How A Responsible, Law-Abiding Law Student (and VNRC Legal Intern) Came to Get Arrested

By Jordana Jusidman
 

It was not a simple process that led me to getting arrested in late August at the Tar Sand Action sit-in in Washington, D.C.  My journey to the capital began sometime in July when I first received a message from the Facebook group “Seeking Courageous and Compassionate Vermonters to Stop the Tar Sands.”  I confess that I trashed that email, along with a number of the subsequent notifications from the group.  It wasn’t that I didn’t see the Keystone XL pipeline as a critical issue or that I didn’t care about the latest environmental action.  I was just kind of sick of fighting climate change.  I was suffering from an apathy that I think a lot of people can relate to. I told myself that it wasn’t worth taking a trip all of the way down to D.C., because nothing could possibly be achieved by a bunch of environmentalists protesting in front of the White House.  Furthermore, the thought of getting arrested seemed radical and I was concerned about how that might impact my pending application with the Vermont Bar Association.

Over the next month a steady stream of emails about the Tar Sand Action protest continued to fill my inbox and I continued to discard them almost reflexively.  Then, inexplicably, something shifted in my mind and I realized that I simply could not not go to D.C.  Underneath that heavy layer of apathy, my subconscious had been working out the arguments that would ultimately compel me to go and get arrested.  I simply could not justify my apathy any longer. Despite the fact that the odds that are stacked against us, the risks of sustaining our dependence on fossil fuels by developing the third largest crude oil reserve on the planet are simply too huge.

While the primary effects of the tar sand extraction development and the Keystone XL pipeline are reprehensible enough to warrant opposition to the project, it is the project’s potential effect on the climate that really spurred me into action.  As NASA Scientist James Hansen explained, the Alberta tar sand extraction would constitute a “game-over” for climate change.  While shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline will not ensure that the tar sand oil stays in the ground, it certainly plays a big part.

So as tropical storm Irene moved in over Vermont, I boarded a bus with twenty-one other Vermonters and headed to D.C. to participate in the eleventh day of two week long sit-in at the White House gate.  The protest itself demonstrated the integrity of our message and the arrests went smoothly, thanks to careful planning by the Tar Sand Action organizers.  In total, 1,252 individuals were arrested over the course of the protest and there were countless people supporting it from the other side of the police line.


While most folks that I’ve talked to about my experience at the protest are interested in hearing about my arrest, the arrest itself was actually the least significant part of my experience.  Here is what happened:

We protesters sat in front of the White House with the intention of getting arrested.  It is generally lawful to protest in front of the White House, but you have to keep moving.  The police issued three warnings that we were violating our permit to protest. When we failed to move despite the warnings, the police announced that we were under arrest.

One by one, an officer asked us to stand and cuffed our hands behind our backs. We were escorted a few steps away to have our mug shots taken and then we were seated in one of the “paddy wagons” that the Park Police had waiting for us.  Each wagon sat for several minutes while police loaded it up with fellow protesters. The police then drove us about fifteen minutes to the Anacostia Station in Southeast Washington D.C.  While the time in the police wagon was tough for some because of the heat and the tight space, I enjoyed the experience for its novelty and also for the opportunity to spend a memorable moment with empowered and passionate people. When we arrived at the station, the police processed us quickly. 

Nearly every person was arrested on the charge of Failure to Obey Lawful Order, which is an infraction below a misdemeanor. We were allowed to pay a $100 fine to forfeit the charges.

We stood in line, received some paperwork, paid our fines, and then walked out.

The entire process was swift and the police treated us well but I can’t help but feel that
the ease of the arrest didn’t reflect the strength of my conviction. For what the Keystone XL pipeline represents politically, economically, socially, and ecologically, I was willing to sacrifice more. What has proven most powerful for me was recognizing that I had such conviction, conviction so deep, that even I, a responsible, rule-respecting, law abiding, type A aspiring lawyer would go get arrested.

Jordana Jusidman is a student at Vermont Law School and a legal intern at VNRC.