Sat Jan 28, 2023, 02:45 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
Here's my story about being beaten by a cop back in the early 1970s...
In 1973, I was pulled over by the cops in my All White western suburb of Chicago and subsequently beaten, pistol whipped on the back of my head, and when I collapsed to the ground on top of the curb, the cop bashed my head against the curb, repeatedly.
All of this for touching and being in possesion of one ounce of "marijuana," (the racist term for cannabis), as I had dropped the untouched/unsmoked baggie 'o' weed down the sewer grate I happened to be on top of. I had not smoked even a pinch, it was a virgin OZ. The fuckers went into the sewer and pulled the "lid" (as we used to call it) out of the sewer. It was soaked with wet sewage, so it weighed 56 grams (so they claimed) instead of the 28 it really was. I was charged with felony "marijuana/drug" posession, felony assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest - there were 6 total charges, whatever they were - all of which, if found guilty, had the potential for a couple of decades in prison. My favorite aunt, Aunt Mary, was, at the time, the personal secretary to the VP of Sears Roebuck, a Mr. Kelstadt, IIRC. Aunt Mary got one of the Sears corporate attorneys to represent me in court at my arraignment. He was not a criminal defense attorney, but he did know the judge, personally, who was assigned to my case. They had gone golfing before the arraignment, and my attorney convinced the judge that I was a good lad (I was 18), and it was all just a "youthful indiscretion," if you will. At the arraignment, the arresting officer was present when the judge accepted my plea-bargained guilty plea for misdemeanor weed possesion, and fined me $500. I heard the cop's jaw hit the ground when the judge passed his sentence. No probation or anything else. The lawyer's fee was $1000 (approx $6600 adjusted for inflation today). I was the recipient of All-American White Privilege In Action!
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16 replies, 1494 views
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Author | Time | Post |
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GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | OP |
KS Toronado | Jan 2023 | #1 | |
GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | #2 | |
KS Toronado | Jan 2023 | #3 | |
GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | #4 | |
KS Toronado | Jan 2023 | #8 | |
GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | #9 | |
littlemissmartypants | Jan 2023 | #5 | |
GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | #7 | |
moniss | Jan 2023 | #12 | |
greatauntoftriplets | Jan 2023 | #6 | |
GreenWave | Jan 2023 | #14 | |
moniss | Jan 2023 | #10 | |
GReedDiamond | Jan 2023 | #11 | |
Kali | Jan 2023 | #13 | |
highplainsdem | Jan 2023 | #15 | |
panader0 | Jan 2023 | #16 |
Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:14 AM
KS Toronado (13,046 posts)
1. I'm thinking All-American White Privilege
wouldn't get a person beaten, & pistol whipped.
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Response to KS Toronado (Reply #1)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:23 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
2. Back then, "Marijuana" - even in all white communities, like mine...
...was enough to get your (mine) ass kicked.
Do you think I am lying? |
Response to GReedDiamond (Reply #2)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:33 AM
KS Toronado (13,046 posts)
3. No, not at all.
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Response to KS Toronado (Reply #1)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:36 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
4. "I'm thinking All-American White Privilege wouldn't get a person beaten & pistol whipped"
...the beatings and pistol whipping and curb bashings, for which I was hospitalized overnight, OBVIOUSLY happened before I could engage my well-connected Aunt to hire the lawyer Friend of the Judge.
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Response to GReedDiamond (Reply #4)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:47 AM
KS Toronado (13,046 posts)
8. Right before the beating, did they see you was white?
My last comment on this thread. Have a nice day.
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Response to KS Toronado (Reply #8)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:51 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
9. There were zero people of color involved in this...
...not sure what you are on about.
My last comment to you, too. |
Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:41 AM
littlemissmartypants (20,482 posts)
5. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I had a boyfriend that did time for dealing.
He wasn't as connected as your Aunt Mary, in community college at the time and definitely not a dealer.
It completely derailed the plan he had for his life and he came out of it angry and bitter. I can't say I didn't blame him. The whole thing was very heartbreaking. Thank goodness you had a better outcome.❤️ ![]() |
Response to littlemissmartypants (Reply #5)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:45 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
7. Yes, that is my whole point, being a recipient of this type of PRIVILEGE...
...which I was, lucky for me, BORN into.
Yay for me! |
Response to GReedDiamond (Reply #7)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 04:17 AM
moniss (1,641 posts)
12. I hear you
about how it was. People who were never around Chicago and the suburbs have no idea. It was a whole weird deal all it's own.
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Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 03:44 AM
greatauntoftriplets (174,749 posts)
6. The brother of a guy I went to grade school with was beaten to death by cops...
in the now gone Summerdale police station in Chicago. I don't know the back story, but it was in the 1970s or early 1980s.
He was white. |
Response to greatauntoftriplets (Reply #6)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 08:51 AM
GreenWave (3,318 posts)
14. Sort of like the grins they had when they took Fred Hampton outside dead.
One cop looks like Lindsey Graham
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Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 04:12 AM
moniss (1,641 posts)
10. Back in
the mid '70's I talked to a student who was facing major time for being busted for his third time. First two times were for stems and seeds in his car. The third time was for residue in a pipe. I never knew how it turned out but most of the younger folks here have no idea how it really was. Our modern media of course would never think to do a documentary about draconian sentences from that period for simple possession of pot. Afraid to hold a light to the dark past. Besides it might interfere with their slotted air time for documentaries on Prince Harry.
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Response to moniss (Reply #10)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 04:16 AM
GReedDiamond (5,228 posts)
11. Yes, thank you...nt
Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 05:02 AM
Kali (54,334 posts)
13. even more privileged here
all they did to us was shake the weed out all over the ground, same for our beer. I suppose if the weed was better, they would have stolen it.
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Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 09:05 AM
highplainsdem (44,477 posts)
15. God, what a horrifying story! I'm so sorry that happened to you.
So many stories of police brutality never get told.
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Response to GReedDiamond (Original post)
Sat Jan 28, 2023, 09:07 AM
panader0 (25,767 posts)
16. I've been busted twice for possession. The first time I attempted to flee.
I was tackled when I slipped on some gravel and the cop got on my back and put his nightstick under
my neck and pulled up hard. I couldn't breath at all so I was trying to get my hands on it to pull it down. He kept shouting "Stop resisting!" So I was charged with possession and resisting arrest and thrown in jail. So I definitely benefitted from being white. If I had been black, I probably would have been shot instead of being tackled. Now weed is legal here--go figure. |