“COVID days are not behind us. I fear 2024 will see a bad repetition of history. It’s all about social control,” said Michelle Efendi, a former resident of Massachusetts who now resides in Florida.
Mrs. Efendi is facing charges of alleged trespassing, disorderly conduct, and assault stemming from her attempt to enter the Massachusetts State House on March 1, 2022, without showing a certificate of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 6 months in jail.
When the pandemic struck New England in March 2020, Mrs. Efendi said she was all for masking up, staying indoors, and abiding by the curfew.
“I even helped distribute masks to others. I perceived COVID-19 as a threat and believed that wearing a mask was an adequate and effective response. I see now that mask-wearing was a slippery slope,” she told The Epoch Times in a recent interview.
As the months went by, Mrs. Efendi began to experience what she calls “negative physical and emotional consequences” from wearing a mask.
“I learned that wearing a mask was ineffective against the virus. Yet, nobody in authority would admit that it was junk science. I believe that the government was using the mask to keep the public afraid,” she said.
The introduction of the vaccine and the mandates that soon followed, along with the firing of local health care workers for refusing to be vaccinated, was a “red line” for Mrs. Efendi.
She said a bad situation became even more unacceptable when the city implemented what turned out to be a short-lived vaccine passport program in January 2022.
“The prospect of having to show papers to obtain food absolutely terrified me, and my husband, a Boston employee, was fearful of losing his job for refusing to take the shot.
“We regard forced vaccination as a violation of our God-given human rights. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back!”
From that point forward, the 37-year-old wife and mother resolved to do whatever she could to protest governmental overreach in personal health care choices.
Maija Hahn, the founder and director of United for Healthcare Workers, an organization working for the empowerment of health care workers who stand up for ethics and integrity in medicine, said of Mrs. Efendi, “I think she is being made an example of.”
Novice Protester
“I remember taking my baby to the first protest I attended. I had no experience with this kind of thing and was curious,” Mrs. Efendi said.
The decision to bring her baby to a protest would eventually come back to haunt her.
Mrs. Efendi told The Epoch Times that she engaged in two kinds of protests: the traditional type with bullhorns, chanting, and picketers carrying placards, and the form of protest that is more like asserting your rights and registering your disagreement with government policy by going about your daily life.
“Isn’t it strange that just resuming your normal life became perceived as a protest?
“I think of the time my children and I entered a public library and sat down in a reading room to read. When librarians noticed us sitting there without masks, they descended on us as if we were criminals. That quiet, normal family activity was blown up and publicized. It actually got spun by the Boston media as us ‘harassing’ the librarians.
“A visit by my family to the zoo became a source of public controversy because people could view the outdoor exhibits unmasked but were barred from entering the exhibition buildings without proof of vaccination. When I went in, they said I was trespassing. So, just trying to live a normal life became a form of protest and resistance during COVID. It was considered a crime.”
Mrs. Efendi stated that she was soon marked as a troublemaker and monitored by the government. She said her photo was sent to museums and other places warning them about her.
“I really believe the authorities were less scared of me being a carrier of the virus than they were frightened of the anti-mandate cause gaining steam as my activities made the local news.”
Taking a stand has been painful for Mrs. Efendi, who says she has been slandered, libeled, and maligned. Being called a violent extremist, racist, and white supremacist has been particularly hard on the family, she said.
Her husband of 13 years is a naturalized Asian-American citizen who was born in Indonesia.
“My social media posts were labeled ‘Potentially Sensitive Content.’ I have been turned in to the Department of Families and Children and accused of hurting my children,” Mrs. Efendi said.
“Part of the reason that we moved to Florida was my husband’s legitimate fear that our children would be taken from us if we stayed in Massachusetts.
“Take away our children? For what? I’m not guilty of so much as a parking ticket.
Selective Prosecution?
Mrs. Efendi said she was disgusted with the legal system in Boston, where she says climate change and pro-Palestinian protestors are frequently arrested only to have the charges against them dropped in a matter of days.“My case has been pending for nearly two years. We have accumulated evidence that the city is practicing selective persecution. They have a history of quickly dropping the cases involving causes they support and really going after those with whom they disagree. That is not equal justice under the law.
“We didn’t storm the State Capitol building with 100 people. About six of us met outside. We assaulted nobody. I was the one who took a faceplant on the pavement when a police officer flung me to the ground for repeatedly asking to be allowed to go inside maskless and attempting to squeeze by a doorkeeper.
“They wouldn’t let me talk to their supervisor or consider me for a medical or religious exemption.
“The irony is that, after I was arrested, they took me inside that very building without a mask or proof of vaccination,” said Mrs. Efendi. “And the restrictions were lifted three days later.”
After nearly 700 days, Mrs. Efendi’s case has advanced to preliminary examination and discovery. She has been attending her legal proceedings by Zoom but fears she may be required to travel from Florida to Massachusetts to appear in person—a trip she says she cannot afford.
