Tag Archives: U.S. Constitution

Cigars and Smiles

It’s 1931, and the trial of the infamous mobster Al Capone is getting under way.

Al Capone and Chicago Commissioner of Detectives John Stege

A little history first: The list of things “everyone knew” this guy Capone had done, or had ordered done, was lengthy: gambling, racketeering, bribery, blackmail, murder, assaults, prostitution; bootlegging. But although “everyone knew” these things—knew exactly how dangerous Capone was and how many people (cops, judges, etc., people who should’ve been protecting society from him) were actively working to protect him instead, either willingly for personal profit or unwillingly out of fear of consequences—”knowing” those things didn’t translate to proving them in court. So, out of all those terrible things “everyone knew” he’d done but couldn’t prove in a court of law, to stop him, what did authorities finally nail Capone for? Contempt of court (for ignoring a subpoena, a charge later dismissed), tax evasion, and prohibition charges.

Are you kidding? An actual mob leader, a criminal that brutal, that powerful, and the best they could do was tax evasion and contempt, maybe selling a little booze under the counter? Pah. Hardly crimes at all, compared to the horrible things they could have charged him with. So why didn’t they charge him with those things? Because those tiny, relatively insignificant charges were the things they could actually prove. He was that slippery, that protected.

So it’s 1931, and you’re sitting in your living room listening to the news on the radio, and a guy from the prosecutor’s office working the Capone case, the guy who may ultimately be responsible for presenting the charges to the jury against Capone, is giving an interview to a reporter. He, this prosecutor, says this about the upcoming trial:

“Everything I do during this I’m coordinating with Capone’s counsel. There will be no difference between Mr. Capone’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”

Wait, what?! The prosecutor? As in, the guy responsible for convincing a jury of those charges against Capone? Actively coordinating the case…with Capone? You shake your head in disbelief. Man, that guy really has his fingers in deep—he’s got everyone in his pocket, you think. But at least there’s going to be a jury, you tell yourself, so for a hot second, you feel a little better.

But then, before you’ve even stopped shaking your head, another man starts to speak. The reporter identifies him as the jury foreman in the case. The foreman says this:

“This thing will come to the court, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly…[I’m] trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. What I see coming, happening today, is just nonsense.”

What?! Are you kidding me? You leap to your feet. This guy’s even got the jury? You holler at the radio. Before it even goes to trial, before a single witness has even been called? Why doesn’t the judge do something? We all “know” this guy is guilty, we’ve seen the terrible things he’s done—this is our chance to put this guy away, and you’re blowing it! You’re pacing now, agitated and afraid. You’ve heard terrible stories of shake downs and massacres, seen the random violence in the street. If we don’t stop Capone now, you fear, he’ll think he can get away with anything! You put your head in your hands and wonder what will become of your world now if no one can stop this guy. Isn’t there anyone who can?

Two months later, your fears are realized, when, after the shortest trial in Cook County history, with not a single witness called, Al Capone is unanimously acquitted of all charges. The celebration of Capone’s release that night by his supporters (some still in uniform, and at least two of his jurors) lasts into the wee hours of the morning; four “innocent” bystanders, one reputedly a member of Capone’s rival North Sider gang, are “accidentally” gunned down by celebrants, who remain at large. The next day, Capone returns to his office where he poses for newspaper photos with the jury foreman, the mayor, the attorney general, and the police chief. They are all cigars and smiles.

You probably already know I made some things up here; that isn’t what actually happened with Capone. In June 1931, Capone, confident of his tremendous power and the terror-and-greed-induced loyalty of his crime organization, boasted to the press that he’d been able to make a deal for a shorter sentence than he was facing on those “flimsy” charges. The judge, thankfully, wasn’t having any of that baloney and informed Capone he was not bound by any deal. In response, Capone changed his plea to not guilty, but to no avail: he was later convicted on those lesser charges, served seven of the eleven years in prison to which he was ultimately sentenced, and died in 1947 of syphilis-related complications. His crime spree was over, because people of integrity and courage stood up and said, “Nope. Not happening on my watch.” Can you tell which parts I made up, though? Go back and look. I’ll wait…

Did you spot them yet? I’ll give you a clue: it was something to do with the radio interviews. Oh! Now you’ve got it! Those were pretty convincing, weren’t they? Like, right out of The Untouchables or Goodfellas, yeah? Well, I’m flattered you think I’m that creative, but I can’t take credit for them, because I didn’t actually make those up. Those are real quotes. No, I swear! What I made up was the sources for the quotes. They’re not from the prosecutor and the jury foreman in the Capone trial. Heck, they’re not actually from 1931—they’re from 2019.

Here are the actual original quotes:

“…trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. What I see coming, happening today, is just a partisan nonsense.”

“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly.”

—Senator Lindsey Graham

“Everything I do during this I’m coordinating with White House Counsel. There will be no difference between the President’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”

—Senator and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

You can see now, all I did was pull out things about the president and the White House and the Senate; the rest of the quotes are word-for-word. Do you see it now, see how terrible what those two men said sounds? I hope you do, because, sadly, I didn’t make up our current situation, either:

We have, at this moment, in a position of great and awful power, a man who “everyone knows” has done terrible things with that power, a man who is being protected either willingly (for personal gain like money or re-election promises) or out of fear of consequences (being fired by the president, being publicly humiliated or harassed by the president and his minions, losing re-election bids, etc.) by other powerful people who should be protecting the country (us) from him.

But of course, just as with Capone, “knowing” all these horrifying things isn’t enough; the authorities (in this case, the U.S. House of Representatives) have to “prove” (kind of like an indictment in a criminal trial) he’s done something that rises to the level of an impeachable crime, even if it’s not for crimes some consider “big enough,” and so they have: they have clearly proven obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Those charges might seem (to some) to be small and insignificant compared to the other things we all “know” the man’s done (Emoluments and Hatch Act violations, rape, harassment, outright fraud), but they are, as demonstrated in the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, provable beyond a shadow of a doubt—and they are things no president should be allowed to get away with. I don’t care if it’s Trump or Obama or Clinton or Reagan. The president in office now is Trump, so that’s the one I care about. The others I really don’t give a damn about litigating, because their ability to do any significant damage is pretty limited by the fact that they ARE NOT THE CURRENT PRESIDENT.

So now these “lesser” charges are heading to our nation’s political (not criminal) court system, the Senate, for what is supposed to be a fair and impartial trial; the senators even have a special oath they take for these proceedings, on top of their original oath of office:

“I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of ___, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God.” [source: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/1_1868ImpeachmentRules.pdf]

But how can we the People ever hope to get a fair and impartial trial when the accused (Trump) and the jurors (Senators Graham and McConnell, at least publicly) have openly boasted to the press about making a deal (“coordinating”) with the accused’s counsel and about the fact that they’re not even trying to pretend to be fair jurors? If our senators won’t protect us from this kind of abuse of power, not just by the president, but also by some of their own colleagues (THE JURORS IN THIS TRIAL), the very people who are supposed to be our last line of defense against presidential abuses, who will?

What will become of our world if no one stops this guy? Isn’t there anyone who can?

I’ll tell you who can stop this guy, friends: it’s US, We the People. We have to protect our country now with all the tools we have available to us, one of which is demanding a fair and impartial hearing by the Senate. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, wringing your hands, bitching to family members or friends, throwing things at the TV screen, screaming your frustration into your pillow, knock it off. NOW is the time to actually act. This is no longer just about Trump’s abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. McConnell’s and Graham’s remarks make it perfectly clear that they, too, are beyond redemption; they absolutely cannot serve as fair and impartial jurors. They can no longer be trusted to represent the interests of our nation; they serve one interest only, and that is whatever Trump decides he wants them to do on any given day. If we don’t act now to stop them, We the People risk losing the power to do so ever again.

Pick up your damned phone. Call your representatives Call your senators. Call McConnell’s office. Call Graham’s office. If you can get to a march, get to a march. If you can’t march yourself, send a sign along with someone who can. SHOW UP NOW AND SHOW UP BIG. We are at a moment of terrible crisis and we need every person acting, because if we don’t stop these abuses of power now, we are giving these abusers and every craven, arrogant, dishonest, self-dealing, destructive leader who comes after them permission to abuse us all, however they choose, because they will no longer have any consequences to fear.

The time to act is now. Below are steps you can take:

If you can, join an Impeach & Remove March. Enter your zip code to find one near you; if there isn’t one near you, register to host one. https://www.impeach.org/event/impeach-and-remove-attend/search/?source=standupamerica-i&s=0

CONTACT CONGRESS: 202-224-3121. Don’t know who your representatives are? Just give them your zip code and they’ll connect you. Also, you can contact ANY representative or senator at this number, not just your own, but here are a few suggestions of individuals to single out:

CONTACT SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: 202-224-5972

https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-senator-graham

CONTACT SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: 202-224-2541

https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm

REACH OUT TO OTHER GOP SENATORS WHO MAY VOTE FOR COUNTRY OVER TRUMP:

ROMNEY, COLLINS, MURKOWSKI

And remember:

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Own This Brick

Well, you’re here, so you must be interested in knowing what I have to say about the #TakeAKnee-national anthem issue. I’ll try to make it worth your time.

First, a little background: If you had asked me to define patriotism, at different stages of my life, I might have given different answers. When I was a little girl, for example, it was all about the flag and the anthem. Some of that came about due to the influences of the Boy and Girl Scouts of America organizations. My siblings and I were taught from an early age to revere and respect Old Glory: the proper way to display it; how to fold it; never, ever to let it touch the ground; to remove your hat in its presence; how to properly retire worn or damaged ones (only in approved retirement ceremonies—I can count 6 flags I have disposed of in such a fashion in my adult life, FYI).

My siblings and I all participated in numerous flag ceremonies, and though I can’t speak for anyone else, I always felt an overwhelming sense of pride and awe and deep humility at participating.

That sense of pride and awe was augmented in later years by a growing sense of profound gratitude to our veterans; many members of my family have served our country faithfully and honorably, and more than one has died serving. As I grew older and learned more about their service, and the sacrifices our military men and women and their families make every single day, my determination to respect and honor our flag, as an extension of them, grew ever deeper.

To this day, I display the flag regularly at my home. Veterans Day, Memorial Day, 9/11, Flag Day—there are always flags displayed here. I stand for the national anthem and sing every single word (though I’ll confess, I didn’t know about the last verse until this week; if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you might want to click that link, because you won’t hear that sung at an NFL game).

When I see a folded flag handed to a fallen service member’s family, or hear “Taps” played beside a flag-draped coffin, it never fails to move me to humbled, grateful tears. I’m angry when I see people not remove their hats during the anthem. It distresses me when I see them talk over it, or not put their hands over their hearts. It’s not how I was raised, and it is not how I raised my children. We’ve made several pilgrimages to the National Museum of American History to see the original Star Spangled Banner, and taking them to Fort McHenry to see where the anthem was written was a highlight of one of our recent summers.

I share these things with you not because I’m trying to gain street cred with the anti-#TakeAKnee crowd; I share this with you because, if you’re one of them, I want you to know that I understand what the flag means to you. It means the same to me.

But now, if you’ll indulge me, a little more background of a completely different nature:

I could go on, but I hope, if you’re not a black person and you’ve read this far, (because my assumption is that if you’re black, you sure as shit don’t need me telling you any of this) that you are seeing a pretty blatant, systemic, and appalling pattern of inequality. If you’re white and you’ve read this far, and you’re still not seeing it, just stop reading now and go back to your Breitbart page. You’re probably a lost cause and the rest of this piece will just piss you off.

For the rest of you, I’ll continue:

Enter Colin Kaepernick. I didn’t even know who he was when he first started sitting during the anthem about a year and a half ago; when I heard about it, my initial reaction was “What a jerk! How dare he disrespect the flag like that?” (I’m sure some of you out there can relate to that response at this very moment.) Beyond the initial hubbub, I didn’t pay much attention after that. He was just one athlete, not disrupting the game, protesting some black thing or other—who knew? Like many of you (white) folks, I tuned him out and kept watching my beloved football.

But he kept sitting, and I started paying attention. Some folks—specifically, former Seahawks player and Green Beret Nate Boyer, among others—thought it was too disrespectful and encouraged him to kneel instead:

“We sorta came to a middle ground where he would take a knee alongside his teammates,” Boyer says. “Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother’s grave, you know, to show respect. When we’re on a patrol, you know, and we go into a security halt, we take a knee, and we pull security.”

(https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-nate-boyer-got-colin-kaepernick-to-go-from-sitting-to-kneeling/)

Interesting, huh? That Kaepernick took the advice of a former GREEN BERET on how to make his protest more respectful of veterans? Just putting that out there for folks to think about.

So, now on his knees, Kaepernick kept up his lonely practice during the anthem; the kerfuffle around it grew over the ensuing months, but, clearly, some folks still weren’t paying much attention, because:

  • Samuel DuBose, a black man pulled over for a traffic stop, was shot and killed by police; charges against the officer were dismissed (though with prejudice)
  • Sylville Smith, a black man pulled over for a traffic stop, was shot and killed by police; charges against the officer were dismissed (though there’s a LOT more to this story; you should read it)
  • Philando Castile, a black man pulled over for a traffic stop, was shot and killed by police; charges against the officer were dismissed

…and this:

  • Every black member of the 2016 University of Pennsylvania freshman class was apparently added to a racist social media group called “Mud Men.” The anonymous group’s creators then proceeded to announce an event called Daily Lynching for Nov. 17, 2016.
  • Nooses, a common hate symbol associated with our country’s terrible history of lynching, were found at the National Museum of African American History in D.C.; outside the Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum; near a D.C. elementary school and outside a condo in Montgomery County, MD, to name just a few
  • Richard Collins III, a newly commissioned U.S. Army second lieutenant, was stabbed to death at a Maryland bus stop by Sean Christopher Urbanski, member of a Facebook group called “Alt-Reich,” which “spews hatred toward minorities ‘and especially African-Americans,’ University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell said.” (http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/us/university-of-maryland-stabbing/index.html)
  • CHARLOTTESVILLE It’s a pretty big topic, so I’ll just leave that there for you to explore on your own. (Fun fact: As much public outcry as Charlottesville received in the media, there were only 49,900,000 results for that search on Google; The Talk got more—wonder why)
  • The United Nations issued a rare warning over ‘alarming’ racism in the U.S. (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/issues-rare-warning-alarming-racism-170823225952827.html)

I could go on and on and on with the list of hateful, racist incidents that have happened in this country just since Colin Kaepernick first took a stand over a year ago, but—and here’s the point I’m trying to make—if I have to go on, if I have to point out more and more instances of black Americans being marginalized, penalized, brutalized, because you’re still not convinced that this protest is not about the flag or the anthem but rather is to bring attention to the real, systemic, appalling injustices being done to our fellow Americans of color, if you’re still not seeing it, then you will NEVER understand, and you, in fact, by not seeing it, are part of the problem, like it or not. You may not be an overt racist, but you are for damned sure, an enabler of racism, at minimum.

If you’ve been following my posts on Twitter and Facebook, then you’ve been seeing a lot of support for the #TakeAKnee movement. That decision was not made lightly or without consideration on my part. I love my country. I love my flag. I love my national anthem. I am grateful every single damned day to the veterans who have served, sacrificed, fought, and died under that flag, and the idea of causing them one IOTA of pain by having them believe this protest is about THEM, is a disrespect to THEM, is anyone somehow spitting on them, is one of the most painful misconceptions surrounding this entire movement.

There’s an old saying that goes, “God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us.” Right now, like many Americans, maybe you’re feeling like Kaepernick and the NFL and the NBA and the MLB and Stevie Wonder and Eddie Vedder and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are throwing bricks right at your face, and those bricks fucking hurt.

I understand, I do. I understand that maybe a lot of people in this country wish with all their hearts we could all go back to standing together again, proudly pretending under the flag and anthem of our United States that those hallowed symbols mean the same to everyone else as they have meant to so many others, myself included, their whole lives.

But we, America, have been failing people of color in this country for generations, and it is time for us to stop pretending and start uniting around fixing that. A piece of fabric, no matter how hallowed, or a song, no matter how revered, is not a person. It’s not a country. There are real people in this country, with real problems. They have tried everything to get our attention—violent protests, peaceful protests, sit-ins, walkouts, boycotts, you name it (just ask The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah: “When Is The Right Time For Black People To Protest?”), and somehow, we’re still not listening. How is that even possible, that we could be so blind and deaf to each other?

So they threw a brick, and they knelt during something we have always held dear. And it hurts. It’s painful. It “denigrates our traditions” and “our historic belief system.” It “disrespects our core values.” It’s “offensive.” I get it.

But you know what’s more offensive? Forcing people to practice someone else’s belief system. You want to stand? Stand. No one is stopping you. They want to kneel? Let them kneel. It’s their right, and their exercising of that right takes nothing away from your right to exercise yours.

For most of my life, when I have looked up at the flag, when I have listened to the national anthem, I have felt nothing but pride, love, gratitude and respect that I had the great good fortune to be born an American, and all the rights and benefits and privileges that that birthright affords me—just because I was born lucky.

But I also had the great good fortune to be born white, and therefore, I enjoy all the rights and benefits and privileges that that affords me, again, just because I was born “lucky.” This is an important point here, so please forgive the shouty caps, but: EQUALITY SHOULD NEVER COME AS A RESULT OF LUCK.

We may say in this country that “All Men Are Created Equal,” but it’s for damned sure that from the moment of their creation, Americans of color sure as hell are not treated as equal.

If they were, if things like I posted earlier in this piece did not happen every single day to black Americans in every city, in every county, in every state of our entire country, no one would feel compelled to protest. Black Americans would all be able to stand proud, in awe, in gratitude, in respect of how good their country has been to them. But, unlike for white Americans, that is simply not the case for far too many. Their experiences under our flag have been vastly different than those of white Americans, and those experiences continue to present a dauntingly, dishearteningly formidable barrier to their attainment of all the good that our country could do for them, but historically, has not.

As a child, I didn’t see that. As a young adult, I began to see it, but didn’t yet understand it. Now, in my middle age, I’m trying my hardest to open my eyes wide and see that brick for what it is, to recognize it, to name it, to own it, no matter how it hurts, no matter how it shatters the rose-colored glasses I’d viewed my country—or myself—with up until now.

Maybe you feel like, because you’re not overtly racist in your everyday life, that that’s enough; that passive, complacent non-engagement will somehow magically make things better for any blacks who are still somehow feeling angry or frightened or oppressed in this day and age (go figure!) rather than just feeling grateful that they’re being “allowed” to make money or that they’re not being “shot in the head.” But that’s not enough, not when people are being incarcerated, are being brutalized, are being denied their votes, are, in point of fact, being shot down in the streets, in ways that white people can never fully imagine.

We, white America, we created this #TakeAKnee brick, by not listening, by not understanding, by living on in blissful, willful ignorance of the suffering of people of color around us every day. We own this brick. If it hurts, now that it’s hitting us, we deserve it. We can either take that brick and use it as the foundation of renewed efforts to try to build something better for EVERYONE in this country, or we can hurl it right back at the protesters and keep on revering something that only applies to some Americans and leaves all others scrabbling in the dust we leave behind. We can choose to call them ungrateful, traitors, garbage, vilify them for exercising their constitutionally-protected right to free speech—all because they are trying to open our eyes to their pain, a pain that we, in our ignorance, in our complacency, in our failure to hear and to help, perpetuate. OR we can choose to listen.

I know what I feel called to do, what I choose to do. I love my country. I love my flag. I love my national anthem. I respect in every possible way our veterans and their service. When they play the anthem, I will still stand, hand over my heart. My eyes will still fill with tears when I hear “Taps” play, and I will still bow my head and remember with gratitude the honor and sacrifice of all the men and women who served and sacrificed under that flag so that I could live free. I will do these things not out of blind allegiance, not out of stubborn, fossilized patriotic sentiment, and not out of willful ignorance of what those people kneeling are trying to tell me or as a slam that my patriotism is somehow more authentic and sincere than theirs. I will stand because I still love my country, because I still respect the better angels of our nature and our history, and because yes, for me, those symbols still represent the most important American principle of all: that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. I will stand FOR the right for ALL Americans to kneel, to protest, to stand, to sit, to sing, to be silent, however they choose to exercise their right to work toward that principle becoming a reality for every American. That is my choice. Kneel beside me, or stand beside me, I respect your choice and your freedom, no greater or less than mine, to express it.

But then, to my brothers and sisters who choose to kneel with respect and with humility, with quiet, dignified desperation, who are pleading for us to hear the cries of need coming from black communities all over this country, to them, I will extend my hand and tell them, “I see you. I hear you. I am with you. How can I help?”

Please, don’t call the kneelers garbage. Don’t call them traitors. Don’t imply that your love of country is somehow greater than anyone else’s, or that your need to revere our country’s symbols is greater than another’s need to try help others enjoy the same opportunities and privileges you experience, things they are systemically denied because of the virulent racism still poisoning our country. Their kneeling takes nothing away from your standing; it only gives a voice to the voiceless, and it’s time for us all to listen.

We are all Americans, flawed and struggling and imperfect. As Americans, we have the right to speak out against true injustice, against true inequality, and what’s more, as human beings, we have the obligation—that’s one of the things this country was founded upon, and it’s one of the principles generations of Americans have fought and died to defend. So don’t spit on people who are exercising those rights to try to make this country a better place for all.

It’s not about the flag. It’s not about the anthem. It’s not about veterans. If you still think it is, after reading this whole long, damned piece, then I respect your right to disagree, to be pissed, to nurture your hurt in your determination to see it that way. But, with respect, it’s simply not—it’s a brick, and now that it’s got your attention, it’s time for us to take that brick and use it to build something better for everyone (and it won’t be a goddamned wall, either), something worth flying a flag over.

That’s all I have to say.