The Camden 28

Originally posted on facebook on March 23, 2010:

I just watched a documentary on Netflix called "The Camden 28." It tells the story of a group of anti-Vietnam War opponents - including four Roman Catholic priests and a Protestant minister - who broke into the Camden draft board offices in November 1971 in order to destroy draft records. In addition to the five clergymen were 23 other people, mainly but not exclusively drawn from the Catholic leftists that were active at that time in southern New Jersey.

The group was infiltrated by an FBI informant/provocateur who befriended and assisted them in planning and conducting the break-in. The FBI wished to make an example of the Camden group: they believed that the people organizing of the Camden action were also involved in a break-in at the FBI's Media, PA offices, that had exposed and thereby compromised the tactics being employed against anti-war protesters (and had personally embarrassed and pissed-off J. Edgar Hoover). Though the informant had been told by the FBI that the Bureau wanted to head-off the planned break-in, they secretly planned instead to allow it to go forward, ensuring that the protesters would be charged and tried on federal charges. Arrested in the midst of the break-in, each of the co-conspirators faced 47 years in jail.

The ensuing trial was complicated for the before it started by he fact that the main government witness - the informant - had turned against the prosecution, claiming that the FBI had promised him that no one involved would face jail time. Though he personally opposed breaking the law, he felt betrayed by the FBI and submitted an affidavit saying that the prosecution of these people was vindictive and politically-motivated.

During the trial the defendants were permitted to mount a "nullification" defense of sorts, and in addition to the now-defense-oriented informant, one of the witnesses was historian Howard Zinn, who testified that the Pentagon Papers proved the immoral underpinnings of the war. Another witness was the mother of the defendant Robert Good. The judge allowed Mrs. Good, whose elder son had been killed in Vietnam six years earlier, to talk about how her older son's life had been wasted in an unholy cause, and that her younger son only wished to redeem his brother's sacrifice.

It is a remarkable story, made even more remarkable for me personally by the fact that I've lived in New Jersey for 43 years and spent many of those years as a devoted anti-war person, yet I'd never heard of this case before. It was inspiring, and I recommend it to all (I think it may also be available through PBS).

Danny