Outrageous Civil Rights Violations in Birmingham Against Pro-Life Youth Activists; News Conference Today at Birmingham City Jail

· Posted 13/02/09 by Danielle

Contact: Gingi Edmonds, Press Coordinator for Survivors, 909-213-8472

BIRMINGHAM, Feb. 13 — After a harrowing night in Birmingham City Jail following their unlawful arrest at Parker High School, all nine members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour have been released from custody. The five female team members were released at approximately 7:00 a.m., and the four young men were released at 9:00 a.m.

A news conference will be held at 12:00 p.m. in front of the Birmingham City Jail at 501 6th Avenue South, Birmingham, Alabama 35217. Fr. Terry Gensemer, Rector of the Church of the Reconciler Charismatic Episcopal Church, in Fairfield, Alabama, will open the conference. Members of the Campus Life Tour will make statements about their ordeal, and will be available for questions.

As the youth were released, new details emerged about the outrageous civil rights violations that occurred yesterday at Parker High School in Birmingham.

Quietly standing on public sidewalk

While at Parker High School, all but two members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour team distributed educational literature to passing students. Two of the team members, Lahoci Franco, age 24, and Rev. Henry “Bud” Shaver, age 30, held large signs and dialogued with students on the public sidewalk. A campus officer called the police department when the Survivors declined to leave the area, as they knew they had a right to stand on the sidewalk. Over a dozen squad cars arrived at the school, and the police officers began arresting members of the Survivors team, beginning with Franco. As he was being arrested, Shaver was informed that the sidewalk was not public property for “non-citizens of Birmingham”.

“We’re just doing what Rosa Parks would have done”

Joseph Jones, 23, picked up a sign where Franco had been forced to drop it when he was arrested, and he was summarily detained by police and taken to a squad car. When the police spoke to Jones and Robert Coppock, age 22, regarding their unwillingness to leave the public sidewalk, the young men responded, “We’re just doing what Rosa Parks would have done – we didn’t want to move.”

Videotaping witnesses arrested without warning

Kortney Blythe, age 26 and Director of the Survivors Campus Life Tours, was videotaping the entire event and speaking with her attorney on the phone, when an officer approached her from behind and pulled her arm behind her back. Without any reason for his actions, the officer escorted Kortney to a squad car and ordered her to join Shara Guengerich, age 18, who had also been detained without any reason given while she was distributing literature on the sidewalk. Tara Shaver, age 24, begged the police officers to let her go when they detained her as she distributed literature, but she was also put into a squad car without being given a reason for her detainment. Guengerich was handcuffed so tightly that she was shaking and crying from the pain, but arresting officers ignored her pleas for relief.

“Are we being kidnapped now?”

The remaining members of the Campus Life Tour team attempted to leave the school, and were packing up the Survivors van with literature and signs when police officers approached and arrested them. It was clear, however, that even if Ashley Hartsell, age 19, and Cristianna Cherf, age 21, had wanted to drive the van away from the school, they could not have done so. The van was surrounded by police cars, and the young women felt intimidated and confused when they were forced to leave the van without any reason and placed into a squad car. One of the young women questioned, “Are we being kidnapped now?”

Van impounded, searched, and willfully damaged by police officers

The Campus Life Tour van was seized by the police at the scene, searched, and as it was being towed witnesses heard scrapings sounds and saw significant damage to the underbody and frame of the vehicle.

“You’re in Alabama now”

All nine members of the Campus Life Tour were taken to the Birmingham City Jail, where they were forced to change into orange jumpsuits and placed in holding cells for 6 hours without water or access to a phone, as the officers ignored their requests for help. They were booked and placed in cells around 1:00 a.m., but were not released until hours later, the young women at 7:00 a.m. and the men at 9:00 a.m. The group was released without any paper citations, only bond forms stating a generic “Charge of Trespassing” with no penal code listed on the form.

As the officers questioned Blythe at the jail, she stated that the Constitution protected her right to stand on a public sidewalk. The police officers’ response was clear: “You’re in Alabama now.”

Youth minister kept in shackles by jail guards who also work as abortion clinic security

At the Birmingham City Jail, in an eerie throwback to the past, Rev. Shaver was handcuffed and shackled at his feet. Despite repeated requests from his attorney to remove the shackles, guards kept the painful and restrictive shackles on Rev. Shaver for hours. Rev. Shaver and the other young men were informed during their jail stay that several of the guards at the jail also serve as security guards at a local abortion clinic.

“We were arrested yesterday because of the content of our message. It’s clear from the attitudes and actions of the police officers that our message of life is not welcome in Birmingham, and prejudice is alive and well in this city. It is a shame that this historic city which saw the Civil Rights movement firsthand continues to refuse basic civil rights to peaceful activists simply on the basis of their message,” states Kortney Blythe, Director of the Survivors Campus Life Tours. “We are shocked by the Birmingham Police Department’s response to our peaceful actions, and we call upon the Chief of Police to initiate a thorough investigation of yesterday’s horrifying civil rights abuses. The Survivors will continue to peacefully promote a culture of life and expose the truth of abortion in Birmingham and throughout the state of Alabama, regardless of the actions of prejudiced police officers.”

Fr. Terry Gensemer, Rector of the Church of the Reconciler Charismatic Episcopal Church in Fairfield states, “What an ironic situation. The actions by the Birmingham Police Department are not only deplorable and shameful but are in direct conflict with the spirit and passion of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr., who stated that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. These young people who have correctly included unborn children as persons deserving of civil rights should be commended, not condemned.”

Comment

“Shaver was informed that the sidewalk was not public property for “non-citizens of Birmingham””???

Who let these cops out of the academy?

— Eric · Feb 13, 08:06 PM · #

O beautiful for kidnapping the Christian
For amber waves of empty grainfields
For volcanic mountains erupting on
Amerikca’s bloody cities
Amerika Amerika
God sends his destruction upon thee

And it will be better for those taken captive by an evil government than for their captors
ss God’s Wrath descends

— tobra · Feb 14, 07:20 AM · #

Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father and ALL AUTHORITY has been given to Him. He is in direct authority over our Supreme Court, President, Senators and Congress, over our State governors, City Mayors and police.

Killing unborn children is evil against the DIVINE AUTHORITY of Jesus Christ – HE WILL CAST INTO THE LAKE OF ETERNAL FIRE any governing authority who does not line up with Jesus Christ in the abortion issue and who opposse the servants of Jesus Christ, His witnesses who speak against the killing of unborn children.

— Iris · Feb 14, 10:45 AM · #

I just got arrested today
at a abortion clinic for basically nothing so I no how it feels keep up the good work Oh by the way I am in Ohio so it isn’t only in Alabama.
Keep up the good fight the Lord is on our side

— Patrick · Feb 14, 11:00 AM · #

Write letters and emails, make phone calls.
Defend the inocent.

=========================

MAYOR LARRY P. LANGFORD
Birmingham City Hall
710 20th Street North
Birmingham, Alabama 35203-2216
Phone: 205-254-2277
FAX: 205-254-2926
WEB: http://www.birminghamal.gov/birmingham-mayor.aspx

Chief A.C. Roper
Birmingham Police Department
Central Headquarters
1710 1st Avenue North
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
205-254-1700
WEB: http://www.informationbirmingham.com/police/index.aspx

Birmingham City Jail
501 6th Avenue South
Birmingham, Alabama 35217
205-254-6369
CONTACT : http://www.birminghamal.gov/police/contact.aspx

ALABAMA (AL) GOVERNOR, SENATORS, and REPRESENTATIVES
=========================

GOVERNOR Bob Riley®
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
Phone: (334) 242-7100
Fax: (334) 353-0004
Web/eMail: http://governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx

SENATOR Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
335 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4124

SENATOR Richard Shelby (R – AL)
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5744
E-mail: senator@shelby.senate.gov

REPRESENTATIVE Artur Davis (D)
WASHINGTON, DC
208 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2665 (phone)
(202) 226-9567 (fax)

— Jorge · Feb 14, 07:40 PM · #

Hate to be the one to bring you enlightenment, but in the U.S.A. your Jesus Christ in fact does NOT hold authority over our judicial, executive, or legislative branches of government. You can worship Christ all you like, but when it comes to running our beloved country, yoru Jesus Christ actually isn’t part of it. I commend the officers for protecting our school children from religious terrorists. Next time get a permit to gather on public property, m’kay? Our taxes pay to keep those sidewalks safe for our kids to go to school without being harassed by people like yourselves. Preach all you want in your church, but please try to take a hint of reality: Not everyone is a member of your church. Pick your diety, worship peacefully, but get yourself a permit to assemble next time, that’s how government works for everyone’s rights, not just your rights to harass my kid when he goes to school.

— U.S. Citizen for science and reason · Feb 17, 12:52 AM · #

Sorry to break it to you, U.S. Citizen, but the government doesn’t work like that. Our taxes go to keep the public sidewalks safe, not just for our kids, but also for peaceful citizens who have a right to express themselves without fear of harassment. Permits only apply in certain situations, with certain numbers of people attending, etc. In this case, the young people had every right to be on the public sidewalk. If American citizens had to get permits for everything they did on public sidewalks, we might as well be in the old USSR.

Additionally, you clearly have not spoken to any of the youth in this situation – they go to schools to educate their peers about abortion, not proselytize. Yes, they are motivated by a faith in Jesus Christ to love their neighbor as themselves, but their actions in front of Parker High School were clearly intended to expose the lies of abortion, not evangelize.

If you would like to have a debate on the abortion topic, please feel free to respond to this comment with your own challenges to the pro-life position.

Next time, I strongly suggest using logical arguments rather than emotional diatribes to make your point.

— Danielle · Feb 17, 11:37 AM · #

Revelation 17:14
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Amos 5:15
Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

— Sharon · Feb 18, 09:27 AM · #

We will never give up on the fight for the innocents until we win!!!

— MaryJean Colonna · Feb 27, 01:32 PM · #

This not legal advice because I’m not a lawyer, but heed it nonetheless . . .

1-always have 2 camera people at all demonstrations. 1 videotapes at close range, the other at a safe further distance. many times the first camera person will get arrested and/or the camera just seized. however, the second camera person can videotape the arrest/harassment illegal activities of law enforcement with the 2nd camera with a zoom lens.

I had a friend who was being harassed by the cops for something he didn’t do. They knocked on the front door of his house. He answered the door with a video camera. The cops freaked & confronted him about the camera. The cops knocked it to the ground & then talked to him about the matter they went to see him about.

Little did they know my friend set a second camera up in his front window to record everything that might happen. My friend had a videotape of everything! He sued the town, won the lawsuit, the cop got fired, lost his pension, & my friend got several thousands of $$$$ in damages as a result.

2-The cops are not your friends, regardless of what you say or do. They will knowfully & openly violate your civil rights. You should be prepared for that. They will purposefully handcuff anyone they arrest harder if they don’t like your message.

3-Also, any protest or lit distribution, even when you are 100% legal in all accords, you should know and plan that you will be arrested violently and cars/equipment/lit/signs etc. will be seized, destroyed and not returned.

4-You should also let a local catholic church know [right before] you do anything publically. Not for their approval but their potential help. They have posted bail many times, stopped arrests, can get more people [if you’d like]. Don’t get into theological debates with them, keep the focus on pro-life activities.

5-If you ever feel like or are being arrested, the only question to ask the police is “am I under arrest?” Legally they have to answer that question. If they don’t answer, they have just made an unlawful arrest without cause; upon which you can sue the police force.

If they say yes, you say what is the charge? You have a right to know why you are being arrested. Legally they have to answer that question. If they don’t answer, they have just made an unlawful arrest without cause; upon which you can sue the police force.

Don’t ask if you are being kidnapped.

6-For many video cameras there are microphone recording amplifiers. This can capture the verbiage of a person being arrested at a distance besides the video.

7-Any time the police ask you any question, say the 5 words….. “I have nothing to say”

8-before you do anything, find a local civil rights attorney, preferable a conservative, male. He will be able to assist you in many matters.

. . . . whoever is running the show needs to train the kids & be more prepared . …

— j · Feb 28, 08:20 AM · #

how come this never happened when i was on tour??? you guys rock! keep it up.

— krista · Mar 1, 12:37 AM · #

Can you give the email info for the chief of police? I tried to pull it up but was unable. I am currently pursuing a career in law enforcement and this blatant disrespect for the rights of citizens by police is really upsetting to me! I am really really angered that bad cops like this give everyone else a bad name.

— Sarah · Mar 3, 06:53 AM · #

Commenting is closed for this article.

||