A member of the Montgomery County Jewish Collective (MCJC) was recently prosecuted for spraying anti-genocide messages on the 495 under pass along the Sligo Creek bike trail in Silver Spring. While this was the result of a series of intentional acts of civil disobedience, taken to express our member's outrage and upset at the genocide, cases like this are not typically investigated or prosecuted, and the area in question has historically been the site of significant amounts of grafitti, political and otherwise. Our member has accepted responsibility for their actions and entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor offense that we hope they will be able to expunge from their record in the future.

The resolution of the case included an order to perform many hours of community service, which our member is happily completing. They have also been ordered to pay restitution for the costs of painting over the graffiti. We would like to support our member and their decision to risk criminal prosecution to protest the genocide by raising $2,500, which is a portion of the money they were ordered to pay. Can you please give what you can to assist us in this effort?

With gratitude,

MCJC Planning Committee