Part 2 of the Arrested Series by Race, Poverty and Disability Scholar in residence at POOR Magazine
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by Brother Y?/PNN “Killing me softly with his song...killing me softly†People of color should be able to walk down the street confident that their civil rights will be protected under a black District Attorney. Instead we walk down the street confident of one thing only: Kamala Harris is there for them not for us. It is shameful to say the least that this black woman in skin color only has been responsible for the prosecution of hundreds of black and Latino people while twice or more as many white people have gone free simply by virtue of the color of their skin. It is and was extremely hypocritical of the Board of Supervisor's to re-endorse Harris for District Attorney because she does not respect or follow the written laws of this City. The chief law in this case being marijuana as the "lowest priority" law that they wrote last year. Kamala Harris still wishes to prosecute me, a disabled diabetic American veteran who out of desperation sought to sell a small portion of my medicine so that I might have adequate food and medicine. As a diabetic I cannot afford to be without food or medicine it would literally be a matter of days before I would die without it. Ironic as it may seem I do not recall making a transaction with the narc who is the state's key witness against me. I do however distinctly remember that the money looked funny, like it was counterfeit. I am afflicted with diabetes as well posttraumatic stress disorder, both of which have a profound negative effect on the memory. As far as my court appointed attorney goes the best I can say about her to her credit is she did successfully get me or’d which has helped tremendously in my getting my prescribed treatment by my personal physician. I must state at this time however, that this entire fiasco is a grand conspiracy. The judge residing over my trial is a former lawyer, the prosecutor is a lawyer and my court appointed attorney is a lawyer paid by the same government that is prosecuting me. The quote at the beginning of this article is from the Roberta Flack song Killing Me Softly. I am diabetic. My doctor has warned me that stress can raise blood sugar levels; the higher blood sugar levels are the greater risk for a heart attack, stroke, loss of limbs and blindness and many other medical complications, and nowhere in the U.S. is any amount of marijuana a capital offense. Yet the judge is killing me softly by not dismissing the case. The prosecution is killing me softly by not dropping charges against me. The police are killing me softly by constantly harassing, and as far as I'm concerned, stalking me. Kamala Harris the district attorney is killing me softly by pushing my case for prosecution not based on justice or any degree of right and wrong or even remotely considering that racism could be involved. (San Francisco has the highest arrest rate of black people than any other major city in the entire state of California. If the handful of blacks who reside in San Francisco were responsible for the majority of crime here we should all be living in mansions or castles!) Last but certainly not least, my lawyer, a deputy public defender, is killing me softly by not acknowledging and defending my rights as a medical cannabis patient and constantly prioritizing my case last or not at all based on the murder trial she has been working on since she took me on her case load. The deck has been stacked against me since I was arrested. |