And let’s not forget the virtues of bullying. Hey, if grade school kids
don’t learn how to bully and throw a few punches, how are they going
grow up to serve the Neocon Empire, which entity just put out a call
for 30,000 more troops to bully Iraq.
Looking back through the mists of time, I recall my schoolyard
scuffles. Usually some adult came along and laid down the law. I can
hear the dulcet tones of my junior high P.E. Coach Scravano now: “What
the hell’s goin’ on here! No fighting on the football field! Both of
you drop and give me fifty!” Thanks to Coach Scravano I learned how to
count by twos. I wonder if Karl Rove had him too?
Case closed. Right? Well… not always.
Now, what went askew with Billy?
You see Billy
may not have wanted to appear in court to testify against the bullying thirteen-year-old. So, Billy
may have failed to respond to a subpoena issued by the court. But then, look at this way: the county
may not have been
“diligent in making sure subpoenas are served.”
You wonder, suppose he did get served, how dare Billy ignore a subpoena! I guess
Dick Cheney is his pin-up?
Could it be possible that the incident between the two boys was not all
that serious? Could it be the parents and school handled it? Oh shucks,
who am I kidding! Of course not! Why do we have such a bombastic
federal system if not to license a bunch of busybodies to intervene in
everything and anything?
Eleven-year-old Billy probably hasn’t a clue what a subpoena is. In
fact, I’ll be willing to bet he doesn’t have a driver’s license
or
a car to get to court. He might even have had school on the day he was
asked to appear. And then, like I said, there seems to be some question
of whether he even received the subpoena.
Well that’s no excuse! One must not ignore the commands of The State! By order of
Mille Lacs County attorney Jan Kolb,
our eleven-year-old friend was “escorted” out of his classroom and
taken downtown for a good lesson in Who’s da Man! On went the handcuffs
and into the Juvenile Detention Center, went Billy, our little assault
victim… And all of this was done for “his own security.” In a pig’s eye!
After a “comfortable” night’s sleep… probably surrounded by uh…
bullies… little Billy was hauled into court wearing the currently
fashionable orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and leg shackles. It makes you
wonder what sort of outfit the accused “criminal” was wearing. Do you
suppose anybody in the courtroom might have been confused? Uh… which
one is the defendant and which one is the victim? The guy in orange?
Well… the root cause of this particular incident is a simmering
ill-feeling between Mille Lac County and the Ojibwe tribe over a little
matter of some disputed
“legal decisions dating to the early 20th century.”
In the past, the tribe and the county have failed to sit down together
to smoke the peace pipe. The Ojibwe have a point, too. American law has
never exactly been on the side of the
indigenous population. But that’s the subject of another rant.
Now the Ojibwe are hopping mad and hissing the “r” word.
Stuck in between all the screaming, yelling, and finger pointing adults
sits an eleven-year-old child who has become collateral damage in the
struggle between the Tribe, the school district and the state of
Minnesota. Time to call in the ACLU.
Whatever happened to common sense? Silly question huh?
Slapping the silver bracelets on a child and dragging him to the
slammer for failing to squeal for the State is a punishment that is a
crime. Most people would call that child abuse. The authorities should
be referred to the… uh… authorities. Oh… never mind.
For failing to rat on a bully, Billy has been bullied by the State.
What will Billy learn from this episode? Well… most likely in twenty
years he won’t even remember the name of the thirteen-year-old
schoolyard bully.
But he sure as hell will remember
the real bully: The State as represented by the Mille Lacs County Court and its strong-arm criminal justice system.
Elizabeth Gyllensvard contributed to and edited this story.
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