We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, would like to express our outrage to the May 28 guilty verdict against the Spokane 3 – Justice Forral, Bajun Mavalwalla II, and Jac Archer – and our support for their continuous fight to preserve the First Amendment rights for all.
On June 11, 2025, Justice, Bajun and Jac joined other ordinary Spokane residents outside of the Spokane Homeland Security Office out of the concerns of Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents’ kidnapping and unlawful detainment of two young asylum seekers Joswar Rodriguez Torres and Cesar Alvarez Perez. Their spontaneous response out of compassion has been distorted by the federal prosecutor as “conspiracy.” Their instinctive actions to protect others around them when local law enforcement deployed excessive force to disperse the group of Spokane residents which had been quiet and orderly for hours prior to law enforcement arrival were similarly framed.
Richard Barker, the Acting U.S. Attorney then, refused to comply under the pressure from President Trump to indict community members protesting against ICE and resigned rather than sign the indictment against the three protesters. But, the federal prosecutors in the Spokane 3 case chose to weaponize the Civil War era law and made an unfair, unsubstantiated and outrageous leap in their interpretation of Bajun, Justice and Jac’s motives and actions. Critical information on Richard Barker’s refusal to sign the indictment and his subsequent resignation was withheld from the jury. The ruling of Joswar Rodriguez Torres’ detention as unlawful was also kept from the jury. In the end, the majority-white jury – far from being the peers of Bajun, Justice and Jac who are all people of color (Bajun and Justice are bi/multiracial of Asian descent in particular) – found them guilty of the federal conspiracy charges. In response, the National Lawyer’s Guild has called for overturning the verdict. In their statement in support of the Spokane 3, Western State Center referred to the trial outcome as “another troubling sign of federal escalation to chill free speech and dissent.” And, Inatai Foundation sums it up in their solidarity statement, “When protest is treated as conspiracy and dissent as a crime, the implications extend far beyond any single case.”
We cannot stay silent when Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) members of our communities are unjustly targeted and punished by the federal government simply for political dissent. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA-NH/PI) communities have seen our First Amendment rights being violated in our struggles for equal rights, labor protection, and racial justice throughout our history. From the Asian American Political Alliance’s members in the multiracial Third World Liberation Front strikes in the 1960s to Native Hawaiians in the Mauna Kea Access Protests in 2019, we have seen our exercise of First Amendment rights met with police violence and arrests. More recently, AA-NH/PIs who participated in pro-Palestine protests have been arrested and targeted for deportation under the Trump Administration.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities have had a long tradition of fighting for our collective constitutional rights in the United States through the court system. We are indebted to Justice, Bajun and Jac for their courageous decision to fight for the unjust federal charges against them through the legal process. We will stand in solidarity with Justice, Bajun and Jac as they continue their fight to protect our First Amendment rights. We will not let them shoulder all of the responsibilities in their resistance against authoritarian political repression. We will not be intimidated by the May 28 verdict. We will continue to speak up and advocate for immigrants and refugees in our communities.
Signed:
List of Organizations
- Asians for Collective Action
- Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane
- APIC Washington
- Asian Counseling and Referral Service
- APIC Yakima
- Refugee & Immigrant Services Northwest
- Make Us Visible Washington
- Greater Spokane Progress
- QLaw Foundation of Washington
- Reimagine Spokane
- Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs
- Nuestras Raices
List of Individuals
- Angie Beeman, Educator (Baruch College – City University of New York)
- Brenda O’Brien, Community Member
- Lin Crowley, Education
- Duaa-Rahemaah Hunter
- Maggie Talarico, AYCL (Asian Youth for Collective Liberation)
- Pascal Bostic, Artist, photographer, filmmaker, writer
- Autumn Lee, Student
- Scott Walker, Retired
- Kathryn DePaolis, Eastern Washington University
- Lynnea Kaylor, Office Manager, KYRS
- Paul Ramer, Non-AA&NH/PI ally
- Vanessa Delgado, Spectrum Center
- Margaret Albaugh, Therapist
- Juan A Mas, Freelance Director/Producer
- Jessica Kong, Lecturer
- Rosemary Colón, Educator
- Deborah Svoboda, Community member
- Sara Bauer, concierge
- Walter Kloefkorn, retired
- Karen Edwards, Conservation Photography
- Mike Petersen, Volunteer
- Naomi Abella, public health
- Gail Enomoto-Souza, retiree
- Frances Mortel, artist and community organizer
- Matt Rindge, Professor of Religious Studies
- Olana Steele, Fitness Instructor
- Jaime Charest, Physician Assistant
- Jenny Dutton, Report processor
- STEPHEN R ALLEN, Retired
- Dan Kobe-Smith, Retired Teacher
- Joanne Thomas, Retired
- David Steele, Project manager
- Jacob Cain, Community member
- Fen H, ACL Spokane
- Jeremiah Harding, Freelance / Labor
- Barbara Anderson, Retired
- Sarah Swoboda, Unaffiliated
- Rick Matters, Episcopal Priest
- Brittany Anderson, Activist
- Em, Independent
- Paul McDonnell, Retired
- Jeff Thomas, Retired
- John lewis, Retired
- Travis M Alexander, Retired
- Hannah Hardin, Digital Account Manager
- Jennifer Akins, retired
- Leanne V Blood, Retired
- Rev. Paul Mitchell, Pioneer United Methodist Church
- Patricia Castaneda, Community Organizer
READ THE FULL LIST OF SUPPORTERS