Emily
MikeEve Tetaz is 78 years old. She is retired from her career after spending 30 years teaching in Washington, DC, public schools. But she is far from retired from her calling of protesting against war. During the Vietnam War, she and other demonstrators were arrested on the steps of the Capitol and she spent three days in jail. And, since 2005, she has been arrested 21 times for protesting against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Eve Tetaz being arrested at the gate of the White House
Her latest arrest was just last week, which couldn’t have helped her when she appeared before a judge on Monday to be sentenced in another case. The judge sentenced Tetaz to 25 days in jail (75 days with 50 days suspended unless she gets another conviction within the next 18 months) and placed her on probation for a year. During the sentencing, she wore a T-shirt that read, “I’m not disturbing the peace, I’m disturbing the war.” The conviction was for a charge of disorderly conduct for an incident in May where Tetaz and at least three other people attended a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing and stood up as Sen. John Kerry began to speak and yelled out: “No more blood money! Stop the war!” She and the other protesters then threw dollar bills (which had been covered in the blood of her and the other demonstrators) into the aisle of the Senate chamber.
During the sentencing, Tetaz read from a statement, vowing to continue to “give voice” to nonviolent protest and saying that “I believe that nonviolent protest against government policies will continue to be the only authentic form of individual political action.” She also said recently that “[I]t’s often the poor, uneducated, inner-city kid who has no other recourse than the streets or the Army. I’m fighting for him.”
Tetaz takes medications for glaucoma and heart trouble. She also has leukemia. But jail time is nothing new for her and doesn’t concern her. Some of the other women in the jail know her from previous times and give her some deference such as allowing her to sleep on the bottom bunk and bringing her the jail-issued bologna or cheese sandwiches.
Eve Tetaz sets an example of how to stand up for your convictions. She is very impressive.
