Dear supporters of the Denver Defense campaign,
It was one year ago today that we were arrested, jailed, and charged with a staggering list of criminal charges for our role in organizing the mass peaceful protest movement demanding justice for Elijah McClain. After a long year of struggle, we are thrilled to be writing to you today without a single charge hanging over our heads. You may have already seen in the news that District Attorney John Kellner dropped the last remaining criminal charges against us on Monday.
We wanted to reach out to you to express our gratitude for you and your organization’s support in getting us to this point. The support of so many organizations, trade unions, community leaders, and ordinary people from the moment of our arrests sent a powerful message to the prosecutors that we were not a handful of individual activists that they could push around and crush, but part of a movement that would fight back and expose their abuse of power.
The outcome of this case could have been very different if we’d had to fight it alone. Had this prosecution been successful, it would have been crushing for the movement here which has made such important strides for the people of Aurora. Instead the movement came to our aid and we were able to continue fighting not just against the repression, but for justice in Elijah McClain’s case. Because of this, today we celebrate not just that we are walking free, but that Elijah McClain’s killers are themselves headed to trial.
We are so grateful to you for your support and we hope you will celebrate this with us as a collective victory. When we fight together, we can win!
In heartfelt gratitude,
Lillian House, Joel Northam, and Eliza Lucero
