BALTIMORE, Maryland - October 11, 2008 - Dominican nuns Sister Ardeth
Platte and Sister Carol Gilbert have spent more than 40 years protesting
nuclear weapons and war, even doing time in federal prison for their actions.
They say they have devoted their entire lives to nonviolent resistance.
But after spending two weeks out of town, Sister Ardeth, 72, and Sister Carol, 60, returned to their Baltimore home to find letters and an e-mail from the Maryland State Police saying they were wrongfully labeled as suspected terrorists in a federal database between 2005 and 2006.
For 13 years, the missionary nuns from Michigan have lived and worked in the Jonah House community, a faith-based, non-violent resistance community in Baltimore.
"To be labeled a terrorist is really very hard to hear and to accept when your whole life has been one of loving nonviolence. And do we resist some of the policies of our government? Yes," Sister Ardeth said. "But does civil dissent and civil unrest mean that people are going to be labeled as terrorists?"
Last week, former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs presented an independent review to Gov. Martin O'Malley concluding that the Maryland State Police conducted unwarranted surveillance of anti-death penalty and anti-war groups between 2005 and 2006. O'Malley was not governor at the time.
The nuns are outraged that the state police will only show them "relevant documents" in the database and that they will not be allowed to make copies of the material.
The sisters refuse to view their records until they are allowed to bring attorneys and make copies.
Sister Ardeth and Sister Carol said they would continue to protest nuclear weapons and war and urge lawmakers to pass legislation prohibiting unwarranted spying.
"If they can label us as terrorists, they can label all kinds of people as terrorists. So then people become afraid to speak out against what the established government might be saying," Sister Carol said. "And that is the demise of democracy."