What is the best thing about being in jail? I can not tell you the answer to this question at all other then to say that at least it was for something I believed in. There is nothing good or positive for Jail! I also do not endorse everyone getting arrested! If you can avoid it please do so! I will try as much as possible to describe it from my point of view in the next several paragraphs!
I do have to start from the begging though to how I got in Mecklenburg County Jail in the first place. I will tell you that I went to a City Council meeting and saw freedom ripped right out from under Occupy Charlotte and more Importantly every American Citizen period should the City Manager Curt Walton declare an Extraordinary Event! The Following link is the ordnance they change 10-1. John Autry of District 5 being the one voice of true representation! http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/CityClerk/CouncilRelated/Documents/Agenda%20Attachments/2012/01_23_2012%20mtg/2.pdf
That all happened on Jan 23 2012 and I was prepared honestly to go to Jail that night taking Our flag's clearly out of a fascist government that has no right calming at all that they are worthy of being American at all! For those still clinging to the thought that this is a move by Right Wing America alone! They only have two republican council members! Also to point out John Atury is a Democrat so you right wing conservatives out there be warned that not all democrats are Lefty pinkos! Clearly this is greed based and D.N.C and for some unrealistic idea the Olympics making people give up Liberty for Security! Also to point out that they ousted every conceivable way to use objects they have since banned! I even learned that there is a way to make Markers that are not water based in to flame throwers according to one of the police officers. Before I get to ahead of my self I was with two other members of Occupy Winston-Salem Sally and Adam! http://triad.news14.com/content/652851/charlotte-council-votes-to-change-protest-ordinance
The Full meeting!
Needless to say after this Adam "Apple" Price were out in the hall with Charlotte in Solidarity and ready to go to Jail then but the Police made no move to arrest anyone! Finding out that Occupy Charlotte was to be Evicted on Jan 30th Adam and I knew that we were coming back. So on Jan 29th we returned with our friends Tony Nedge and Kim!(Leaving last names off of some of our friends because I not asked permitting to use their names or they were not directly in the media!) to do what we thought was necessary! I was not sure at the time what that meant but knew the likely out come of what I was willing to do on an individual!
Needless to say we found our selves there sunday evening among the people of Occupy Charlotte! It was a great time and we were with great people. The only down fall was having to walk to the Magistrate office where I and Adam were later processed to use the Restroom! Despite Charlotte's new claim http://triad.news14.com/content/653141/haz-mat-crews-test-storm-drain-water-at-occupy-campsite-for-human-waste. Anyway I will post a few links as to the arrest only after explaining that Adam and I were Sitting in the front of the largest tent while 4 other protesters from Charlotte Occupied their Art supply tent! So we Guarded the people inside in solidarity!
The Arrest:
News 14 N.C.
NPR
Associated Press
WXII Winston-Salem
In all honesty from my personal perspective I felt the need to stand in solidarity with Occupy Charlotte in solidarity! Despite the way my Blog happens to look! The things that Charlotte has had to endure over the past couple of months and for the people that stood their ground and the people who have endured through all of the things that have happened. From an attempted hijack for personal gain to Flag Burning and Logistical stress they have endured so much in a small frame of time! Like a lot of the camps across the nation the ones that have ended up standing up at the end of the day are the ones that realize apolitical unity is necessary in order to make the necessary changes in a corrupt government poisoned with Corporate Greed and self serving politicians!
This is a hard battle that all the camps have faced. There are political divides with in Occupy but the ones that see Republicrat brainwashing are the ones that over all have endured! The realization that you have to get the money out of politics and then remove the ability for the politicians to have sheep's clothing to hide under! Those who are normally are either on the left or right are waking up to this illusion and are indeed learning in these camps to cast off all the lies and deal with people by the content of their character! This is where Civil Rights turned away sharply in the 70s 80s and 90s! WE WERE ALL ROBBED BY INDIVIDUALISM THAT FOSTERED A GREED BASED CULTURE! This and a bunch of things was lost in the perversions of the middle class! These Camps are not new to history they however are new to three generations of middle class! Who are waking up to a reality that the poor and Minorities have dealt with "for if you want to get real serious!" Thousands of years!
When Tyranny appears in what ever form it comes through out the ages the oppressed are left with nothing but their skin and faith's and Rebel at all cost. Except what we are dealing with is fostered by the Environment that surrounds the individual. It was evident to me while sitting inside Mecklenburg county jail! Charlotte N.C. while I was being processed!
This is going to sound strange but when I was Arrested they put me in the back of the paddy wagon because I was too big to fit in the Police Car! I am 6^4 and I barely fit in Side the only other Vehicle they had available for transport! The funny thing is all they had to do was walk me across the street or less than 2 city blocks to be Processed! Yet here in I am in the back of the paddy wagon sitting in for me a very confined space. One of the other guys named Judson; who I have become familiar with from my trips to Charlotte was next in! Then there was Jason who went limp all the way to the door of the paddy wagon. They had to lay him flat in and told him to be careful not to get stuck! He sat up and there were the three of us waiting in the back of a paddy wagon to make a 5 second drive around the back of the police station. So we sang "Solidarity for ever! Solidarity Forever! The movement makes us strong!" in the tune of a very famous Hymn. Due to copyright I'll just avoid naming the title.
So we wait about 15 minutes to go around to the back of the police station we are in front of . The waiting game begins and all three of us are waiting on the next step. So we make light conversation. Jason say "well I have learned one thing about getting arrested so far! Never lean on your handcuffs when you get put in the back of a paddy wagon my circulation is gone!" An officer checks on us and fixed his handcuffs.
Shuts the door and more waiting, I ask if anyone read any good books. Judson talks about one written in 2002 about the global affects of terrorism and then he and Jason sing the Peanut butter and jelly song! Then after this moral boosting they both left me to my gum chewing to be taken 2 blocks down to be processed. So I scooted closer to the window as not have to deal with the claustrophobic environment I was left to.
At this point all I am looking at is a distorted reflection of my self in a stainless steel cage. This is where I started to process the fact that one would feel like a dog or a wild animal in this sterile cramped space. About 45 minutes latter I was escorted to the police car and the officer was real polite. Opened up the door and I found out why I was not put in a car in the first place.
I have large feet that would never fit on the floor board and I had to lay across the seat end to end. I looked at the bars in front of the passenger windows which were rolled down! I looked at the security barrier and plexiglass shield and said to the officer "This is a tight fit" His reply being "Yeah brother be careful not to get stuck it takes 2 hours to get you unstuck!" So here I am in the back of the car and he left the radio on and for some reason I looked in the cup holder and saw a Thirst Buster cup and was happy for the gum I was chewing! Yet for some reason it triggered my bladder to remind me that it had functions that were out of my control of alleviation.
So I am trying hard to Focus on the music that is playing. Some Katy Perry song was playing and I envisioned my self as the officer and wondered if I would be changing the station while on duty! After that my bladder kicked off my focus of this momentary day dream! As the officer approached I asked him if I would be able to use the restroom in an hour or so. His response was "Hopeful it will be less then an hour for you got a rookie that's messing up paper work!" Needless to say I thought I could be a man and handle my functions! My bladder said other wise! I held on as long as I could and when the tank released the over flow. I begged the officers standing out there to let me use the Restroom.
The officer ran back to the car and I said I understand that you have to do what you do and I need to be responsible but I really need to go to the bathroom and I don't want to have to add Urinating in a police car be on my record and I do not want you to have to clean a mess you should not have to! So he let me out of the car and took me to the bathroom. Switched the cuffs up so I could do natures business. He had to observe me but was thankful that his squad car did not have what was the longest piss I have ever taken all over the back and pooled under the front seats. He put me back in the car and I waited about 30 more minutes because the rookie messed up the paper work 2 times. Two hours and forty five minutes later I arrive at the Magistrates office!
I get out of the back of the car and the most boring process in my life began! Not that the people are the least bit boring if you have never been there but the process is slower then molasses in a Wisconsin blizzard. The electronic doors as you walk in are a clue as to the time that is to come. When you walk in they sit you on a metal bench and you have to wait for the second security door to open. I had long enough to wait that an older black gentleman was sat down beside me! He looks at me in my Grinch tee shirt and maroon pants. He smiles at me and asks "So what did they get you for?" I told him about the arrest and he responded in disgust and puzzlement! "Are you fucking kidding me! Ain't that some bullshit! They should just leave you guys alone, you ain't hurting a goddamned thing! I only had time to tell him good luck because by then the doors were open.
I got to the desk and was instructed to take my shoes off and answer some questions! So I got asked some questions regarding my mental stability and if I had been through any kind of drug treatment program. I got patted down and they handed me the money I had in my wallet said I was going to need it in case of bail. I was also asked by the officer if I knew what they had charged me with! I did not know at all and had to get to the magistrate to find out! He did say "Sorry son I wish I could tell you and it would help if we have some more coming. I was then walked through a metal detector 4 or 5 times and finally they could not figure it out. So they sat me down and I waited for the nurse for 40 minutes.
I watched them process about 10 or 12 people in front of me of a few different people all mostly black. I just sat there looking at the clothing and putting my self in each persons shoes. Staying quite at first through the whole process. I saw just about everyone trip the metal detector except one person. The nurse finally came and spent 5 minutes with me asking the same questions as the officer before me. After that they finally put me in another area where I saw Judson and Jason. Jason was placed in County shirt one half of a jump suit. Some how the guy behind me got processed quicker then I did. All we had to do was wait and I found out that you had to go in to the separation rooms to piss. I also found out that you could not talk unless in the separation room. Some of the younger brothers were defiant and got separated with the door shut.. I never asked Jason or Judson anything because they were grabbing sleep when they could. I was sitting beside people that were in full on jumpsuits and others dressed in normal clothing and I waited observing every thing!
The older people like the guy that came in when I did just sat there and waited. I don't know why some of the younger ones just seemed to have something to prove to the officer who just asked them to be compliant with the rules. One Black officer was not playing around and made sure the young cats knew that he was aligned with doing his job to the letter. You could see frustration on the faces of the older guys who sat there and kept their mouth shut. This happened because the same guy that they were annoying and taking up time like every other officer had paper work to fill out so you could get up stairs to see the magistrate.
A lot of what was happening was normal everyday stuff for me because I have been around these men in my life on a daily basis and the attitudes between the younger and the older among the African American communities and the poor communities are as universal in the walls of a Jail as anywhere else in the world. I was about two hours in to being there that I finally got my mug shot and fingers printed. Which I was fascinated with the finger printing as its more like "Hand Scanning" the system now has every conceivable ridge and swirl of my hand. While its a scary thought at the same time it is also all you can do to grasp at sanity. I was now nearing forty hours of being awake so that is why I was doing everything I could to "Occupy my Mind" With the process. This took 15 minutes then it was back to waiting.
I sat down and at that point one of the people that was in solitary when I had arrived was looking out the window and snapping his fingers. As a musician I wanted to respond with some kind of percussive rhythmic pattern. Yet while looking at him wearing a grayish blue Jumper with all the fixings of someone that had been brought here by D.O.C.; I happened to notice that he had zoned out beyond the realm of humanity. His eyes were like dolls eyes, or an animal at the zoo. It seemed to me that he was trying to remind himself as if he were human or trying to keep grounded. I knew that that guy had done some hard time. Like Huey P. Newton describes about solitary and how he learned that the system is nothing when you have had time to battle your own fears and demons. Some of the others acted tougher than they really are. I have met a lot of people that have done some serious hard time say that you become numb to Jail and It really becomes about battling your self and time. I could tell some of the older cats knew the score and just played the game.
In fact I finally broke my silence to the Guy I had met, that this was my first time in Jail. I got just comfortable to realize that my size was making the cops and the other people being processed friendly to me the longer we waited. So the guy said to me "Being that this is your first time in jail, they will probably let you sign your self out on a misdemeanor. It ain't that way for everyone all the time but your out look is good brother don't worry. So Judson and Jason finally got sent upstairs and I got fucked on time again because shift change happened and it was another 45 minutes before I got up stairs. I watched the people getting off work clutching bags and lunch pales just like they would as if they were getting off an assembly line of the factory down the road. You could see the same characteristics of people everywhere else in America. The people that had family's to go back home to. The people that were going to get changed to go out to the bar. The people who were giddy about what ever sporting event they were going to get lost in! The Lonely ones who clutched on to their lunch bags and belongings like they were in a sacred ritual that only the loneliest people can understand.
Then the new cast of characters Walked out from the elevator with that ever present I am ready to be at work! They were much the same as the people that were leaving but held a new energetic fervor. Yet now the process for those waiting on life and the punch of the clock just to hurry up and get them up the fucking stairs happened to shift in agitation because this was now, In everyone's mind bull shit! You did not have to be young or old, Black, Hispanic, or White to feel and all be the same way about the two guys snorting and chuckling about a game not one of us could give a shit about. Of course age before youth cursed them under their breath. while the young cats wasted time complaining about this and that infraction against them. Some got shut in the solitary rooms. Also at that time I found out one young man who was sitting next to me earlier was being extradited to Alabama on murder charges.
Now Finally after 6 hours in to the arrest I finally got to see the magistrate! Or at least get to the room to come before the magistrate! For those of you that got this far thank you for sticking with me because this is what it is like being processed. If you can get through what I am telling you it's a breeze. This is a right of passage for Civil Disobedience. You have to be prepared to go through what is necessary. Time is all you are facing. So after 6 hours you would begin to think that when you go to see the magistrate that all is fine and quick. Yet I knew better when I finality meet up with not only Jason, and Judson but I was there with the others that were processed way before me. I was standing next to Adam and the others and they were happy that I finally made it through. I knew by that time that I was going to be the last one out.
On the elevator we were all instructed as to what was going to happen. I was so tired the only thing I heard was have a seat on the green chairs. It was the same as before sit and wait. I was happy to see the others but it was not long before after Adam told me what was going to happen that we were separated again. I watched the others sitting in the next room and thought how much more is left and I sat there waiting for my name to be called! The part I hate the most is the bad interpretative calling of my name. Each time I have been called they all pronounced it different. Most of the people I had already met when waiting for my turn to move up stairs but they brought up three of four more groups before I did see the magistrate!
Now my disorientation not only betrayed my patients but my normal judgment of people that are different or are normally picked on by other people. At this point I got bored with other people that I had met because there is only so much you can observe people doing. They get repetitive and boring at a point. So When a homeless man came in and smelled like he had been wearing clothing soaked in shit. I watched the way people reacted to him not in sorrow or compassion but in need of something to keep my mind off of the time. The man looked homeless and I am not making an assumption if you have been homeless you know the ones that are chronic ,have addiction, and mental problems. It's also in the way the police treated him. They tried to get him to the showers before sitting him down in population. Yet he had to be sat down. People near him moved two rows away in either direction. I was to lost to stand up for the guy because I just wanted out or in a fucking cell to go to sleep. Yet it is all I had to watch except for C.N.N the most notorious for psyops. I chose to just watch the circus of human nature. The cruelty of nature in men that can live in an environment that is subjective to violence and death everyday. It lets you know who is really lying about how tough they are.
There seem to be three types of people in this situation, Soft/Weak, Indifferent/Neutral and Experienced/Tough, the ones that are actually soft and weak talk the most shit and have something to prove. Neutral people are numb either way and say nothing and the Experienced would not move from their seat despite how the man smelled. It seemed if the room was full of soft people. When they moved the man to the showers after they moved him in to the separation room. The Officer at the desk walked up and down the isles spraying air freshener. Everyone bothered by smell was quick to beg the officer to spray it at the vents so it spread. They brought the guy back in to the room in a full jumpsuit. The event was over.
At the same time all this was going on the police had brought what I can only describe as Norman Baits meets the Incredible Hulk. This guy was escorted by D.A.R.T. and 4 other cops wearing a green Moo Moo with a matching jacket that was right out of the T.V. show "Mamas Family" it was like watching the Caucasian version of John Coffie in the "Green Mile" only with layers of fat in a green Dress with a pokadot pattern. He had fresh scaring on him. At this point every guy in the room was now intimidated because you just do not see a guy as tall as I am wider framed with muscle and fat. The dress was the largest sized dress I have ever seen. They took him down the elevator and had him processed quicker than anyone in the Room had ever seen and they brought him back up and closed him off!
I am not telling you this to make fun of anyone, I do not condone making fun of anyone. It was the time that I had been awake and the hours of time that spun my imagination. You begin to look at people differently. Parts of the process were just so surreal that the only way I can describe this is through what I saw and how my mind processed this. It is boring and I really wanted to be put in a cell rather then just sit there. 7 and 1/2 hours in! I nearly contemplated throwing chairs to go to a padded room in a mental ward! If you cause enough trouble in a mental ward they shoot you up with Thorazine and strap you down or throw you in a padded room. Here they just make you wait and as close as you get to the out side world is Anderson Cooper on C.N.N.! mind you this is not jail this is just processing.
"Mr. Lenbomb" Please go to room number 3." ''Mr. Linbitch there calling you.please go to room number 3!" Finally you pop out of the world of deluge and letting your mind wander and create its own Entertainment. I walk in to the room and there is a nice Black woman that smiles at me. She even pronounces my name right! For the 3 minutes I was In heaven because the following: "Mr. Leinbach all I want you to do after I let you Sign yourself out is that you promise me you will be back in Charlotte on march 11." "Mam what am I being charged with?" "Sir you are being charged with obstruction of an officer to preform his duty. Which is a misdemeanor! Sign on that line. You should be able to leave soon!" I left ready to leave because I just signed my self out! I went to the officer at the desk and showed him the paper work. His reply was "It will be a little while yet have a seat!
FUCK I CAN NOT TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE IN THIS ROOM! LEGALLY I AM FREE TO GO I SIGNED MY SELF OUT! FUCK THIS PLACE AND FUCK MECKLENBURG COUNTY AND CHARLOTTE N.C. !!!!!
That is what I wanted to say to the Police officer but the reality of it was I just had to say thank you and return to my seat and bide my time. 45 minutes later I walk out and Jason is still sitting behind me and asked me to ask about him. I did and I found my self being told to stand at the wall and take my shoes off! Pull the pockets out of both my paints. There is Adam still sitting in the room! I wanted to cry because I knew that it was another hour at least before I was to get out. Adam and I talked and went in to a room where he had been talking about the Occupy movement and the next thing They let him and Jason go to another stage! At this point I saw the phones on the wall and wanted to make a phone call but was informed I can not call out side of Mecklenburg! I went back in the room and tried to talk about Occupy a bit further but I was tired and one young man got them uninterested in it and talked about normal criminal culture. So I left it alone and went back to the green chairs in another room that was only different because it had phones and a clock!
Someone asked about food and I heard that we would not see food until 4 am!
At this point I just laid up against a pillar and tried the best I could to sleep the rest of the time out! It did not work and I was in pain and restless. I kept drifting on and off and only minutes were nicked off the clock and I Just waited shifting weight from one side or the other! The Cops had all been nice and I can say nothing bad about them at all! The whole experience was long and boring I made it through the last door not knowing it and when I found out I was finally being allowed to leave! I sat there waiting to get my stuff and put my hat and belt back on! Stepped out the final three doors!
When I stepped out of the doors everyone cheered and everyone waited for me to get out! I had a bunch of hugs from 20 people! Then was handed a Mountain Dew and a Candy bar! Walked outside and asked for a smoke! Cracked open the Mountain Dew and was happy to be out of Mecklenburg County Jail in Charlotte N.C. This is all I can recall for now and if you are trying to add up the time I mentioned and try to make seance out of the time frame Remember all you are battling when you get in Arrested is Time! If you do the crime you do the time! All I know is I did take one hell of a bite out of the Snickers bar and It was the best damn candy bar I have had in a long time!!!!!!!!!!!
