Rob: Have you encountered this before where they knew who you were and kept you out.
Ray: No...it hasn't. This is kind of doing and the back story here is also interesting Rob because I didn't buy the ticket by myself. I was little afraid, with all these capabilities that the Government has, that they would find out that I was coming and do something to prevent me from entering. So I had some of friends buy the ticket, so we were sitting, a couple of us together, and guess what-- none my friends get in either. Now how did they know? These are not friends and the fringes and the bullwarks of the revolutionary spirit. These are sober minded people and for some, in some way, anyone can leave me out doesn't have to imagine a whole bunch of things, they got wind of just the fact that we were going to go and, going to a performance of the Sainted General named David Petraeus was a little too much to risk for the 92nd Street Y, which does not have the reputation that once enjoyed of being a progressive place where all manner of opinions were welcome.
Rob: How are you now, the reports indicate that you were pretty roughed up by the Police?
Ray: I was, it's not all that complicated. Earlier this week, namely on Monday, I had a bad fall and I landed on two places one my left shoulder the other on my left eyebrow, eight stitches in left eyebrow and a really, really bruised rotator cuff on my left shoulder. Now that was Monday so I am still nursing this sort of thing and carrying this backpack all on my right shoulder and so when they said "look McGovern Ray you're not welcome here. We are turning down your ticket, we'll give your 50 bucks back but you can't come in", then I remonstrated with them, I said "wait a second. iIt doesn't say anywhere my ticket you have the power to do that". So they called the cops and the cops grabbed me and you know the traditional thing is to put your hands behind your back and put a set of handcuffs on you. And that's what they tried to do. I don't know if your bruised your wrists-- it was excruciatingly painful, they try to get your left arm behind your back to meet your right arm and put on one set of handcuffs, so I screamed, because it was excruciating pain and what they ended up doing was stringing a couple of sets of handcuffs so that they could still immobilize me by joining my left wrist to my right, but only with the help of several sets of handcuffs-- so that's how bad I was I got blood all over the back of my pants of course from lacerations. It was really" the final thing here is that I have been accused of resisting arrest, just for shouting "hey my shoulder really hurts would you lay off".
Rob: So did they charge you with resisting arrest.
Ray: Yes, they postponed the trial to whatever is going to happen. It is going to be in early December but one of those wonderful bonafide lawyers that helps people like me, argued my case and explained about the shoulder, said I had a ticket. So it remains to be seen what's going to happen but ironically, Rob, it's one of those cases where you know where it was no...fun being in the dungeon of the New York City prison last night.
But you know all things work to the good in my view and I had a meaty experience of, I call it innocent suffering, and I don't know mean me. I mean the folks that I was held up with, people who were guilty of nothing more than minor misdemeanors, lying as I tried to do, on this famous steel two foot bench there, trying to get some sleep, and you know that the treatment that they were accorded was not very respectful and so forth.
So you know it takes that kind of experience in my view, to give somebody like me who is privileged and white and doesn't have to often contend with this kind of stuff-- it takes a kind of spirit to have any real idea of what it means for folks, not like me, and that I think this worth the price of the admission certainly worth the price that I paid by having no sleep last night and being treated just like my new friends there in the bottom of the New York City Jail.
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