On a Thursday afternoon last month, a dozen singing activists from the Church of Stop Shopping in NYC performed in the role of extinct Golden Toads in a "wealth management bank" of JPMorgan Chase at 56th and 6th in Manhattan. The dancing, singing toads offered bank workers and customers information sheets about the impact of Chase investments on the environment.
Reverend Billy Talen and the music director of the Stop Shopping Choir, Nehemiah Luckett, were arrested minutes later on a subway platform. The two were charged with riot in the second degree, menacing in the third degree, unlawful assembly, and two counts of disorderly conduct. The DA's office requested one year in prison for "this criminal stunt."
Please sign this petition – which will be presented to the court on December 9th – and let the judge know that you consider Rev Billy's 15 minutes of performance art about the Earth's crisis to be well within the expressive political activity protected by the 1st Amendment. No one should be jailed for a year for peaceful, and highly entertaining, activism – especially while Jamie Dimon still roams free!
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