Oak Grove Celebrates Thanksgiving

It was Thanksgiving and it was illegal to give food to the tree sitters protecting the Memorial Oak Grove.

At 11:00 am there was a gathering a few dozen people; students, local residents, musicians, many younger and older folks. There was plenty of food and hungry people up in the trees-there to save the Grove. Several security guards were inside the new fence around the Grove and several police officers were outside of it. One woman held up a water bottle and a pie. "Will you arrest me if I give this to them?" The officer nodded. Then people gathered around tightly, "Then you will have to arrest all of us!" The tree sitters lowered a rope with a carabeener on the end. The circle of older women attached a bag of food and up it went. It was followed by many more bags of food and large bottles of water. Since it was Thanksgiving there was only a small police presence but they did video tape the entire time and may look for people (law breakers) later.

People sang and chanted and happily passed up the food. "There is an acorn pie in that bag." The tree sitters began to disperse the food to other trees. They now had a feast to last for several days.

In many ways it was a small action. However, it was significant in that it was organized and carried out by older women, showed that police power has a very real limit and that the community is strong in its support of the Grove and making our world a better place to live.

for more info see: saveoaks.com