When giving away the printed word is a subversive act

One would think that the Paterson, NJ police would have better things to do than harass a couple of guys giving away free books in front of an abandoned storefront:

With an embarrassingly high rate of illiteracy in Paterson and no major bookstore for the city's poverty-burdened residents, two local activists took matters into their own hands.

Why not give away books for free?

To anyone.

So began the great Paterson book giveaway, the brainchild of a retired biology teacher and a tattoo artist -- definitely an unlikely pair.

Two mornings each week for the last year, former teacher John Sargis and tattooist Tom Silva have set up a table on a Paterson sidewalk and handed out Saul Bellow novels or travel books or Arthur Miller plays or memoirs by South African political activists -- to name just a few of their selection of free books.

In just the last month, the sidewalk table and book-brimming milk crates that Sargis and Silva bring to downtown Paterson has been visited three times by police.

What gives?

Police say they are only responding to citizen complaints -- and have not shut down the book giveaway or written any tickets or put anyone in handcuffs.

"There's probably a citizen complaint," Lt. Anthony Traina, Paterson's police spokesman.

But who is complaining? And why?

So far, police won't say.

Sargis and Silva say police have asked whether they have a sales license, then discover Sargis and Silva don't need one because they are merely passing out free books.

"We said this is not a sale," Sargis said.

"We know what our rights are," Silva added.

On other visits, the activists say police complain that they are blocking the sidewalk and ask if they have a permit to congregate. On a recent weekday, the activists' table took up barely 2 feet of the 8-foot-wide sidewalk. During the two-hour giveaway, pedestrians had plenty of room to pass by.

But Sargis and Silva say they don't want to pick a fight even though they both say they have a constitutional right to pass out free reading material. But on one occasion, when police suggested that they should leave, Sargis and Silva packed up their books and went home.

"No one likes to get arrested," Silva said.

And so what began as a community service has become a community question mark for Sargis and Silva. Can they continue to give away books?

[snip]

Sargis and Silva are decidedly liberal in their politics. When they set up their table of books, they also post political signs on nearby walls.

On a recent weekday, on a wall outside the abandoned El Nuevo Teresita Restaurant on the corner of Ellison and Church streets, the sign for "Free Books" was book-ended by two other signs.

"Impeach Bush," said one.

"Out of Iraq," said another.

Piled on the table with computer books and a biography of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and a memoir by retired U.S. Navy admiral and former Joint Chiefs Chair- man William Crowe were leaf-lets advising young men and women not to enlist in the military.

Sargis and Silva hope their political messages might provoke passers-by to talk to them.

"Knowledge is free," Sargis explains. "There shouldn't be any price on knowledge. In a democratic society, people need knowledge to make adequate decisions."

Exactly. If, as I suspect, the harassment is less about taking up space on the sidewalk and more about trying to suppress the messages that Sargis and Silva have posted on the doors of the abandoned storefront in front of which they ply their wares.

Story and video of the project is here.