[thechat] 103 Pak prisoners return from US - PakTribune

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Wed Mar 19 17:00:21 CST 2003


Syed:

>Some of them have even showed the scars of
>torture; torture, which was done by USA police in jails.

oh yeah. police. torture.  FWIW we don't usually call it torture 
here, it's not that systematic.  It's usually just brutality, and it 
happens all the time.  I have three stories for you.

I used to be a bartender.  One of my regular patrons was a skinny 
(105 lbs) Mexican-American college student.  Very nice young man; we 
had lots of fascinating discussions about politics and culture.

One day he drank a bit too much over a long afternoon (I thought he 
was walking, but he was driving).  He got picked up for DUI.  They 
took him into Humboldt County jail.  You are supposed to get a phone 
call in jail.  They didn't let him call home to tell his wife and new 
baby what was going on.  He said cops were very mean and trying to 
provoke him.

Finally, frustrated, he lost his temper and hit his fist against the 
bars of the cell.   Big policeman went into his cell and threw him 
hard against the wall.

My friend told the guards he was hurt, he wanted to see a doctor. 
They let him see jail nurse.  Nurse says he's ok, sends him back to 
the cell.  Next day he is released, drives himself directly to the 
hospital where they find he has a BROKEN NECK and immediately put a 
huge neck brace on him, which he wore for months.  He can't work, has 
to drop out of all his classes last weeks of the semester. Last I 
talked to him he was considering legal action.

About a year later, another very close friend, American Indian man... 
age 36, was picked up (it is unclear why... he was manic-depressive, 
maybe behaving erratically).  They pepper sprayed him.  Had no 
alcohol or drugs in his system.  No one would say exactly why he was 
arrested or sprayed.  Anyway, he died in jail, mysteriously.  The 
police would say nothing about the circumstances.

About 10 days ago my daughter's 19 year old cousin (again, American 
Indian) was killed by an off duty corrections officer.  This cousin 
was walking along the side of a wide highway early in the morning 
after fishing.  There is not a lot of traffic at this time or place 
on the reservation.  Somehow this policeman managed to run him over 
and kill him.

What did the police do about it?  Tested the VICTIM for alcohol and 
drugs.  (none found) Then question the victim's relatives and friends 
as to his activities the day prior (he'd been playing baseball).

These are just people, I, a white "average American" know personally. 
They were all Americans, friends relatives and neighbors... all in 
rural northern California, minorities: people of color.

I just want to emphasize once again that the so-called unified 
"voice" portrayed by US media is not at all unified nor do I believe 
it truly represents majority opinion.

Take care, Syed.

Erika

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