PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

No Sweatshops Bucco! activist arrested for free speech at Regatta
by Solie D'Arrity Friday, Jul. 02, 2004 at 11:19 PM

No Sweatshops Bucco! activist Ken Miller was arrested at the Three Rivers Regatta while distributing baseball cards about sweatshops that make sports gear. Ken was arrested for disorderly conduct and is being processed, a solidarity camp is being setup outside the city courthouse at 660 1st ave.

At the Three Rivers Regatta in Pittsburgh on July 2nd, 2004, No Sweatshops Bucco! activist Ken Miller was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for exercising his free speech rights. Ken was distributing anti-sweatshop baseball cards and talking with Pittsburghers about how the Pirates and Major League Baseball use sweatshops to make baseball clothes, figurines, and equipment.

A voter registration group was ejected earlier from the Regatta for trying to register African Americans to vote. Ken then decided to struggle for free speech at the Regatta. He was arrested at the Regatta and is being processed at night court right now.

Ken and three other No Sweatshops Bucco! activists were arrested in March 2 of 2002 inside the Pirates Gear Shop while they were doing research on what manufacturers' gear was being sold. They had been fliering at PNC Park earlier to educate and agitate against sweatshop working conditions that the workers who make Pirates gear are resisting and organizing around. The charges against the Pirate Four were dropped and a consent decree was won by the free speech fighters which affirmed free speech rights at parts of PNC Park.

No Sweatshops Bucco has been distributing anti-sweatshop baseball cards and discussing sweatshops with Pittsburghers at concerts, baseball games, and other mass events over the summer. There are a total of 6 cards in the series currently, more cards are being designed and printed for an expansion pack. Literally hundreds of letters to the Pirates have been collected and delivered, showing the Pirates that the people of Pittsburgh are clearly against the exploitation of the workers who make our Pittsburgh Pirates clothes, baseballs, free figurines, and other gear.

Ken is being processed at night court, there is a solidarity camp being setup outside the courthouse at 660 1st ave. If you have questions about the camp (like you can't find it or want to know if it's still on) call 412 654 6047.

Ken is a member of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, iww.org), which fought Free Speech Fights on the West Coast in the earlier part of the last century which forced the bosses to recognize free speech rights that helped open a way for organizing labor unions for lumberjacks. He was one of the Pirate Four that struggled for free speech at PNC Park. Let's hope that our free speech rights are also extended by struggle to the many mass events of the summer so that there can be more political work where the people are at.

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