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NEWS & LETTERS, June 2004Black/Red ViewEnd police corruptionby John Alan I am turning over my column this month to Mildred Henry who told her story of police torture to a meeting of News and Letters Committees in Chicago.--J.A. * * * I am on a crusade for my oldest son, Kilroy Watkins. He has now been incarcerated for 12 years due to a wrongful conviction. On Jan. 12, 1992 my son was picked up and arrested at Area 2 headquarters. He was interrogated there for numerous hours before Area 3 officers came and took him. During the time of that interrogation they kept asking him about a murder that had happened on 53rd and Justine. My son kept repeating that he didn't know what they were talking about. Sooner or later he learned that the detective who was interrogating him was Kenneth Boudreaux. He worked under Commander Jon Burge. From 1980 all the way up until 1990, Jon Burge and his detectives had a thing going where they were out in the poorest neighborhood, the South Side of Chicago, targeting Blacks and Latinos. Jon Burge came from the army as a lieutenant. When the Wilson brothers back in the 1970s killed a police officer, Burge terrorized the South Side community until he arrested Andrew Wilson. But that was just the beginning. They needed more and more confessions. At that time I don't have to tell you who was the States Attorney. It was our now-Mayor Daley, who claimed from then up until now he wasn't aware of this torturing. In 1993 Jon Burge was fired by the City of Chicago. Now he resides in Florida, but he's living on taxpayer money on a pension. Boudreaux tortured my son for 36 hours, choking and hitting him upside the head until he signed a confession to a murder that he did not commit, but they didn't fire him. I hear now he's doing paperwork for the FBI. I have to do something. I can't sit down any longer while they have an innocent man, my son, doing 30 years for a murder he did not commit. The only evidence they had in court was that signed confession. Every time he said he didn't know what he was talking about, Boudreaux walked over, punched him upside the head or choked him, repeatedly. The Assistant States Attorney was in the room, also his partner Halloran. When it went to trial, the only witness was a 14-year-old girl, Christy Cameron, who they had kept long hours at a police station trying to get her to sign that Kilroy did the murder. At the trial, she said, I signed something, but I didn't sign that I said he killed someone. I don't know what I was signing because I wanted to go home. The other witness was Boudreaux. They asked Boudreaux if he had any physical contact with my son. He perjured himself and said the only time he touched my son was to unhandcuff him from a ring on the wall; while his partner, Halloran, and the assistant DA said, no, no, he remained handcuffed to the ring on the wall the whole 36 hours--no phone call; no lawyer present. My son asked for a witness that could prove his innocence; but the state and the judges and the cops didn't allow him enough time to bring in this witness. They said they couldn't find the witness. Me and my husband got in the car and went right to the man. The man signed and gave us a sworn affidavit which my son now has in his possession. I feel this system has failed both me and my son, because those 12 years have been too long. He cannot be a doctor or a lawyer. They put him away back in slavery. It's nothing different. It's going on everywhere. But I'm in this alone--just me and his son; a son he didn't know he had until I went to the county jail at his trial and said, you got a son. So since then, 12 years, he has been out of this young man's life; regretting that he's not out here to play baseball with him or soccer. Mayor Daley used these young men's confessions on his resume to become mayor of Chicago. But now a sister of a cop came forward after 20 years. She told them of Madison Hobley, one of the Death Row Ten, saying that her brother, Robert Dryer, who was his detective, beat Madison Hobley, forced him to sign that confession, put that man on Death Row for killing his wife and unborn child. She is telling it all. She is telling what we have been trying to get out for 25 years. In May, we of the Enough is Enough! campaign attempted to visit Mayor Daley. But he knew we were coming. So he had a roster. If Enough is Enough!'s name wasn't on it, we weren't going to see him. In April we went to the special prosecutor who was holding the evidence that could prove these tortures, torture victims and confessions. He refused to see us. Then we learned that Burge is supposed to come back and testify. Mayor Daley is paying for Burge and his detectives' defense. We don't have any money. Our sons are rotting in there. They think by incarcerating all these young Black and Latino men, they're going to distort their minds, break them down, where they'll be useless. But I got news for you. My son has became a better person. He is educated, more than he was when he was out here on the street. He gets me involved in every activity that he has done. He has became so strong, until I said, if he can be strong in a place like that with all that pressure, and he can hold steadfast, then so can I. I know the struggle will continue and I'm not going to take this lying down. I got a son who I cannot reach out to; I cannot see growing up, raising his child or having a productive life out here. Now you look at Iraq. My heart goes out to those people but, if you ask me, I feel like this is Iraq right here. I feel like Bush ain't nothin' but a Saddam Hussein. You know all that torturing and beating is happening right here in prisons. For 12 years, what help did I have? They know if you've got a public defender; they know if you're Black, if you're uneducated. Half the Black men they pick up can't read or write. That's why I keep saying, justice delayed is justice denied. We're not going to stop until we get victory on our side. We've got to do something about this. It cannot continue on; this not only breaks down the prisoner, it breaks down the family. I'm worrying constantly, wondering whether my son will ever beat this thing. Will he ever get out and come home again to the family who loves him? It's worry, it's anger, it's frustration and I just can't see living in a country that's supposed to be free, helps everybody else, but help your own. It's destroying our citizens just for money and power. We have to do something, we have to do something now. |
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