MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents"
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MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents" |
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Helping Create the NEXT GENERATION of the Web: GENERATOR 21: The World's Magazine
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Inside the replica shack at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts is a page from "Civil Disobedience." I've often wondered if anybody but I had read that page... and if they had, had they really understood it?
During this 150th anniversary of "Civil Disobedience," I protested in front of Gandhi's grandson who was delivering a speech for the Thoreau Society outside the First Parish church in Concord. My sign, THOREAU WAS A DISSIDENT, NOT A SOCIETY OR SHOP, was either read in disgust or simply ignored by Society members (see Northwoods Journal, Fall 1999 issue).
A month later, I was incarcerated for doing something different.
I had been going to Walden Pond nearly every day for the past year. During the summer, I often swam there. On the second of September I pulled into the park, waited behind the car in front of me.... and waited and waited and waited as the attendant gabbed, indifferent to my waiting. So I drove around the car, pointing to my seasonal sticker and parked. The attendant had hollered: "SIR, SIR!" But I had kept driving.
I swam 45 minutes. Walked back up the hill, got into my car, drove out of the lot, pulled over to the control station, and asked the attendant what was wrong. He said that I hadn't followed the rules. And I replied: "What fucking rules?" I pointed to my seasonal sticker and said I'd paid my dues. An argument ensued about the rules. I remained in my car. But I had sinned. I had used the F word.
As he dialed the police, I said Fuck this and left.
Soon, on Route 2, an unmarked car was flashing its lights behind me, so I put on my signal lights, and eventually pulled over into an apartment complex lot. I got out of the car. The officer got out of his car and asked for my license and registration, which I gave him. He called in the information. I was angry, asked what he was going to charge me with. He refused to respond.
While the officer was calling in, I was taping my voice on a little tape recorder, mentioning his name and badge number, his unmarked license plate number, and the details of my citizen ordeal. When he got out of the car he told me to turn off the recorder, that it was a five-year felony. Could that really be true? I turned it off.
The officer was utterly apathetic, impassive, and taciturn. I told him out of frustration to go ahead and arrest me.
"Give me the recorder," he ordered.
I gave it to him.
He told me to face his car.
I did. He put handcuffs on me. He told me to get into his car. I did.
Inside, I asked him if he had ever read Thoreau.
He said: "I don't believe in civil disobedience."
I said: "Well, maybe you shouldn't be working at Walden Pond State Reservation then." He didn't respond. Well, at least he'd heard of Thoreau. He stood next to the car talking on his cell-phone with a tow truck company. Then the truck finally arrived and impounded my car, even though there were no motor violations outstanding or current. Apparently, this is the officer's right and way to punish and fine citizens by proxy. $95!
No, I was not deferent to the officer. I don't like the police. I don't like their fascist manner. I don't like the fear they instill, nor how they behave in front of the poor and other non-pillars of the community. Sure, there must be some good officers out there, but I have yet to meet one. Indeed, things have become so twisted, citizens becoming so indoctrinated by public education and the government, that I assume many, if not most, people would agree that the officer should have arrested me. Most people seem unable to comprehend that officers are supposed to be servants of the public, rather than vice versa. In that light, officers ought to manifest deference to public citizens, rather than vice versa. Citizens should not be obligated to show deference to the police. Yet because the police are the police of the wealthy and have a long tradition of fighting the poor on behalf of the wealthy (e.g., killing and maiming to break unions and civil rights demonstrations), citizens are obligated de facto to show deference to them.
We arrived at the police station in front of the Concord State Reformatory. The impassive officer told me to get out. I got out. He directed me into the building. Again, I asked if he were going to read me my rights. He did not respond. He directed me to a room. In that room, the Miranda Rights were dangling from the ceiling. He then read me those rights: "You have a right to remain silent..."
When he was done, he started asking me questions. I said: "I thought you just told me I had the right to remain silent."
He mumbled something like, yes, but not about this.
I said, "I'm going to remain silent, until I have a lawyer."
He then said, "If you don't talk, I am going to lock you up for 24 hours."
I said, "Go ahead then. I have not done anything illegal."
He directed me into the jail area and into the first cell, where he uncuffed me, then ordered: "Take off your sneakers!" I took them off, put them outside the cell, then he shut and locked the door.
Inside, everything was dark and painted thick navy gray. There was a slab bench without a cover or mattress also painted navy gray. I lay down on it, the toilet without a seat next to my head. There was no toilet paper.
On the wall on the other side of the bars were three or four type-written pages. The writing was too small to read. Also, there was a sign. I can't remember exactly what it said. Something like: This Area is being video monitored and taped. Indeed, two video cameras were affixed to the wall staring down upon me. The minutes crawled. I had 24 hours of them with absolutely nothing to do. The constant sound of the air conditioner blowing in on me was peaceful. But it was damn cold. I was shivering, didn't even have a towel to dry off, dressed in tee-shirt and wet bathing suit. It must have been 50 degrees.
Finally, after a couple of hours, the arresting officer opened my cell, put the cuffs back on, and directed me back out to his car. We took off and arrived at the Concord Middlesex Court House. Inside, he dropped me off with a probation officer who asked questions. I said, I thought I had a right to remain silent. She assured me that her questions were simple fact questions to help identify me.
A guard said if I didn't answer them, he'd send me up to Billerica state prison for the night.
I said, "You know, I really don't feel like going to Billerica. Ask me the questions."
"Smart choice," he said.
I was put in another cell, where I waited and shivered and requested a blanket and got no response. An hour later, I was directed to the court where I stood on an elevated tribune next to another guy who had shackles on.
I felt bad for him. I realized he was going to be in one of those nightmare cells long enough to break his mind and spirit. The judge talked to the probate officer and said, "Well, we don't know if he is who he says he is, so we'll have to put him back in the cell until after lunch break." The judge ordered recess. The guard directed me down the hall, picked up a manilla envelope and said these are yours, looked in the envelope and said, "Hey, here's your license!" meaning that I was who I was but, well, tough shit, you'll have to go back into the cell anyhow.
Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?... They [men and women] think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?
As he continued on his rant about following the rules, I said: "Fuck the rules and fuck Massachusetts with all its goddamn corruption and cronyism!"
FEED THE HUNGRY. You can help someone else in this world and IT WON'T COST YOU A DIME. If you simply remember to drop by The Hunger Site every day that you surf and click a simple button ONE LESS PERSON WILL GO HUNGRY. The food is distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme and paid for through the sponsorship of companies that care. Do your part.
The judge said I could speak with Madame the Prosecutor to make a deal if I wished or come back for a hearing with or without a lawyer. I told him I'd speak with the prosecutor. In the hallway, I was a free man. I rubbed my wrists. Yeah, I was free.
The prosecutor asked me to tell her what happened. I gave her a sketch, then she said: "I'm willing to drop the charges if you pay the $100 in court fees."
I told her no deal. I asked her where my car was. She knew nothing about the impoundment, seemed surprised, then said she'd look into it. I went back into court. The judge set a pretrial hearing for November 5th and underscored that if I didn't show up, I'd be arrested, would spend 90 days in jail and would be fined $5000. Madame the Prosecutor handed me a slip with the tow company name and address.
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Why did Madame the Prosecutor think I would want to pay $100 in court fees when the judge had mumbled "fineable $50"?
Well, I'd find out why after talking with the ACLU. "Because the judge can fine you some crazy amount if he wants to. He can do anything. You could have been arrested at four o'clock and spent the night in jail or the whole weekend if it were a Friday. The judge will always take the policeman's side if there are no witnesses."
Perhaps the prosecutor realized that with no prior criminal record whatsoever, no resisting arrest and no complaints of threat, I was perhaps not the best candidate for the cell. Perhaps not. The ACLU wouldn't represent me.
I, of course, have since pondered the situation over and over. What is disorderly conduct or public disturbance in the state of Massachusetts? I had no idea.
The police report noted: "Irate and Confrontational" and "Argumentative/Irrational." Apparently, citizens can be arrested for being angry.
Yes, this is the real America that I have been discovering.
Yes, taping an officer can be a five year felony charge. That's what the ACLU said.
Yes, the officer can simply have your car impounded. That's what the ACLU said. The police report noted: "offensive and assaultive language." The Forest and Parks Rules (Title 304, Chapter 12.00), which I found in the public library using Premise legal software, notes prohibitions against "obscene language."
Clearly, in the absence of witnesses, the officer could have simply stated that I said FUCK YOU to him and the judge would have sided with him. That's what the ACLU said.
This is horrendous, but this is America. What words pronounced in front of a public employee warrant arrest and incarceration? It is my humble opinion that NO WORDS should warrant such punishment.
Why do so many people wrongly think that they have a right to make a phone call when incarcerated?
Why do our schools not teach the citizenry basic rights? Sure, they teach the Bill of Rights, but not the basic everyday rights.
Why do so many of us know nothing about our basic rights or lack of basic rights? Must common citizens stay in their cars when an unmarked car arrests them? Does the law require citizens to stop for unmarked cars? Why is the government and public education content to perpetuate ignorance of basic rights amongst the citizenry? Thoreau asked this very question over 150 years ago. The government has yet to provide an answer.
Finally, I admit that deep down, while standing next to the officer's car, I was curious: Could they actually throw me in jail for having an argument and saying the word FUCK? Indeed, as a writer, I was in need of an eye-opening jail experience. Every citizen should have one. How else can citizens comprehend those two million compatriots rotting behind bars? In any event, it is a sad day for America when a police officer stops a common citizen, refuses to tell him why he has been arrested and does not read him his legal rights. It is a sad day when citizens are made to fear the law and police officers, rather than respect it and them. It is a sad day when the judges seem more concerned with keeping the police content than keeping the citizenry informed. Most of all, it is a sad when the large majority of citizens do not give a damn about their ignorance of the law, nor about the two million prisoners in America.
Two weeks after my ordeal, I am now always on guard when leaving the house and fear getting into an argument, for I am by nature questioning and confrontational. I keep my eyes peeled for the police when driving. I fear the law much more now, though I respect it much less, because I have come to realize that it is purposely vague and and that the greater our ignorance of it, the more power to the powerful, including the police. Most of all, I fear that it will eventually make obedient automatons out of all of us.
© 1999, GENERATOR 21.
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