:Clare Grady
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Short description|American peace activist}}
Clare Grady is an American peace activist and a member of the Catholic Worker and the Plowshares movements.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/948116757/longtime-anti-nuclear-activists-face-prison-again-after-breaking-into-naval-base|title=Longtime Anti-Nuke Activists Face Prison, Again, After Breaking Into Naval Base|website=NPR.org|access-date=March 7, 2021}}{{cite magazine |date=November 19, 2019 |last=Elie |first=Paul |title=The Pope and Catholic Radicals Come Together Against Nuclear Weapons |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-pope-and-catholic-radicals-come-together-against-nuclear-weapons |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=March 12, 2021}} She advocated against use of cruise missiles for first-strike capability in the 1983 Griffiss Plowshares action. In the process of the protest, military equipment was damaged and splattered with blood. In 2003, she and three others made up The Saint Patrick's Day Four, who conducted a protest action at a military recruiting center in Lansing, New York against the impending Iraq War. She participated in the Kings Bay Plowshares action on April 4, 2018, which resulted in a conviction and sentence of one year and a day.
Early life and education
One of five children, Grady grew up in the Bronx, New York City. Her mother Teresa was from Chicago.{{cite news |last=O'Neill |first=Patrick |date=April 11, 2016|title=Teresa Grady, matriarch of Catholic peace activist family, dies |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/teresa-grady-matriarch-catholic-peace-activist-family-dies |work=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=March 7, 2021}} Her father, activist John Peter Grady, was the child of Irish immigrants. He was one of the leaders of the Camden 28.{{cite news |last=Day |first=Susie |date=December 1, 2020 |title=Clare Grady at 100 Seconds to Midnight |url=https://www.gaycitynews.com/clare-grady-at-100-seconds-to-midnight |work=Gay City News |access-date=March 7, 2021}}
Her family moved to Ithaca, New York when she was entering 10th grade. Grady found the area beautiful, but felt a homesickness for the Bronx. She attended high school in Ithaca for three years and then returned to New York City and joined the United Farm Workers. While taking classes at Hunter College, she waitressed and lived on the Lower East Side.
The Saint Patrick's Day Four
{{main|The Saint Patrick's Day Four}}
On Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2003, Grady and three others, Daniel J. Burns, her sister, Teresa B. Grady, and Peter De Mott, took part in a protest action against the impending American invasion of Iraq. They poured their own blood on the walls, posters, windows, and on a US flag at a military recruiting center in Lansing, New York.{{cite web | title=The Action | website=St. Patrick's Four | date=2005-10-24 | url=http://stpatricksfour.org/?q=action&PHPSESSID=f708a32ffcc76956e775079547d15d05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024194634/http://stpatricksfour.org/?q=action&PHPSESSID=f708a32ffcc76956e775079547d15d05 | archive-date=2007-10-24 | url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jonahhouse.org/archive/actforlifetrial.htm|title=Hung Jury Results in Mistrial|website=www.jonahhouse.org|access-date=March 7, 2021}}{{cite news |last=King |first=David |date=October 12, 2005 |title=Moral Force The St. Patrick's Four beat federal conspiracy charges they say were brought to chill dissent |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/10.12.05/four-0541.html |work=Metroactive |access-date=March 7, 2021}}
The Four were charged with felony criminal mischief in Tompkins County. George M. Dentes, the District Attorney, offered a plea bargain in which the group would plead guilty to a reduced charge and receive no jail time. All four refused the offer.{{cite news |date=September 18, 2005 |last=York|first=Michelle |title=After Hung Jury, 4 Who Poured Blood at Upstate Army Center Face U.S. Trial |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/nyregion/after-hung-jury-4-who-poured-blood-at-upstate-army-center-face-us.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 12, 2021}} The jury was deadlocked in state court, with nine members voting for an acquittal. Dentes referred the case to federal court, as he expected a similar outcome if the case was retried in state court. The four represented themselves in their federal trial.{{cite news |date=September 21, 2005 |last=York|first=Michelle |title=War Protesters Ask Jurors to Heed Their Consciences |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/nyregion/war-protesters-ask-jurors-to-heed-their-consciences.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 13, 2021}} On September 26, 2005, they were found not guilty of conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States and guilty of the misdemeanor charges of damage to property and trespassing.{{cite news |date=September 30, 2005 |last=Smith|first=Jordan |title=Blood-Spilling Anti-War Protesters Not Guilty |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2005-09-30/294038/ |work=Austin Chronicle |access-date=March 13, 2021}}
The story of the action is told in the 2006 documentary film The Trial of the St. Patrick's Four.{{Cite web |title=Tribute to an antiwar activist |url=http://socialistworker.org/2009/03/31/tribute-to-an-antiwar-activist |access-date=March 14, 2021 |website=SocialistWorker.org |language=en}}
Drone protest
On July 24, 2014, Grady was arrested while demonstrating outside the gates of Hancock Field Air National Guard Base. The protests were conducted with members of the Upstate Drone Action and Atlantic Life Community activists. She was protesting the drone attacks over Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of children, claiming that the drone attacks resulted in war crimes. The weaponized MQ-9 Reaper drones were remotely controlled from within the base by the 174th Attack Wing of the New York State Air National Guard.{{Cite web|url=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2014/07/hancock_drone_protesters_arrested_at_base.html|title=Hancock drone protesters arrested at base|date=July 25, 2014|website=syracuse|access-date=March 7, 2021}}
Personal life
Grady is married to Paul Sayvets. They have two daughters, Leah and Rosie.{{Cite web|url=https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/about/bios/clare-grady/|title = Clare Grady}}
She has worked at Loaves & Fishes, an Ithaca-based kitchen, for nearly two decades.{{when|date=March 2021}}
References
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External links
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American anti-war activists
Category:American Christian pacifists
Category:American anti–nuclear weapons activists
Category:Catholic Worker Movement