[Vision2020] British Historian Brutalized by Atlanta Police

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Greetings:

I've excerpted these sentences from a much longer piece found at  http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/33876.html.  This man's experience with the court system contrasted dramatically with his brutal treatment by police. He was simply crossing a street at a convention center, following many others as an example.

"This is a typical American contrast. The executive arm of government tends to be dumb, insensitive, violent and dangerous. The judiciary is the citizen's vital guarantee of peace and liberty.

I became a sort of exemplar in miniature of a classic American dilemma: the "balance of the constitution", as Americans call it, between executive power and judicial oversight.

I have long known, as any reasonable person must, that the courts are the citizen's only protection against a rogue executive and rationally uncontrolled security forces."

For years my European friends have thought twice (sometimes three times) before planning trips to the U.S. 

Nick Gier