On Attending a Trial for Attempted Murder

I've been attending an attempted murder trial this week. Hmm, you say, she must have been a juror. Not. Wish it were that simple. For the last 35 or so years, I've been the godmother to a family that used to live on my block before it became fancied up. It started out simply because our kids played together. One day the youngest, who couldn't have been more than five, told me that his mother had died that day. Shocked, I ran over to see what I could do, and what that turned out to be – to arrange the funeral - turned into a lifelong commitment. I think I've been very blessed.

Without going into details, one of the children of the godchildren was marked by a gang for execution after a fistfight. He was shot three times in the head - and survived. Three other people, standing nearby in the wrong place at the wrong time, were also shot, if not as drastically. What strikes me most about the trial is the placidity even triviality in the enumeration of other crimes that these young men have committed. Of course, the criminal justice system deals with that sort of thing every day, and can't help but be a little tired, a little bored by it all. The officials do their work, but there is no - dare I say majesty? - in the recounting of how lives came close to being cut short.  

I am astounded by one thing - the vastness of the rewards that was offered by the witness protection program to a person whose criminal record was astonishing in its depth, breadth and general frighteningness.  It is understandable that a protection program might be offered in a case if really top-level criminals, otherwise unreachable, could with a high degree of certainty, be convicted as a result of testimony by their underlings.  This, however, isn't what I saw.  There was no high-level ring of criminals who would otherwise have gotten off;  we are talking about ratting on a group of teenage thugs, highly dangerous, indeed, but local, strictly local, and with every chance of of doing serious time for the attempted murders, based on the testimony of a lot of witnesses and some excellent police work.  In return for his testimony, a witness protection program was offered to someone who already had convictions for at least two murders, three armed robberies and a rape - there might have been more charges, but these stand out in my mind.  At well over six feet and weighing in the neighborhood of 275 lbs., we're not talking about the sort of person one might feel safe riding along side in an elevator.  We're talking about a one-person serious crime wave who would be put into witness protection.  God help those around him if he gets put into a new life! I know a bit about witness protection programs, as it happens; I've known two persons, both in that same family, who were witness to and victims of attempted murders.  They needed safety so they could testify; neither had a criminal record of any sort.  The guy on the stand breaks the bank for well-founded terror in his presence; he should never see the outside of a cell, much less government-sponsored freedom among an unsuspecting populace.

Only two people I've heard bring me to my feet by the power of their belief in the law's potential for justice. Two women earned my deep admiration. The first is the mother of the victim. She's going blind, has diabetes, heart conditions and god only knows what else. But what she doesn't have is a thirst for revenge. Not one angry word in her. In addition to caring for her stricken son - his life now permanently ruined by seizures and personality changes - her heart has reached out to take in another child, deserted by his mother, and to raise him well. What a class act! The other woman who totally earned my admiration testified at the trial. She was driving by when the crime occurred right before her eyes. She didn't flee and hide. No, she did her civic duty; she called 911, reported the shooting, and returned into the city to testify about what she saw. Not a lot of people would be so brave, these days. Two fine Americans, doing the right thing as they see it.  God bless them both.  

     H hope you will read and even pass on my latest poem - Susan Meehan

A WISH FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE DREAM THAT IS AMERICA 

Tomorrow, I will stand in quiet stillness

in this beloved land, holding the hands

of those I love. Then we will walk together,

slipping into a swelling multitude of marchers.

Our gathering will signal the start

of what must happen here

if this sacred place is to be remembered

for the glory in what it has asked of those

who sought its freedom

rather than be forgotten for what it has recklessly abandoned.

It is time for public honor to be restored

lest we forget forever the notion of America.

I am no longer willing to be frightened or deceived.

I am done with edging around dread-blackened borders

and circling in tired silence past gated lies.

I want no more seized sacrifice of precious lives

I ask that civic dignity

be entrusted to our citizens

who lay their dreams on hallowed ground,

brilliant dreams wrapped in truth and tied

tightly by persistent, wise fingers.

Our passion must be answered with respect and action.

If it is paid no heed, I dread the consequence

Let us begin with honest words and righteous deeds.

Our Words of State must ring with truth,

honesty must be inked onto our documents,

justice must be written large, and mercy not forgotten.

If we allow trust to binds us once again,

If we finally understand the importance of, the wisdom in

of out of many one,

we will have grand reason to celebrate

a new Day of Interdependence.

I am uncertain that we are ready to undertake this needed salvage

But I am certain that we must if America is to be remembered as a

Place that turned an overarching dream into a vivid, if imperfect reality

    ~  By Susan Meehan (MmeMagpie), WashingtonDC , December 21, 2011

THE ULTIMATE URBAN EXPERIENCE

As I approached my block late yesterday afternoon, I realized it was blocked off.  So was the next street, if not the alley between the two.  Police were all over the place, but the neighborhood itself seemed quieter than usual, even serene.  There were few people walking down the street;  if people were out, they weren't walking or even running  Instead, they were talking quietly in mall group among themselves.  What in the world was going on?

It was the ultimate urban experience; my own micro-neighborhood (i.e., the three vehicular pathways in my neighborhood - Corcoran Street, Que Street and 17th Street) were the subject of a threatened bomb attack, and for this reason the streets had been blocked off.  It seems that some crazed persons had been shouting curse and threats that he had a bomb in his car, which he had apparently abandoned on the 1600 block of 17th Street.  In a nutshell, he threatened to blow up everything that I hold dear.  While I had no fear my home would be going up in flames any time soon - I calculated it was just a little too far away for that to be likely - it certainly did lend a certain piquancy to an otherwise eerily silent hometown scene.

A bombing threat certainly puts matters into a clear, if alarming perspective.  It wasn't that the neighborhood had never before had threats made against it - for good reason, Corcoran Street was commonly known as Stab Alley when i first moved into the area in 1965.  I have seen several gun battles, up close and personal, taking place in real time on or immediately adjacent to my block.  In fact, a bomb went off at the nearby Argentinian Embassy two decades ago, that Embassy being located just across new Hampshire from the alley between Corcoran and Que - known to its inhabitants at Flat Rat Alley. The difference in character between a gunfight and a bombing, especially when one's own immediate neighborhood is the potential scene, is that of anticipation vs. reaction.  

What it does best is to put into sharp outline all the reasons for and against living downtown,  everything that is dear seems dearer, and everything that seems tawdry or tacky becomes tawdry beyond one's ability to bear one minute longer.  Some neighbors seemed either anxious or anticipatory, and the rest seemed somehow frozen in place.  No one seemed willing to accept the concept of a radically-changed neighborhood - and what could produce more change than a bomb?  There were overtones of grandiosity, as people made juicy comparisons with Bomb Threats They Had Known before, or merely imagined.  Possibilities were tossed around like a Soviet Safeway salad, and then subsided.

The talk finally ebbed fully when it became evident that nothing bad was really going to happen. Anticipation had deflated to mere comparison. All they had left for discussion was the results of uniting Diet Coke with Mentos candy, and that paled in comparison, at least it did until the shadows became darker and our Dupont Circle neighborhood retreated to the smartphones, the cell phones, the iPhones, iPads and other momentarily popular means of communications upon which it absolutely depends, to comment ruefully on the passing of one bright shining moment of real fear that had, for once, merely dissolved.

ON KNOWING THE CURRENT DARLING - a poem of mine

I knew you when you wrote bad poetry

and didn’t know which fork to use

and wore plaid, flannel shirts

with a slide rule protruding from your pocket.

On the cusp of your currency

we met again

and rushed to share forty years of life

words didn’t come fast enough

as we sought each other’s joys, pains

and marveled at the chance to share once more

our piebald dreams.

Now your face is on every screen

and your words articulate our beliefs

Contenders for public office

proudly wield your opinions

as their implements of campaign war.

People come to me for the favor

of an introduction

desiring to share in celebrity’s hierarchy,

and so, remembering our friendship

I give them the speckled help they seek.

But you have moved on

rushing to interpret today’s breaking news and

guarded by rough crews paid to fend off the unimportant –

those whose claim is old and not for profit –

unmindful that strobe-lit fame may quickly fade.

But old friends still remember fondly

those earlier, golden times

when you wrote bad poetry

and didn’t know which fork to use.

DC Residents: Are We Subjects or Citizens? A Draft Referendum

I think it is shameful that we in the District of Columbia are treated as subjects rather than as citizens.When I read in the Declaration of Independence that, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," I strongly question the assumption that we residents of the District have given our consent to be treated like subjects.

As quoted, the Declaration of Independence specifically says that government's power is just when it is derived by the consent of the governed. There is no part of the Declaration of Independence more profound, fellow Americans. Our Constitution and all our laws, everything that we hold dear as Americans, all depend on the founding block of the Declaration of Independence. Its words cannot be overlooked. If we in the District are not permitted the same rights as other citizens – and representation has to be the most basic right in a democracy – then we cannot function as full citizens. Where does it say we have given our consent to a form of government under which we struggle without voting representation?

I say we have not consented to our lack of representation, and propose that we undertake a referendum to determine whether that lack of representation is acceptable to us. Two bloody wars - the American Revolution and the Civil War - and several Constitutionalamendments should have settled the overarching question of equality once and for all. But it didn't for us. Is it acceptable to be treated as subjects, not citizens? I think not, and believe that our founding document, the Declaration of Independence speaks on our behalf to this very point. Let us hold a public and official referendum to make clear that we do not consent to being treated unequally. This would give us the basis to demand that our full measure of rights be secured - as citizens of a state. Nothing less. God bless the Declaration of Independence, for it will make our case.

If we get a referendum on consent on the 2012 ballot, it would likely considerably increase turnout at our polls, and would certainly get plenty of national media coverage. And that is what we need. One of the reasons we haven’t been able to get action on voting representation is because most citizens are utterly unaware that we don’t already have it. They are astonished to learn this is not the case, and are angry when they hear of it. (Some actually believe we pay no federal taxes, like Puerto Rico, and assume that is why we don’t have voting representation.) In any case, they are taken aback that Congress can and does change whatever it wants in our municipal budget, paid for by our hard-earned local DC tax money, no matter what we may want to do with it.They know that Congress could not do this elsewhere in the US, and agree that Congress should not be able to do this to us. Finally, other citizens get especially angry when District residents point out that THEIR elected representatives are spending an awful lot of time meddling in our affairs when their time could be better employed working on their own constituents’ problems. So there’s a lot of public education that needs to be done.

One of the most effective ways to educate the public nationwide on this issue would be through the publicity a referendum would engender. There are many ways that such a referendum could be worded; here’s a draft.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Do you believe that American democracy is founded on the principles outlined above in the Declaration of Independence? Yes No

As a US citizen, do you think that in fact you are governed differently than citizens living in states? Yes No

Do you think that you are being denied rights that other citizens enjoy, like voting representation in the House of Representatives, two voting US Senators, and statehood? Yes No

Do you think that DC citizens have ever given their consent to this arrangement – that is, to NOT having voting representation in the House of Representatives, two voting US Senators and statehood? Yes No

Do you hereby give your consent to being governed without voting participation by representatives you have elected to the legislative branch of national government? Yes No

Finally, would you give up these three rights in return for the permanent elimination of federal taxes? Yes No

BRAVO TO CITY OFFICIALS ARRESTED FOR SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY

Huzzah for those who got arrested! I'm sorry I couldn't be there; if they do it again, and I hope they will, I'll join them. I'm sic and tired of being a subject, not a citizen, and that's exactly what we are. Some really bad days, I feel like an indentured servant!

I've lived in Mexico City, where they had no trouble with voting representation for the Distrito Federal. Other capitals in the civilized world (such as it is), also and customarily have full representation. So the idea itself is not unheard of nor scandalous; folks, it's the denial that is.

I believe there are two kinds of provisions within the Constitution and the other founding documents (specifically the Declaration of Independence, in this case) – ones that deal with fundamental rights, and ot hers that are technical and administrative in nature. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence says it all, and should be honored as expressing the fundamental basis for the founding of our nation,"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations invariably pursuing the same Object evinces a design to reduce the under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future Security."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Declaration of Independence says it all. Are we to ignore its words?

I think not. We are being governed without our consent, and we are clearly suffering a long train of abuses and usurpations on the hands of those who are governing us without our consent. I think it is long overdue that we seek an orderly way to throw off such government and to provide guards for our (present and) future security. What could be more fundamental to the definition of democracy then that it derives its just powers from the consent of the governed? We have not been asked and we have not given our consent – that is clear and not subject to denial. Let a Federal District be set up without population, and give the rest of the District to its residents as a State! Nothing less meets the test of requiring a governing body to derive its just powers from the consent of the governed, and nothing less should be tolerated. So be it.

A Rant on Bureaucracy and Citizen Expectations; A Record Wait

The western entrance to the alley behind my house has just been re-opened after having been closed since October. Yes, October. What happened, and what took them nearly a half a year to fix? Well, it seems that they managed to either find or break a leaking pipe while "fixing" the road at which the alley debouches. This was a hitherto-unknown 48" pipe. We are not talking about a tiny little pipe here, folks.

It's hard to believe that a pipe of such magnitude could be unknown to WASA. Surely, they should have known about it, given that it must be a working pipe. We know that, of course, because it was leaking. Okay, so they broke an unknown, working 48'' pipe. Not starting off well. It doesn't get better.

Why didn't they fix it right away? They said there was no money in the budget. Because this isn't exactly the first time that a hitherto-unknown pipe has been broken while a DC street is being fixed (uh oh, I used the wrong word - "fixed" doesn't seem to be the operating reality here) let's say "worked on", wouldn't they place a certain amount in the budget for, let's call them "contingencies"? Wouldn't that be good planning? I guess not.

And given that they had stalled working on it since last October, wouldn't you think that people in the community, possibly people with rear access to their dwelling places on that very alley might have noticed with some displeasure that the situation wasn't getting fixed and demanded a meeting to find out why and to call for swift action? It's a no-brainer that the surest way to encourage severel outrage on the part of an affected community is to ignore it.

In fact, more than four months after the alley was closed, a meeting finally took place and WASA's top brass came. Does it matter that the top brass didn't seem to know the area to begin with, and then compounded this error by putting up an incorrect slide which indicated that "everything" had already been done between Mass. Avenue and S Street? This writer and the rest of the audience thought so. Theoretically, "everything" would include the alley entrance, but that of course, was the reason for the meeting. The audience, wasn't pleased, as a reader might well imagine. WASA finally brought the meeting to a close by promising that it would fix the problem and re-open the alley entrance within two weeks.

At the very end of two weeks, the alley re-opened to great rejoicing. The rejoicing was destined to last only a hot moment, unfortunately.

We had been tricked once again! Within the WEEK , the very area where the alley opened onto 18th and New Hampshire is ONCE MORE is being torn up - this time for electrical conduit problems. At the meeting with WASA, the residents ask if any work by any road-ripping entity might happen any time soon that would cause the area to be torn up once again ? Of course they did. And WASA's answer - of course - was no. It took less than a week for WASA's answer to be nullified once again, and for the orange bumpers and jackhammers to reappear. They're still there.

Is there ANYONE competent out there guarding our streets? Apparently, the correct answer to this not-so-difficult question is - of course not.