mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-10-01 01:15:38 -04:00
99 lines
4.7 KiB
XML
99 lines
4.7 KiB
XML
<xml><p> FIJA PROCLAIMS SEPTEMBER 5 "JURY RIGHTS DAY"!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Hey, activist, can you spare an hour?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Noon hour, September 5, 1991, should be sixty minutes of fun
|
|
and high-impact education all across the United States, as FIJA
|
|
activists take to the steps of courthouses in their own local
|
|
communities, handing out a special "Jury Rights Day" version of
|
|
our TRUE or FALSE? brochure to whoever will accept one.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> If, for one hour of one day (more if you have time), you can
|
|
break from routine and "go active", you will be part of an
|
|
utterly decentralized, but fully coordinated team of jury-rights
|
|
proponents skipping lunch to tell the entire nation about FIJA!
|
|
The plan is this: </p>
|
|
|
|
<p> At each courthouse, everyone from judge to janitor will be
|
|
offered a brochure, in honor of the day, 321 years ago, when
|
|
Edward Bushell and his fellow jurors refused to convict William
|
|
Penn, arrested in London for preaching an illegal religion
|
|
(Quakerism) to those who voluntarily--but also illegally--
|
|
gathered to listen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Nine weeks later, after Bushell and three others had been
|
|
imprisoned for this audacity in a brutal facility, the English
|
|
Court of Common Pleas voted to release them, and without forcing
|
|
them to change their verdict. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p> This was a milestone in English-American legal tradition,
|
|
because it not only established the power of the jury to find
|
|
whatever verdict it wishes, without punishment, but also the
|
|
rights of free speech and peaceable assembly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> We at FIJA figure that 1991 is the perfect year to begin
|
|
celebrating that event as "Jury Rights Day", since it is the
|
|
200th anniversary of the American Bill of Rights, which not only
|
|
protects our freedoms of speech and assembly, but also their
|
|
guardian: our right to trial by a jury of fellow citizens. We of
|
|
course intend to make the most of the fact that the nation will
|
|
simultaneously be honoring the very document we seek to protect
|
|
with fully informed juries.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Leading off the day, at noon EDT, we'll hold a national news
|
|
conference and rally at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC,
|
|
where spokespersons from a wide range of organizations will speak
|
|
on the importance of the jury system for individual justice and
|
|
for maintaining citizen control of our government.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> We're hoping this summer to persuade a U.S. Representative
|
|
or Senator to introduce legislation naming September 5 as
|
|
"National Jury Rights Day" then to kick off the "JRD" rally with
|
|
a speech on that subject. [We'll report on this when we list all
|
|
confirmed speakers in the Summer FIJActivist.]</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> The national media will be given packets of information
|
|
about FIJA, and a list of all other locations around the United
|
|
States where literature is being distributed--including yours,
|
|
provided we have confirmation from you in time to include your
|
|
name and the courthouse where you'll be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> The longer and more geographically representative the list,
|
|
of course, the more impressed the media will be...and the better
|
|
will be our chance to access and educate millions of Americans in
|
|
their rights as jurors, drawing their attention to the full
|
|
meaning of the 6th and 7th Amendments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> How to get your materials? Easy: send us your order, ASAP!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> If you want to take full advantage of the media potential
|
|
for the celebration, order the "JRD" Action Kit that we're making
|
|
available for $25. The kit will contain a FIJA t-shirt, 11 x 17"
|
|
poster, button, bumper sticker, a "fill-in-the blanks" news
|
|
release, 250 brochures and an action plan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> We're also working out details of cost and production of a
|
|
3'x 5' banner, useful both for Jury Rights Day and for other FIJA
|
|
events. Please let us know if you're interested, and we'll get
|
|
the best price we can.
|
|
|
|
The enclosed order blank is the most convenient way to tell
|
|
us "YES--I CAN SPARE AN HOUR!", and to order your materials.
|
|
Kits, banners and posters are still in the preparation stage, and
|
|
will be produced in quantities equal to the orders we receive by
|
|
July 15. After that, we cannot guarantee to fill your orders for
|
|
these items, though we'll try. As a last-minute option, we can
|
|
send master copies of brochures, which you can reproduce locally.
|
|
|
|
Contributions in excess of item prices listed are of course
|
|
welcome, to help defray expenses of travel, communication,
|
|
renting and setting up equipment for (and cleaning up after) the
|
|
rally and national news conference. Contributions are especially
|
|
appropriate if you cannot participate, but want to help ensure
|
|
the success and maximize the impact of the first annual
|
|
celebration of Jury Rights Day. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Thank you for your hour(s), your dollar(s), or both!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
</p></xml> |