My name is Joanna Smith and I do a lot of activism in a lot of different areas.

I kind of consider it to be my job. I call myself a professional citizen which to me just means paying attention to what's going on and acting when it's necessary.

And in terms of climate in particular, I feel like I've always been very aware of the issues around it.

Joanna Altman Smith was one of two activists arrested at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. in April 2023.

She and her fellow activist Tim Martin, both members of the group declare emergency, smeared water soluble finger paint on the glass display case around a diga statue called little dancer.

Then they sat down in front of it and read a statement about why President Biden needs to declare the climate crisis a state of emergency.

Martin and Smith, both parents, talked about fearing for their children who, unlike the little dancer, are not protected by glass, face an increasingly dangerous world.

Gallery visitors gathered around them, along with a few journalists they had invited, and then they were arrested, pretty quietly, as expected.

The indictment that came down for them both a month later was more of a surprise. The two were charged with conspiracy against the United States, because the protest took place in a federal building.

That crime comes with a potential jail sentence of 10 years and a fine of half a million dollars.

I was quite a shock. I think that's the perfect word. I could not believe that what I left, I was being held by the National Park Service police because of the location of the protest was on the National Ball.

That's their jurisdiction. When they released me, they gave me a hearing appearance ticket that indicated that my violation was defacing public or private property, which is exactly what I did and intended to do in the most non-destructive way possible.

But right before that hearing was to happen, I received a call from my lawyer informing me that it was now in federal jurisdiction and that I had been indicted by a grand jury on two counts, which are public, and I can repeat them here.

One was conspiracy against the United States of America, and the other was pertaining to a very obscure statute that covers only the National Gallery and sets a much lower threshold of damage than any that I was aware of.

The general misdemeanor damage level, I believe, in DC is somewhere around $1,000, and this statute makes any damage at the National Gallery over $100, a felony.

So I was, yeah, indicted on two felony counts, and it was just a shock.

I'm Amy Westerville, and this is drilled the real free speech threat.

Throughout this series, in addition to bringing you investigative pieces on the role of extractive industry and the criminalization protest and reports from the front lines all over the globe, we will be bringing you the stories of people been directly impacted by this trend.

As you heard in our episode on the Atlas Network, a key step in criminalizing protest is vilifying the protesters themselves.

It's important then to remind people that these activists are humans that they care about perfectly reasonable things like protecting their kids, and that actually it's pretty admirable to take on big risks with your comfort and your security in order to fight for the greater good.

Earlier in the season, we heard from Disha Robbie, the youth climate activist in India, who's been charged with sedition for working with Fridays for future and supporting the farmers protest there.

Today, the story of Joanna, who describes herself as just a middle-aged mom from Brooklyn trying to do the right thing.

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