trains troops to use brutal torture tactics to gain information from not just suspected terrorists and drug dealers, but also union organizers that do not mesh with their government’s particular agendas.
Megan Rice, a woman dedicating her life to not only religion, but politics as well. She is an 83 year-old Catholic nun activist. She and two other protesters gained access into?an Oak Ridge Nuclear production facility in Tennessee by means of clipping through metal fences. While there she spray painted graffiti peace slogans onto the building. She is now facing a 35 year jail sentence for federal sabotage. A bit of an overreaction for for an?83-year-old trespasser you might think.
The unsung heroes aforementioned may or may not be a name that will be in our children’s and grandchildren’s textbooks, but these ?old timers? should be noted for their courageously altruistic acts, nonetheless. These are just three people who gave up their time and some or all of their freedom so that we all can live a life without the interference of a government looming down upon us with their battalions that are armed with guns.
Edited and published by WP.
