Sunday, August 22, 2010

Liars, Hypocrites, and Jail Time Continued

That last entry was cut short by, well, technical computer/Internet difficulties and, of course, the complexities of life.  What happened to keep me away from continuing from where I left off matters little.  What does matter, though, is the story itself.

My previous entry was a speech I had written. On July 21, 2010, my friend and employee Lenny used a mega phone to read the aforementioned speech out of the office window of the Liberal (Provincial) Party Headquarters. Our peers down below, from both OCAP and DAMN 2025, cheered as we denounced the McGuinty government for cutting the Special Diet and the hypocrisy of the government's recent ridiculous spending spree. Nine other people were with us in that tiny office space, and one person hung a banner out the window. Nothing else was either touched or moved.

The action should have only taken 15 minutes, maybe 20 at the most, and then we were supposed to just leave.  Unfortunately, as Lenny neared the end of my speech, a bunch of cops burst into the room and dragged Lenny into the hall. Soon, all 11 people, including myself, were corralled us into the outer room.

Most people were cuffed and reprimanded by police, although they didn't tell people until much later what they were being charged with.  They did try to tell us that people from the Liberal Headquarters had told us to leave, but I sure never heard them.  In fact, they were very helpful to get us inside.

I was told to go sit by a wall. Two people from my group were in front of me, and everyone else was behind me.  Mostly the cops ignored me, and questioned and yelled at everyone else.  One cop asked  me if he could look in the bag on the back of my chair for identification, and I indicated my money pouch around my waist.  Fortunately, he understood, but I was anxious to get Lenny back with me so that I could communicate more freely.  My two friends in front of me helped me convey this to the cop (I could hear Lenny behind me telling them that it was against Human Rights to keep my communication assistant away from me.) I also told them that I needed Lenny with me for other kinds of assistance that day, because I had no one else scheduled. At that point, the cop actually said, "No problem, we'll call and ambulance for you and send you to the hospital." I almost exploded in fury! "No no no no no! I'm fine! I'm not sick!"

During all of this, I could hear one female officer (I'm pretty sure she was from that YouTube video, "Bubbles the Cop,")  yelling at Lenny and saying it was disgusting how I had been coerced into participating in the action. Lenny defended himself by saying that he had only been doing what I asked him to do, but the cops wouldn't listen.  By this time, Lenny was finally by my side, and I, filled with rage and indignation, spoke up and said that I had written that speech and asked Lenny to read it.  I added, "I am not a pawn!" Why was it so beyond belief for the cops that I might have  a brain in my head and want to stand up for my rights, especially since I would, in all probability, be losing a huge chunk of my monthly income?

Then I was charged with trespassing, as was Lenny. We were the only two who didn't also get charged with mischief and have to do a night in jail (I guess because it was too much work for them to find us an accessible paddy wagon and cell.)

Sometimes our ableist society kind of works in our favour.

2 comments:

Lewis Clark said...

liars and hypocrites are awful people to have around us, they either change themselves for the better or get locked away in the prison because we do not deserve to suffer due to their selfish actions.

International conference said...

ooh.. Sad to hear you really had a bad experience. Spending a night in jail is not a forgettable moment in life. But don't lose hope there are always bad people with good one. You should be wise enough to find who is your real friend because your biggeat enemy is the one hypocrate who praise you in front of you.