It has been several months since I contributed to the Free Keene blog regarding my transition to liberty or my opinions about stuff that is happening in the government world. In fact, my second to last post here was about how I, for the first time in 30 years crawling this planet, got arrested. I was arrested at the US/Mexico border in Nogales, AZ by United States Customs and Border Protection for exercising the 5th Amendment.
Well, I finally got my “arrest report” from the feds (after 4-5 months of notarizing forms, mailing things back and forth, and begging) and it sure looks like they let me off easy for the pure evil I unleashed at the border station. It looks like I misled you in my July blog in that that I failed to mention that I, according to the federal officer who arrested me, murdered one of their co-workers.
Among the two things I “could have been arrested” for were 18 USC 111 and 18 USC 1114. That would be forcibly impeding and murdering a federal officer. Now verbal warnings are given out every day for things like speeding and rolling through a stop sign… but I never imagined I’d get a verbal warning for violating a law that I could get the federal death penalty for. I went straight from never having been arrested or convicted of anything to the lethal injection.
Here’s the report. It is so ridiculous, I believe it deserved its own meme.
Now, having written a police report or two myself, I’ll point some things out that are happening in CBP Officer Aldrich’s weak attempt of a report he came up with.
With all the controversy in Keene surrounding young people in Central Square, those who have been observing have likely noticed the usual political tactic of lumping individuals into groups. This is a typical and thoughtless approach. It makes it easy to dismiss people and their opinions, because they can be seen as just one of the group. It has (and continues to) happened with liberty-minded people being called “Free Staters” and “Free Keeners” even if they aren’t one, the other, or both. Now it’s happening with some of the teens and young adults hanging out in Central Square. Just call them “Juggalos” and then one can just dismiss them all as troublemakers, when in reality only a few of them might actually be. I mean, the FBI recently called the Juggalos a nationwide gang, so they must all be criminals, right?
This is the mindset of people who haven’t bothered to try to talk to any of the people they don’t understand. I used to be this way myself. I considered all the government people to be evil, but then I realized they are just human beings who for the most part think they are doing good. Many don’t realize that they are supporting a violent monopoly and are blind to the horribly destructive ends of the system in which they work. Having one-on-one conversations with some of them helped me see them as fellow humans instead of heartless bureaucrats.
I get it. It’s easy to categorize people into groups. It’s also lazy. Most of the Juggalos that I have met are good, young folks. Smoking weed is not a crime against other human beings and nor is enjoying the common. Oh, and guess who helped pick up the park as part of Kleen Keene? Some of the Juggalos. Seems the real issue with Central Square is that some teens do things that some adults don’t appreciate, like using profanity. These conflicts have lived on for generations and no law will make them go away. Older folks should remember what it was like when they were younger and then try to connect with the people on the Square rather than just write them all off as a “problem”.
On August 20th, 2011 at 12:31pm on the Capitol lawn in Washington DC, Kathryn Dill, William Duffield, and I were arrested for selling 10cent cups of lemonade. The events leading up to our arrest, along with our capture and kidnapping were beautifully documented by several activists who came armed with cameras (see high quality video below); therefore, I feel no need to cover those details. However, once we were taken away, there were no more cameras to share our experience.
With the memorial to Thomas Ball in mind, a man chewed up and spit out by the family court system, I wanted to share a lawsuit against a police officer who illustrates the unintended consequences of using state violence to address thee non-violent problems of someone not paying their obligated child support.
The case is Henry v. Purnell, No. 08-7433 and it is from the 4th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is another instance of a police officer “accidently” using a gun to shoot someone running away in lieu of a Taser.
From Findlaw.com:
In a Section 1983 action arising from the fatal shooting of a suspect wanted for misdemeanor failure to pay child support, summary judgment in favor of defendant-police officer is reversed because: 1) although defendant intended to use his Taser rather than his gun to stop fleeing suspect, Tennessee v. Garner prohibits shooting suspects who pose no significant threat of death or serious physical threat; and 2) defendant’s use of force could be viewed by a jury as objectively unreasonable.
Yeah, I’d say that blasting a non-violent person with lead “could be” construed as “objectively unreasonable.” When you use state violence to solve non-violent problems, this is what happens. People get shot. Over owed child support.
If you think these cases are rare, you’d be incorrect. This particular case came out yesterday. I only chose to share it with you now in reflection of Mr. Ball’s memorial.
CORRECTION: Findlaw was incorrect in their syllabus stating that the man in this case was murdered. The man thankfully lived through this encounter, but it clearly could have turned out far worse.
(Full transparency – I first crossed paths with Dave maybe five years back when I worked in DC’s libertarian think tank world.)
I was happy to read Dave’s positive overview of the going-ons here – it never hurts when an outlet with as many readers as Slate.com helps to introduce more people to voluntaryism. Thanks Dave! That said, at times I found myself wishing that different words or examples were used to paint a more-accurate picture.
In the first sentence Dave likened Ademo Freeman, Ian Freeman and me as “antigovernment activists” rather than something like “self-government advocates.” This differentiation may seem trivial but I think it’s important to tease out as our lives aren’t reactionary or led by negativity, but are proactive and led ultimately by love.
With all the controversy in Keene surrounding young people in Central Square, those who have been observing have likely noticed the usual political tactic of lumping individuals into groups. This is a typical and thoughtless approach. It makes it easy to dismiss people and their opinions, because they can be seen as just one of the group. It has (and continues to) happened with liberty-minded people being called “Free Staters” and “Free Keeners” even if they aren’t one, the other, or both. Now it’s happening with some of the teens and young adults hanging out in Central Square. Just call them “Juggalos” and then one can just dismiss them all as troublemakers, when in reality only a few of them might actually be. I mean, the FBI recently called the Juggalos a nationwide gang, so they must all be criminals, right?
