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Something peculiar happened to me while particpating in the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile "Walk for Justice" from Springfield to North Chicago, Illinois to reclaim funding for the common good and away from war.
This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."
"Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking
about.
"You can't be in here protesting," officer Adkins said, pointing to
my Veterans For Peace shirt.
"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned,
thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier
duties of guarding against serious terrorists.
Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're
protesting and you have to go."
Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my
coffee."
He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I
tried one more approach to reason. "Hey, listen. I'm a veteran.
This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody,
having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me
out."
"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.
"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange
land I was now living in.
You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security
office past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my
rights, searched, and written up.
The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in
his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had
been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea
stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would
only charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of
criminal trespass and weapons possession -- a pocket knife -- which he
said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was
a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers
AND a toothpick).
After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or
appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I
returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.
I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with
a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or
any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so
it's not "that shirt" again.
And just for the record? I'm not paying the fine. I'll see Adkins
and Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, if
he wants to show up, in United States District Court on the appointed
date. And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the
case, I'd really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down. I have to
believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just the
government. This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be
challenged.
---
Mike Ferner served as a Navy corpsman during Vietnam and is obviously
a member of Veterans For Peace.
