I had my first “Moral Monday” hearing today. I had been arrested on June 10th in Raleigh along with some 80 or so others – and 800 or so more, over the summer — after refusing to “disburse on command of an officer” and violating “the Legislative Building rules.”

It went well – well enough, anyway – and Alice and I were both impressed…both with how well organized the system of criminal justice is in North Carolina and with how tedious it is and expensive it must be.

I mean, as we entered the spanking new Wake County Criminal Justice Building on Salisbury St. at 8:40 or so this morning there were already two long lines of people (mostly “defendants” of one sort or another, I think) queued and waiting to get through security. Then, as we entered the also-impressive granite and steel lobby, there were airport-like monitors above our heads scrolling our names and telling us which courtroom we were assigned to. I went to C203 along with a hundred or so other “arrestees,” only four of which, best I could tell, were also Moral Monday violators. Most were there for other reasons, ranging from traffic citations to “assault and battery” to “impersonating an officer.” And one guy was ushered in by a side door with an orange and white prison jump suit on.

Imagine! There were eight other courtrooms with the same sort of thing going on, and it goes on, I was told, five days a week, week after week. That’s just in little, old Raleigh. Imagine what it must be like in the really big places…Charlotte, Houston, LA, and NYC. We goody two-shoes country Presbyterians – except for those among us who are police officers or defense attorneys or otherwise work in the criminal justice system – just have no idea!

But I digress; back to “my” issue, the Moral Mondays thing.

The kind, generous, and wise attorney who is representing a bunch of us “pro bono” – Greg Doucette of Raleigh who was arranged for by the NAACP – reminds us that, in the interest of moving things along and recouping at least some of the cost of all this, the Wake County district attorney has proposed a “plea bargain” of sorts: 25 hours of community service (at any 501-c3 not-for-profit organization, which means churches and the Orange Community Players both qualify), court costs in the amount of $180, and no more criminal offenses, in exchange for having no criminal record of any sort.

The alternative, Attorney Doucette says, and in the event I’m interested in defending my 1st Amendment right to free speech, is to move forward to trial, which would mean appearances before “the court” every month for many months while, each time, the case is “continued.”

But I’m not interested in defending my right to free speech and to assemble, sing, and make noise in the lobby of the state legislature building. (The acoustics in there are fabulous, incidentally.) Hell, the freedom to speak and make noise, like everything else, has limits. Otherwise, we’d have chaos and anarchy.

I knew going in on June 10 that I would be violating a necessary law and would likely be arrested. But my purpose wasn’t to break a law or to speak freely; rather it was to help call attention, via the media in our great country, to the terrible injustices that are occurring in our state because of the actions of the legislature and governor, enough attention to get them voted out ASAP and get back to sanity around here.

I think we’re getting it done…hoping, at least. I’m happy to have helped a bit, and I’m willing to pay the pretty nominal price.