Telling the truth is risky these days. Ask Amy Goodman. Amy, a gray-haired grandmother with Maine roots, spoke in Bangor on Saturday, Sept. 13. An award-winning reporter, Amy covers events not normally covered by mainstream media.

At the Republican Convention she was called from the convention floor to a disturbance. Without warning, she was attacked by two brutes who took her press card, wrestled her to the ground, cuffed her, and dragged her by one leg across the pavement until her face bled. They hauled her off to jail to join dozens of other arrested reporters. Their crime? Doing their jobs. One reporter from the Post yelled, “Hey, don’t arrest me, we’re a Republican paper!”

Here’s the clincher: Amy tells how the Republican Party made a cozy deal with the Minnesota police before the convention. Some judge who forgot to read the Constitution issued a warrant so police could arrest certain reporters and confiscate their “weapons” such as cameras, cell phones and tape recorders. Many of these reporters will sue and win but the Republican convention fund will pay millions to compensate them.

In effect, the Republican Party bought an entire state police force to do its dirty work. You didn’t know this because a reporter in jail can’t report. What is done to Amy today can happen to any of us tomorrow if we continue to allow the government to use military containment tactics against law-abiding American citizens.

Karen Johnson

Machias