Day 3: Saturday January 6, 2007 It was a day of news.

The morning brought word that one of the lifetime members of the AHA attending the annual convention had been arrested and tossed in jail for jaywalking.



On Friday the Tufts historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto was arrested by Atlanta police as he crossed the middle of the street between the Hilton and Hyatt hotels. After being thrown on the ground and handcuffed, the former Oxford don was formally arrested, his hands cuffed behind his back. Several policemen pressed hard on his neck and chest, leaving the mild-mannered scholar, who's never gotten so much as a parking ticket, bruised and in pain. He was then taken down to the detention center along with other accused felons and thrown into a filthy jail cell filled with prisoners. He remained incarcerated for eight hours. Officials demanded bail of over a thousand dollars. To come up up with the money Fernandez-Armesto, the author of nineteen books, had to make an arrangement with a bail bondsman. In court even the prosecutors seemed embarrassed by the arrest and asked Fernandez-Armesto to plead nolo contendere. He refused, concerned that the stain on his record might put his green card status in jeopardy. Officials finally agreed to drop all charges. The judge expressed his approval. The professor says he has no plans to sue. But the AHA council is considering lodging a complaint with the city.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto provided HNN with a riveting account of his day in an Atlanta jail. We have broken the interview into several parts to make the download quicker.

Reporter's Notebook: Highlights from the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association

I wasn't sure where to put this article from HNN. However, this looks as promising a section as any.

This man is a highly respected academic. One of his text books constituted my main reference whilst studying World History! Are Atlanta police insane?? I am just absolutely flabbergasted that someone can be thrown to the groun, handcuffed and put in jail for jaywalking!! Are they a bunch of uneducated, barbaric philistines in Atlanta??

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

Typical american bullshit case and only the top of the iceberg when it comes to abusive cops in that country.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

I suspect we do not have all the facts here. Doesn't keep some from rushing to judgment, but I'll wait.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

I would like to see some statement by the police department regarding the incident.

On the surface, given the limited info posted here, it seems a serious mistake was committed by the cops and some sort of investigation should be called for.

Despite Wallaroo's disparging commentary, this is hardly "typical" practice.

Un-be-fuckin-lievable

The author of Millennium : A History of the Last Thousand Years arrested, thrown to the ground, handcuffed and whatnot for -I can hardly bring myself to write it- "jaywalking", a completely ridiculous notion in itself.

The full details which are on HNN, an entirely trustworthy and pure scholarly source, indicate that this is not an accident but a deliberate and planned attempt by the police to disrupt and intimidate the gathering of the members of the American Historians Association.

I retract my earlier statements about the present climate in the USA. This is -here it comes- fascism. Period.

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

Oh, please - a deliberate conspiracy to disrupt the AHA meeting?

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Read the full text on HNN and listen to the full interview.
More historians -and nobody but these historians- were targeted for this overexcessive brutality. The organization of the event was sponsored by Historians Against the war (guess which one) and an anti-war resolution was adapted: The group equally spoke out against socalled free speech zones (what a mockery of your 1st Amendment).

All a coincidence, aye ?
Or do you mean to say that such police brutality is common ?

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

I've still only seen one side of this conflict state their case.

I'll wait for the rest of the information before calling anyone - much less an entire nation - fascist.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

The likes of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Title: Prince of Asturias Professor
Degrees: M.A., D. Phil., Hon. DLitt.
Premio Nacional de Investigación (Sociedad Geográfica Española) 2003, IACP Prize 2003, Professorial Fellow of Queen Mary, U. of London 2000, John Carter Brown Medal 1999, Caird Medal 1997, FSA 1994
not good enough ?
An Oxford don doesn't make up stories you know, there are few more renowned positions in the academia. Any blemish of character, any hint of dishonesty would destroy his career.

I didn't, I called that incident fascist, and see no other word to describe it. Not everybody has to be a card carrying member of the NSDAP for a nation to succumb to tyrannical measures. It generally becomes apparent amongst law enforcement people. If that gang of cops is not at the very least fired without benefits, then something is very rotten in the state of , well, it ain't Denmark.

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

Ah, yes, the old argument from authority.

We still only have one side, and credible as that side may appear, it is intellectually dishonest to make a final conclusion without the rest of the picture.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

I agree with WOI. I've always been amazed by the way americans see their cops. It's as if they were some sorts of heroes. Guess what - they're not. A huge percentage of cops, everywhere in the world, tends to act as if they were the little dictators of their 10 square meter of city, to paraphrase drgoodtrips. Cops are like all security agents, including the ones guarding night clubs, perhaps slightly better on average, but not fundamentally different. Some of them are good, some of them like to kick people in the face for the smallest pretext.

When cops commit brutal acts, the typical answer from americans is "look, a cop did it. He must have had a good reason". There's a video proving otherwise? "we're not being told all the facts." An historian got thrown to the ground and handcuffed for "jaywalking"? "We're not being told all the facts". Perhaps that historian was committing the aggraved crime of armed rape jaywalking !

America is not fascist. But some americans sure are ready for fascism.

They are just too loyal and naive about almost everything in their country, and that is dangerous.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

This will be an excuse for the police to do nothing about real criminals.

You're probably right...

You know the clincher.. They'll still get paid.