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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Peaceful Man is Beaten by Police Officer in Response to Performance |
Current rating: 0 |
by Kaite Hoover
Email: abandon (at) altern.org (unverified!) |
18 Jun 2002
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A cautionary tale about a great idea
On June 14, 2002, at an abandoned Paper Mill in Ypsilanti, MI, a man known to others as "Lenny" was beaten & broken by a police officer - in response to a performance art series held at abandoned locations throughout town, known as "The Abandoned Series". |
BY KAITE HOOVER The Abandoned Series mushroomed from a vision that came to me one night as Sigh & I walked around the roof of a parking structure on the corner of Catherine & Glen St. We had nothing better to do - it was a windy, chilly evening in late April, and we were both broke as usual & couldn't afford to do anything else with our evening but spin in circles on the roof & chase each other through the desolate parking structure. In one moment of spinning beneath a glaring, parking structure light, I envisioned a cloud of red mist forming above my head & proceeded to dizzy myself out of breath and back into "reality." When I stood on top of the poured concrete wall, beneath the bright light pole, I envisioned the wall becoming a stage, and thirty people spread out before me, as I stood there, turning the flat, desolate, grey space into a space of gathering. As it came to me - I saw the parking structure roof becoming a community space, where people gathered to share their creative vision to the community of those present. I relayed the idea to Sigh & we began discussing the details of what this idea could be if it became reality. I wanted to see that unused space become used, if only transiently, for a matter of hours, reclaiming the space that would go unused by anyone else - I argued, because it would be better for the soul of the parking structure (or abandoned barn or abandoned warehouse) to receive human energy & vitality into its otherwise cavernous, empty existence. For how could these abandoned places stand to spend another night empty & alone, when they were once created by humans, for the use of other humans, where now they face the grim possibility of another night without human contact.
Within twenty-four hours of the vision, I'd already contacted a dozen performers that I personally knew, and they all agreed that the idea of performing in abandoned spaces, to temporarily reclaim space and leave quietly & peacefully, was a good one. The feedback generated from sharing the idea propelled me into the creation of the Abandoned Series. Twere it not for the dilated pupils of people grown ecstatic with the possibility of such a performance art series, I would not have spent the time putting the idea into reality. Consider how many ideas you have had and not put into reality. I, for myself, can count on five hands the number of ideas I've had and not made real. My decision to make the Abandoned Series real was based solely on the urgent support of people who wanted to see it happen & become a reality - thus giving performer & viewer the opportunity to live an experience that is wholly unique to time & space, as transient and beautiful as every moment of our life is.
It was with this in hand that I took to the internet, creating a website & an email list, spreading information out across people I personally knew, and it spread further and further through word of mouth. Within two weeks of the website & email list's creation, I'd already accumulated 60 people on the email list, and another 60+ people who'd heard of it through word of mouth of friends. The first three shows occurred within quick succession: one Saturday night in the second floor of Olga's Kitchen, one Thursday night in an abandoned Train Car near the Art Trains, and one Saturday night at the top of a parking structure. Having completed three beautiful & deeply moving nights in these abandoned spaces, we proceeded with another, fourth, gathering - this time to be held in an abandoned Paper Mill in Ypsilanti.
I'd managed to enter into the Paper Mill half a dozen times in the last month, and had the place scouted out well, and I knew exactly which rooms I wanted to use for the gathering. They were enormous warehouse rooms, with high-pitched ceilings, and an enormous echoing effect that would carry the voices of vocalists, such as myself, well into the hearts of an audience that was expected to bring as many as 70 to 80 people. We went the night before & discovered electricity that worked, we discovered a projector & we planned on projecting moving oil & water & food coloring onto the wall. The directions to the Paper Mill were sent out in emails & with bouyant, energetic promise, I gathered my things & proceeded to Ypsilanti with my friends in a car, carrying a boombox to project Meredith Monk songs to do improvisational dancing to, carrying 40 candles to illuminate the stage area, my other friends brought African drums & shakers & harmonicas & poems they'd written. We arrived and within ten minutes had an easily accessible door opened. Within twenty minutes, there were another 20 to 30 people wandering around the Paper Mill, gathering barrels to sit on, and as we were walking around, setting up candles & the projector, I was notified from someone that the cops had arrived.
Not knowing what to do - I ran to the highest roof of the building to examine the police cars from a hawk-eye point of view. I remained on the roof for the duration of the police-stay because every time I ventured back into the belly of the building, I heard unwielding, unfriendly voices interrogating my friends, and I was afraid. The two dark warehouse rooms that were to be used for performance space had suddenly become illuminated in the time I'd been on the roof, and for fear of my safety, I stayed on the roof and watched & waited with my friend, as the Cops interrogated five of my friends on the ground level, 70 or 80 feet below me.
There were 4 police cars gathered at the front of the Paper Mill, and we watched as another 2 EMU Police Cars gathered & entered into the fray. My friend and I watched from the roof as a Policeman, named Officer Overton, interrogated a man named Lenny. At the time, from my vantage point, and not being able to hear anything that was being said, seeing only the aggressiveness of Officer Overton batter this man - that looked to me like a completely innocent, drunk homeless man that had accidentally stumbled into the scene. I discovered the next day that the drunk homeless man being interrogated was not drunk or homeless at all - Lenny was in fact an environmental activist & friend of a friend of mine. Lenny was coming to the Abandoned Series because he'd heard of it through word of mouth. He hadn't even stepped into the Paper Mill, and yet it seems that he bore the brunt of the Ypsilanti Police's frustration and anger.
I could not tell what Officer Overton wanted of Lenny, I could only tell that Lenny didn't have any informatin to give to Officer Overton, and that he was not cooperating. Officer Overton completely flew off the handle, and as my friend Jo said, was "foaming at the mouth with pissed-off rage." Overton violently yelled at Lenny, demanding he be allowed to frisk Lenny. He pushed Lenny against the Police Car, and violently frisked him, and as Lenny said "No, Don't do that, Don't do that," and resisted the sudden violation of his person, Overton went crazy in a sudden moment of rage and grabbed him by his midsection, and acting like an action hero in a movie, spun him in a circle and threw him on the ground faster than we were able to react. I watched from the roof, completely stunned. The Officer continued with his violent aggression against Lenny, as he twisted his arms, he ground Lenny's hips into the pavement, put handcuffs on him, and shoved him into the back of a Police Car.
What had Lenny done wrong? Absolutely nothing, it seems. As we gathered information on Saturday, we discovered that Lenny was not drunk, had no drugs on him, no drugs in his backpack, and was completely innocent - he'd not even stepped into the Paper Mill & had done absolutely nothing illegal. What were the Police Officer's motives for harassing Lenny? The Police will tell you that Lenny assaulted the Police and resisted Arrest, both of which are completely erroneous lies.
As time passed and Friday turned into Saturday, I met Lenny in the U of M hospital and discovered the awful truth of the matter. Officer Overton took Lenny back to the Ypsilanti Police Station, and after discovering that Lenny was completely innocent of anything, and that there was absolutely nothing they could press charges against Lenny for, they dropped all charges, gave Lenny his stuff back, and quietly ushered him out the back door of the police station, doing nothing in the way of getting him to the hospital. At that time, Lenny had no other option but to hobble two blocks away to Abe's Coney Island and call a Yellow Cab, which took him to the U of M Emergency Room.
Lenny's hip was BROKEN in response to the sudden impact of Overton slamming Lenny against the pavement. I met Lenny on Saturday at the Hospital, just as he was going in for MRI Scans to view his fracture. He will most likely have hip problems for the remainder of his life.
Meanwhile, Police Officers violently interrogated six people inside the warehouse, while Lenny was outside being frisked. Two of these six people were high schoolers, one as young as 15 - a singer-songwriter who had come to the Abandoned Series expecting to perform songs in front of a row of fifty candles. Instead, she and her sister were interrogated by the police, were demanded of their identification, and continually harassed - as they were looking (and could not find) the organizer of this gathering - ME. I was on the roof - and they never bothered to come up that far and find me. And - the police have not yet bothered to contact me.
There are two rumors as to how the police were tipped off: 1. The police knew about the Abandoned Series, had print-outs of the emailed directions, knew about the email list & the website, and planned to meet us there. 2. The Nightwatchman, Robert, noticed people congregating around the Paper Mill and called the Police. Apparently, that same day there were reports of another 6 or so people entering the same building, and there were 10 people videotaped & caught having an orgy in one of the warehouse's backroom at nearly the same time - though they were in no way connected to the Abandoned Series.
All that matters at this point is exposing the violence & brutality of these police officers. We will be pressing charges against Officer Overton for his violent behavior & demand that Lenny be paid in full, for the remainder of his life will no doubt be fraught with hip problems that will be astronomically priceless.
On Saturday, we returned to the Paper Mill and talked with Robert, the nightwatchman, and he has since dropped charges against myself & everyone else that I personally knew to be on the police's 27 person long hit-list. I only personally knew ten of those 27 and fear for the rest. However, not only has Robert been kind enough to drop all the charges and let us go scott-free - he is allowing us to have two more shows there - one in July and one in August. They promise to be the best Abandoned Series gatherings of the summer.
At this point, I want to continue with the Abandoned Series, though I do want to do it in a slightly more legal & safe manner. I fully realize that my vision is incompatible with the reality of society. I also seek to stay as true as possible to the original intent of the Abandoned Series (See MANIFESTO). I am hoping that through bringing the events of Friday night into the open and exposing them to the public, there will be enough awareness and support of the Abandoned Series, as an idea and as a reality, that people will help us coordinate these gatherings at different Abandoned locations every week, that we can have these gatherings for free, in various abandoned locations & that we can get the permission from the owners in advance. I am hoping that the owners of Abandoned buildings in town will want their spaces to have one night of art & life & creative energy in their otherwise unused existence.
When things cooled down in Ypsilanti, and we'd all gathered in the Wooden Nickel parking lot, we swapped stories & it felt as though we were all intensely alive. It was overwhelming to be in the midst of such a community of young, creative individuals, dealing with the extremes of such an experience. Afterwards, there was a post-abandoned-series-party at a friend's house in Ann Arbor, and what blew me away was to walk into this house, and discover that the spirit of the Abandoned Series had not yet died down. In fact, the spirit of the Abandoned Series was only getting hotter & stronger. We shared our poems & our songs & our selves well past 4am. I believe the spirit of the Abandoned Series will continue to share itself with the world past this summer, and far past myself - for the Abandoned Series is not about me, the organizer & creator of it. It's an idea that anyone can make their own and take into their heart. It's an idea that lives outside of myself - it belongs to itself and owns it own community. They are the Abandoned Series gatherings - and they have inspired more people than I personally know, and people I don't know and may never know, want to see it grow and continue pressing forward. In fact, it's just beginning.
Please support the Abandoned Series by keeping it real & free & alive & by speaking out against police brutality. Thank you.
By the way - There will be NO Abandoned Series This Week.
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ABANDONED SERIES MANIFESTO :
BECAUSE abandoned warehouses & abandoned barns & abandoned restaurants remain empty & go unused night after night of their lonely existence.
BECAUSE there is beauty in rotting buildings & decay is a sign of the transience of moments.
BECAUSE there was a time when this warehouse or this restaurant was the miserable home of people who worked day in & day out for years and now there is nothing to show for it except grime & warped tables.
BECAUSE we are connecting with the past through illuminating temporarily inhabited empty space by connecting with others in the present.
BECAUSE it's exciting to share in small, intimate spaces with other beautiful people and re-kindle the buoyant energy of a community of creative people celebrating each other's expressiveness.
BECAUSE sharing our hearts & our creative gifts makes us vulnerable - we want to keep it contained within people who celebrate rather than compete with each other.
BECAUSE being a poor, starving artist is a cliche for a reason, and artists need to express & entertain even though they aren't "famous."
BECAUSE we want to have fun that does not cost much money - if anything at all.
BECAUSE we're not doing this to make money - rather we're doing it to share.
BECAUSE there are so many talented, beautiful, & gifted people in Ann Arbor that deserve recognition and a place to be free.
BECAUSE we want a society without hegemony - we will have no hegemony at our performance spaces - thus the line between performer & spectator is blurred and people are just people sharing their gifts.
BECAUSE we respect each other & we respect the space we are sharing in.
BECAUSE we respect that someone owns the place we're using & we will clean up after ourselves.
BECAUSE we believe that we have the revolutionary heartbodymind soul force to bring each other enjoyable, energetic moments.
BECAUSE we are alive.
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See also:
http://photosynthetic.net/a/
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