Battleangel

The police seems to be on their toes outside of the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Atlanta. For some reason they chose to suddenly enforce jaywalking regulations in a rather hands-on fashion. Say what you will of fascist regimes, but at least they protect the public … from dangerous and subversive elements like jaywalking historians.

On Thursday, just after noon, 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 to the city 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 incident, which got out of hand when Fernandez-Armesto requested to see the policeman’s identification (the policeman was wearing a bomber jacket; to Fernandez-Armesto, a foreigner unfamiliar with American culture, the officer did not look like an officer). The prosecutors asked the professor 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.

The case is interesting since it not only shows the brutal methods of an increasingly militarized police force (a sign of roosting chickens) but also since the AHA and Historians Against the War passed an anti-war resolution that same afternoon. Someone high up must have given the police marching orders knowing this very tidbit. It is of course essential for the powers that be to keep the very academics who will weight in on America’s legacy submissive and in acceptance of the doctrine of Empire.

I guess one could say that when George W Bush claims to let history judge his presidency (and historians already have) he is in fact referring to the hands-on approach of intimidating historians until they write history the way he wants them to.