Although actress Rosario Dawson hasn’t graced the big screen in quite some time, she’s most definitely on the protest circuit.
On Friday, April 16, the Top Five star was briefly arrested, ticketed and released during a protest at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Donned in a jacket bearing the likeness of Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Dawson joined others this week, as they demonstrated at the U.S. Capitol as part of Democracy Spring. Their protests, which included a march and mass sit-ins, sought to draw attention to what they call the corrosive effect of “big money” in politics and restrictive voter identification laws.
In a video, which has surfaced on YouTube, the 31-year-old actress smiled as authorities appear to confiscate her belongings and motion her to move to an area amid a crowd of protesters chanting in unison, holding up signs, and bound at the wrists with white plastic ties issued by officers.
“Where we sat down actually ended up being a little bit further away, so we ended up getting told multiple times that we were going to be arrested and then they walked away,” Dawson, said in a video posted on The Young Turks Facebook page. “I think there was maybe a desire to not particularly maybe have me arrested because they didn’t want that to be put out there. So we got up when they walked away and we sat down and we were arrested. I wanted, for me, personally, to be in solidarity with the other folks who put themselves on the line and also just to bring attention to this.”
“The police were really great with us and really lovely,” she said, adding “that is not the case for so many people,” such as Black Lives Matter activists.
So, much like the more than 400 demonstrators arrested this week alone, Dawson was issued a $50 citation and charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding after crossing police lines, reports ET.
Meanwhile, Dawson said that she and other protesters are “putting ourselves on the line for what a lot of people across America and I think across the planet really want to be able to see happen in America, which is one person, one vote and to really take the money out of politics so that we can have fair elections where real progressives and people can be going up and running for office and be seen and we can have true options for our leadership.” In other words, Dawson, who was back in full politics mode on Saturday, April 16, as she took part in a march for Sanders in New York City, has no intention of putting on the brakes anytime soon.
