I thought about re-registering as “BostonJoe the White,” and writing this piece. And then I thought: 1) That is really very geeky, and a lot of folks might miss the Tolkien reference, and 2) It is kind of presumptuous to place oneself on that level.
So instead, I’m just going to try to write this story as straight as I can, as quick as I can. I’m kind of out of writing shape. I started trying to write this story as a 5,000 word epic essay, and quickly realized that was like Dick Cheney deciding he was going to run the Boston Marathon next year. I’m huffing and puffing already and I haven’t even gotten out of the intro box.
Then I tried writing it as a witty piece. God it was good. For short puffery. But I clicked on another link, and clicked back here, and realized I’d deleted the whole stinking story. Tragedy. Comic words and thoughts lost for all eternity. Shite.
Anyway. I’ll recap what is now gone. I’m drawn here by a lot of little things. Seeing the Police in concert, and remembering that word, synchronicity. Seeing the stock market tank on sub-prime woes and needing to get an analysis by a Jerome a Paris or a Dad named Bond. The general Kossapalooza that seeped into the larger consciousness last week. And a few invites to face book from old blogging friends. (I just don’t think Mrs. BostonJoe would be real high on entire sites devoted to social networking — talk about your time sucks).
As the now lost Vonnegut might say. So it goes.
I actually heard him lecture in Midland, Michigan. My spaghetti monster, he was quite a primate. He told me — you should start your story when it is already going a hundred miles an hour. Apparently this advice did not take.
But so it goes. You and I, good site, we are a Duprass. A Karass made for two. Such logic would probably cause a schism to the devoted Bokonist. Like the Trinity itself. But it is my view. And it is why I share with you my tale. Without further preamble.
Go forth and blog no more. I told myself. Some many months ago. So I went into the wilderness. Tried to avoid the mass media, too. So I am now strangely new. Not polluted with information.
With all my time, I have been practicing law. Doing some good work. One case, I wanted to share.
You will all remember Man Egee. No doubt. I see his name about still. And it is good. Remember his tales of Latino people taking to the streets. Masses of humanity. Seeking change. Manny inspired me into the streets of Lansing. So many months ago. To march with my Latino brothers. And there, I met Jose Villagran. A young Latino leader. A lion.
This spring, Jose helped lead a protest against an event at Michigan State University. A campus affiliated group of young conservatives called the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) were sponsoring an approved speaker — Chris Simcox, co-founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.
The Michigan State University chapter of the YAF had just been listed as a general hate group by the prestigious Southern Poverty Law Center. That was the first time in history a campus organization was listed. Earlier in the year, YAF had sponsored now-Presidential candidate, Tom Tancredo (R-CO), as a speaker. You may remember Tancredo. He has been listed as one of the ten worst U.S. Congressmen and labeled “Mr. Bigot” by Rolling Stone magazine, for his repugnant views on immigration. YAF was also set to sponsor a local version of the ever popular “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day” at Michigan State last fall. I mean. These fellas. They are just peachy, huh?
Anyway. Jose Villagran has lived a life which allows him to understand the injustices perpetrated against migrant workers and immigrants to this country. While other small children were in day care, he was by his mother’s side in the fields of Southern California. While other children were playing after school, he began his own work-life in the fields at age 7, when his parents divorced. His mom moved to Texas, and Jose spent then next eleven years working as a migrant in the fields between Texas and Wisconsin.
Jose’s older brothers were claimed by a trifecta of ills that plague the working poor. Drugs. Gangs. Prisons. The tryanny of poverty, I believe M. Gahndi said. Jose witnessed it all. But he was a lion.
He saw that education was a key to lifting himself from poverty. A ladder he could use to get up on a platform. From there he could work for his people. Lift them up. (He calls the farm workers and migrants and illegals and legal working poor “his people” — it is beautiful — I know he sounds like some Jungian archetype — but he is real flesh and blood — a lion).
Jose was the first person in his family to graduate from high school. And the first to attend and graduate from college. He matriculated from Michigan State in June with an interdisciplinary degree in pre-law and society.
In his off time, while his college peers were attending frat parties and football games and listening to iPods and planning spring breaks in the Bahamas, Jose was working for his people. Organizing mass rallies. Bringing union organizers from South America to speak of the horrors of paramilitary, capitalist backed, thugs. Opening a free English as a Second Language program for the children of migrant workers. Uniting farm workers in the fields.
As you might imagine, it was probably inevitable that Jose would organize to witness and oppose the speech of Chris Simcox. After all, when followers of Simcox talk about taking up arms and hunting illegals on the border — they are talking about murdering Jose’s people. You can imagine his distress, perhaps?
On April 19, 2007, Jose helped organize a mass protest of the Simcox speech. The non-violent proponents of human rights gathered before the speech and listened to Jose talk of his people — and a day when they would not be scape-goated for the failings of American economic policy.
The protestors then filed into the auditorium. Through the metal detectors, set up, because Simcox and his co-founder have a habit of inciting vocal response to their views when visiting academia.
Estimates vary. There were perhaps 150 people in the auditorium. Perhaps 300. A nearly full lecture hall. The first three rows were reserved for the YAF, the local College Republicans, and their friends. The balance of the hall was filled by protestors, and some assorted onlookers.
Protestors carried signs and chanted from the onset. It was a raucous atmosphere. But it was the introductory speaker for Chris Simcox that sent the crowd into a frenzy, “an immediate solidarity,” according to one witness I spoke with about the event.
Jason Van Dyke was tapped to introduce Simcox. He was a former student at Michigan State. A former head of the YAF. And it was his statements, in my view, that led to the ultimate arrest of Jose Villagran, and the criminal case I will describe below — as surely as the shooting of old lawyers flows from the arming of Dick Cheney with a loaded shotgun.
Before proceeding, let us conduct a thought experiment. Imagine yourself tapped to give a few remarks introducing a controversial speaker. Imagine yourself a real-right-wing conservative, in terms of modern political classifications. Go ahead. Imagine it. I know it is hard. But just do it. Now imagine that as you take the podium, you are faced with three rows of adoring fans, and an entire auditorium of humanity that is scouling and shouting at you. You can see their dislike for you and your ideas in their faces. Many are angry. More look at you perplexed, as if your thought — your philosophy on existence — is pathetic. You know Chris Simcox, the featured speaker is going to speak about immigration. And you know that his message is not well received with Latino audiences. And you see in the crowd a mixture of race, but a heavy Latino contingent. But you have a job to do. And you set about with your introduction. What do you say? How do you accomplish this task?
I virtually guarantee you that none of you could conceive of the actual remarks Van Dyke made. I’m not going into the record to retrieve it verbatim. I will paraphrase it though. And trust that I am very close to accurate in my translation. Here is the key point of his introduction.
I hear a lot of four letter words being thrown around out there. And you’ve got a First Amendment right to say those things. But here are a couple of other four letter words for you: Work and soap.
He repeated these words a second time. Every witness I spoke with who actually heard these words, understood quite well what they meant. The exact classification of the words varied from witness to witness. Some thought them flatly racist. Some thought them incredibly insensitive. But no one I spoke with failed to understand that they were a demeaning insult to a race of people. A play off the stereotype of Latino people as dirty and lazy. The words were repugnant. And the reaction was predictable.
After a moment’s pause, like they were stunned from a blow to the head, the crowd began a strong chant in response to Van Dyke. The energy was strong. Unified. Spontaneous. It is fun to watch on the video. Human beings banding together in defiance of ugly words. And the raucous protest of the event continued, almost unabated until Jose’s arrest, and its aftermath.
The police chief rose and addressed the crowd. He told them they were in violation of the law and that they would have to leave if they did not desist. He told them the event was closed. Police eventually fanned out to the back of the hall, and started trying to clear it out.
There is some remarkably good police work on the tape, in my view. Some very restrained officers. Repeatedly telling protesting students: You have to leave. You will be arrested if you do not leave. The event is closed. You can’t really hear it all, or see it all in the various videos, but in talking with witnesses, and confirming the video with them. That is what the good cops are doing. Very restrained, methodical work.
Funny thing is, the white college students I spoke with, were just defiant to the police. Basically, I was told over and over by white students: “I was as aggressive in my protest as Jose — if not moreso. They told me to leave or I’d be arrested, and I told them I’m not going, until they (the YAF and Simcox) leave.”
Some white students left after 30 plus personal warnings. Some stayed anyway, until police officers just moved on to try to get others to leave. Many stayed until the bitter end, even after the protests.
Jose’s opportunity to leave was something different. He was prepared to testify in this case, that he was given the general warning from the podium, as were all students. He could also hear those around him, being warned repeatedly and threatened with arrest, though not being taken into custody. He felt secure, that he had a right to be there, non-violently speaking out against Van Dyke and Simcox and the YAF.
I don’t want to point a bad finger at the police officers in the case. It was a chaotic situation which was thrust upon them. Simcox had taken the podium as the officers were trying their best to calm things down. And he just added fuel to the fire. He can be seen needling the Latino protestors as the police try to calm the situation. Here are a few of Simcox’s recorded remarks during this time: Who let the gangbangers in? Don’t worry folks, we’ll get the riff-raff cleared out of here in a few minutes. You know why they don’t want to close the border — because they’ll lose they’re supply of cheap drugs. He was even leading the YAF supporters in responsive chants of “close the border” as the protestors protested, and the police policed. So the cops had a tough job on this night.
Jose was the first person arrested that night. From my viewing of all the tapes, and talking with witnesses, and reading of reports, this is how it went down. This is how I would have said it — factually — to a jury. The room was about half cleared from the back to the front. Police were doing their best warning people. But they weren’t arresting anyone — even those who openly defied their repeated and personal warnings to leave or face arrest. And an officer who was called in as back-up — who was not there to take in the whole event — and who had only been informed of the ongoings by his peers, sees Jose shout at other officers who are addressing two of his friends. Jose shouts — Stop. Get away from them. Thinking his friends were in trouble. (They were not, I think, from the calm of my couch when I view the video). And this late responding officer then walks directly toward Jose and says, from a number of feet away, “You’re under arrest.”
Jose is in honest and stunned disbelief. He backs up a bit. And as the officer takes his hand, he stiffens a bit. He asks, “What? What for? What’s going on?” Words to that effect. And within seconds, the officer has Jose’s arm jacked-up in a wrist lock, eliciting screams of pain.
In all, it takes the officer 30 seconds to one minute to subdue Jose. They took him down on the seats. Over another protestor, crunched below them. And there was a mob of protestors surrounding them.
As I argued to the court, and as Jose would have testified, any resistance he offered to the police officers was simply a moment of stunned disbelief. He did not believe he was violating the law. And he could not believe he was being arrested.
I will only speak briefly to the rest of the event. Four other Latinos were arrested in all. All five were charged with Disrupting an Educational Activity, in violation of a university ordinance. Jose and another young man were charged with felony resisting and arresting.
I volunteered to take Jose’s case. It was not completely pro bono. I’m a capitalist now. I’ve got light bills to pay. But I did it cheap. Because I wanted to stand with the kid. And I’m glad I did. I feel honored.
The case. In a nutshell, he was charged with the felony and the misdemeanor. And it was a tough spot to be in. The state of the law in Michigan on felony Resisting and Obstructing is appalling. Before a change in the law about five years ago, a person could assert a defense based on unlawful police conduct. So, essentially, if a police officer was violating your constitutional rights, you had an opportunity to argue to a judge and jury, that the charge should be thrown out.
Just for example, if you are in your house, and a police officer comes in without a warrant, and without any other valid exception to your constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and you say to the officer, “get the hell out,” and your conduct obstructs the officers performance of his duties, whether the exercise of his duties is constitutional or unconstitutional, the Michgan state courts have said, this is not a valid defense.
I know. It is hard to believe. But this is what the state law purports to say. There is some very nice dicta in the federal courts. I read one judge, who in analyzing the issue in a different context, said that the Michigan “intermediate court,” (this seemed a veiled slap at our State Court of Appeals in the case that made this wonderful ruling) could not have intended that long standing constitutional protections would be set aside by this new view of the law. However, this jurisprudence put Jose in extreme danger. If the prosecution insisted on pursuing felony charges, then we were going to have a tough legal argument to make. There were no guarantees. Jose might risk a felony conviction at trial, and this could certainly endanger any future career as an attorney.
The prosecutor’s office initially took a position of making no offer, but we were able to get them to take a second look at the charging decision. To their credit, they saw the equity of our position, and determined to offer a plea bargain dismissing the felony charge.
At that point, we were able to get before a very fair Judge for sentencing. And the rest is history.
I got to stand by Jose’s side. Talk about the civil rights movement, just for a moment. About how the courts reacted to the convictions of those young civil rights activists at the lunch counter protests. It was in Memphis, right? I think I messed up and referenced Selma. Clarence Darrow I’m not. Not by a long shot. But I’ve seen the newsreel footage. Lawyers lined up to march them in and plead them to the ordinance violation. And they paid their $50 fines and left. It was a nice image to paint for the judge. But he’d already seen the footage on YouTube. I’d already told him enough about the case at the various pre-trial proceedings. He knew which way the wind was blowing. Sometimes it is hard to take a deal in a case like this, and feel like it was justice. But the way the sentencing turned out, it wasn’t all that hard, with this one.
A couple of last notes. A funny story about the media. I talked to the State News reporter just outside the courtroom. She was very nice. So I mean her no slight in saying this. But she butchered my quote. The first half came from my sentencing allocution. What I said was, “I didn’t realize it was a civil rights case until about a third of the way into the case, when my kid came home from school and had been learning about the civil rights movement, and we got to talking and it dawned on me that this is THE civil rights issue of our day.” And the second part of the quote was the first thing I told her upon leaving the courtroom, “It is hard to look at this sentence, and not see it as vindication.” Not inclination. Man. I sound like half-an-idiot the way she wrote the quote. But, since she attributed it to Harry Olson, I figure I don’t have to sweat it.
And then, I got a hug from Jose, before we parted company. That is always the best payment on a case. He went on his way to Texas. Where he’ll go to law school. Fight for the rights of his people. All in all, not a bad life I live.
I am plumb tuckered out from all this writing. I will throw in a couple of the main links. And I’ll add some others for flavor later. Heck, I don’t even think I’m running the spell checker. You don’t have to do that, you know. When you are not blogging.
And a shout out. To my people. If a short, fat middle-aged attorney with a striking physical resemblance to the young Dick Cheney can be said to have any people at all.
