Clare Grady has lived for many years in Ithaca, NY, on Cayuga People’s land, in Haudenausaunee territory. She comes from a big loving family, and is the mother of 2 grown daughters, Leah and Rosie.Drawing deeply from her Irish Catholic roots, she is grateful that her parents, Teresa and John, who raised their five kids in a community of faith-based resistance. Since taking part in the Griffiss Plowshares Action with six friends in 1983, disarming a B-52 bomber, outfitted to carry first strike cruise missiles, she sees Plowshares actions as sacramental; outward signs of inward and spiritual divine grace.

Clare was the third of the KBP7 to be released from prison under the CARES Act. She was released from Alderson Federal Prison Camp on Friday, August 6th, and serve the remainder of her sentence in home confinement with an ankle monitor until September 10th.

Clare Grady’s personal statement:   
Since taking part in the Griffiss Plowshares Action with six friends in 1983, disarming a B-52 Bomber, outfitted to carry first strike cruise missiles, I see Plowshares actions as sacramental; Outward signs of inward and spiritual divine grace.

Responding to God’s call to disarm, I see the act of hammering as an act of transformation.

When I withdraw my CONSENT to the existence and use of these weapons in my name, I experience a transformation of the weapon, of myself, and of my relationship with the system that the weapon upholds. This system embodies the giant triplets, identified by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, as racism, extreme materialism and militarism.

When I disarm the weapons, which I see as the head of the beast, I find myself brought  (through the courts and jails) into the belly of the beast. It is from this place that I see with new eyes, the nature of the beast, the system that kills and steals 24/7 in my name.

I see a corollary: to the extent that we white people of privilege withdraw our consent to the existence of nuclear weapons, we will begin to unravel the triplets. We will see with new eyes.

No longer will we scapegoat people of color here and around the world, as savage, illegal, criminal or terrorists. Instead, we will see that they have been living and resisting the real crime, the real savagery, the real illegality and terrorism, perpetuated by this system.

We will see with new eyes and understand the words of Martin Luther King, “The greatest purveyor of violence is my own government.” We will see our complicity and we will see that in withdrawing our consent, we say yes to life, a life fed by truth, justice, and peace.