[Occupymendocino] Cecily McMillan didn't get off easy. Her case is a threat to the future of protest | OpEdNews]

[moxie at mcn.org]

DEAR OCCUPY! ~
As we follow this unfortunate, but predictable, turn of OCCUPY events, let
us remember that this is the POLICE M.O. everywhere: offer ANY (even
POLITE verbal) 'resistance' to arrest= You WILL get charged with ASSAULT
on a cop, ESPECIALLY if they beat You up!
For the Record:
in 1984, in Fort Bragg, I had this experience:
I was, at that time, a "small businessperson", being co-proprietor of an
Art Gallery on Redwood St.
One FRIDAY evening my biz partner & I were running errands in a car
borrowed from a friend, who was watching our shop. We were stopped by FB
cops for inadvertently putting the high beams on. A background check
revealed an EXPIRED fixit ticket on a dead Volvo (in my backyard), & the
officers decided to arrest me!
I politely but firmly requested permission to deliver my partner & her
groceries 1/2 block and/or to decline said arrest (weekend in jail for a
dead tail-light on a non-op car?), etc. all to no avail.
I was then roughly smacked about (by 2 notorious cops, who often preyed
upon single women...), handcuffed & hauled off to jail.
I politely asked to NOT be handcuffed for the 5 block drive: I needed my
hands in working order. I was at that time plagued by Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome [n.b.~ since CURED by acupuncture!] and I had, in addition to a
current sign painting job, a Public Piano performance in a few days {I was
also a Public School music teacher}.
This request, and an attempt to notify my shopsitter of this situation,
were met with jeers & insults from the cops.
The PUNCHLINE? ~ I was charged with (& convicted of!) assault on the police.
That was in the days of good ol' Hon. Judge Robt. Heeb, who sat through a
bizarre jury trial & sentenced me to community service. The creepy PA
later ran for judge Heeb's job on a platform attacking Judge Heeb: "He
lets dangerous cop-beaters off easy!"
As a result of this very public & preposterous event, the late, GREAT
BARBARA CHAMPION led a Flying Wedge of Radical Grandmas to publicly
inquire why police policy included universal handcuffing, even in such
nonviolent, victimless instances. They were met with a very militaristic
reply: it only takes one berserker....etc...
There are more crazy details to this story, but, hey: I wasn't even
PROTESTING anything but my arrest!
The above pales in contrast to Cecily Macmillan's ordeal, but: be aware:
this is UNIVERSAL, craven police policy: victimize the peaceful & then:
blame the victim.
This cautionary tale is not meant to dissuade folks from Peaceful Protest.
Indeed: Fill the Jails, Jam the Courts, educate everyone re: JURY
NULLIFICATION LAWS, ALWAYS HAVE NUMEROUS RECORDING DEVICES {charge Your
batteries!}, SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER & have a Nice Day!
Love and Peace, K. Rudin!


Article at
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Quicklink: Cecily McMillan didn't get off easy. Her case is a threat to
the future of protest | OpEdNews