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"They took the food right out of my hands before I could get it into my mouth"

"They took the food right out of my hands before I could get it into my mouth," Reverend Cocomo Rock of the 191914 Ministries said on Sunday at an aborted Food Not Bombs shared meal. "And then he told me he was going to throw all of it in the garbage."

Rock, who is unemployed, and who has not been able to get food stamps after applying seven weeks ago, claims the Sunday meal fills an important gap for him, and for other hungry residents of Middletown, Connecticut.

Sunday, soon after members of the local Food Not Bombs chapter set up tables and placed pots of jambalaya, mango chutney, collard greens, stuffed peppers and more on the table as part of a meal they share with the community, all the food was confiscated. One Food Not Bombs member was issued a summons to appear in court for the commission of a misdemeanor, distributing food without a license.

Food Not Bomb members vowed to continue sharing meals.

"If the health department can't prevent me from buying and smoking cigarettes," said Fred Carroll, who was cited last week. "Don't worry about them protecting me from vegetables."

Food Not Bomb members vowed to continue sharing meals.

The group chooses to share the food publicly -- rather than at someone?s house, for example -- as a means of drawing attention to issues of hunger, said Dan Schniedewind. ?We do it in as public a place as we can because we feel these issues are very important,? he said. ?It?s a demonstration against a society with misplaced priorities.? And that's why a federal judge in Orlando ruled that sharing food with hungry and homeless people in public spaces is protected by the First Amendment.

Read The Middletown Eye report here and the Middletown Press report here. And see previous post here.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on May 04, 2009 (boomark / email).