Three Days in NYC Jails (Strange Story)

The Village Voice ^ | 9/24/03 | Bryonn Bain

[Onelifetogive]

diagnosed me as mentally ill when I told her I teach poetry at New York University

Seems like a reasonable diagnosis...

[Gunrunner2]

Like I said, no one doubts wrongful/mistaken arrests happen, but this partuclar account reads badly and isn't at all coherent nor factually logical (see my first post on this, as it points out a glaring, and I mean glaring inconsistancy that proves he is lying for his own purposes).

This guy is a race-baiter and merely because he alleges soemthing happened doesn't necessarily mean it actually happened that way he said it did.

Was he arrested? Probably.

Was it based upon warrants? Probably.

Was he released? Yes.

Everything else is questionable, and based upon his hype and confused rambling, I think he is nuts.

[JennysCool]

From the letters column of the LSU student newspaper The Reveille:

Harambee didn't live up to title

Harambee' ... a "Coming Together," a bridge over the gap, ... I think not! I approached this year's Harambee' festival with excitment and anticipation as it was to be the first Harambee I would ever attend, not knowing it also would be my last. Although it started an hour and 30 minutes late, the beginning of the celebration was strong and moving. The opening stomp, song and address from Andrea Allen all focused on the idea of unity. Not the unity within races, but the unity among and involving all races. I knew Harambee' was a African-American Cultural event and I thought it was one geared toward a creative approach to bridging the racial gap, so therefore, I along with white and black friends, attended supportingly.

Then Bryonn Bain took the stage. He impressed us all with his style of delivering a strong message through rap, poetry, and singing until his message began to become "ununifying". My applause died as I sunk back in my seat in awe as I listened to the words coming from his mouth. Mr. Bain spoke of "they" who took the drums from his people, and told a story of a man questioning the Devil's reason for harming people only to end the story with the Devil telling the man that it is the "other" people on earth causing the harm. He ranted and raved on how the American government was letting "black" children starve, how the war on terrorism, drugs and prison system are just costly forms of oppression, and how "racism" lives at 1,600 Pennsylvania Ave. (the White House). He closed his speech with a chant that began "Rise up my people," but evolved into "Rise up my 'black' people" at the end. What makes Bryonn Bain think he is even in the position to talk about these topics, such as the war on terrorism. Believe me, black or white families that lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks would strongly disagree with him and most likely greatly support the efforts to end terrorism. Attending Harvard doesn't automatically make one's weakly based political opinions worth listening too.

The festival ended with black fraternities and soroties bashing each other uncontrollably on and off stage. Someone please tell me how this defines unity. Not only did Harambee' leave in me a sense of widening distance between and within races, but also made me feel that events such as Harambee', are reasons why racism still greatly is present in the world today. I do not feel this is the direction the LSU African American Culture Center wanted its celebration to head in.

"Coming Together" ... more like "Growing Apart."

Robin Davidson
sophomore
mass communication

[Williams]

The story here that any CONSERVATIVE should recognize is that the power of the state should be limited because it is a dangerous thing. The bueraucratic functionaries don't care what they do to the "non people" they deal with. Maybe he twisted this story his way, but I have no trouble believing every word of it. You folks that have no idea how screwed up the world is at ALL levels are a concern to me. Some of you just don't know that corruption, injustice and total waste are rampant.

[opticoax]

Well, obviously Mr. Bain hangs out with a top-notch crowd. I wonder if one of his "fellow-travelers" nicked his ID.

When you lie down with dogs, Byronn.

Notice some of the careful wording of his sentences that indicates that they may have not been true? ....did not respond to 6 voice mails....

what? made over a 10-minute perdiod?

She got up from her chair and walked away. She stopped at the door and turned to me before exiting. "You know what these warrants are for," she said.

...and he didn't have time to ask again?

This Williams was a former student of one of the leading defense attorneys in the U.S.: Jill Soffiyah Elijah, whom I had called collect from jail the day before.

He called a Massachusetts attorney while incarcerated in New York? and without knowing the charges?

He must have been a real asset to Harvard.

This doesn't pass the smell test....all that's missing is him wagging his finger in our faces, pounding on a podium "I did not have civil rights with that women....my lawyer."

[Pharmboy]

Bryonn Bain of Team Nuyorican, New York

[Blood of Tyrants]

You folks that have no idea how screwed up the world is at ALL levels are a concern to me.

You're kidding, right? This guy starts off by screaming "Racial Profiling!" and only at the very last does he admit that the police arresed him because someone had apparently stolen his identity. He is also a liberal in one of THE most liberal colleges in the country.

In the end he is bitching about the very system that his liberal predecessors fought tooth and nail to create. It appears that he doesn't like this "Brave New World" very much.

[per loin]

There is also the CONSERVATIVE principle of individual responsibility. This guy knew that at least one criminal was using his identity. He also had to know that a malfunctioning taillight was bound to get him pulled over. Yet he did not bother to carry with him any evidence of his identity being used by some criminal(s).

[cruiserman]

It sure makes for a good story.

[curmudgeonII]

He prolly is NUTZ

"Fight mental health or I'll kill you?'

[rabidralph]

Maybe he just has attention deficit disorder and is only mildly bipolar. He jumps from topic to topic. He's like Forrest Gump: every major life event happens to him and it turns out bad.

[Modernman]

Point out any government official that acted improperly or corruptly in this case. The cops arrested him on what they thought were legit warrants. It took only three days to sort out this whole mess. He was never mistreated. Inconvenienced? Sure. But to me it looks like the system worked here.

[Bigg Red]

As a former prosecutor, I find his story to be credible.

says amarilloslim
member since Sep 26, 2003

Something tells me Bryonn -- too bad his parents didn't know how to spell his name correctly -- went to the Jayson Blair (another needless spelling tragedy) school of journalism.

[Porterville]

Most of the people running the prison INDUSTRY are unqualified people with little education.

[isom35]

the give-away that its fake is "teaches poetry" there is
no such thing. either it rhymes or it doesnt. no teaching needed.

[Porterville]

They won't know until they are in jail or someone they know are in jail for absolutely nothing... We are all criminals and the government wants you to be shelved as inventory.

[Modernman]

Most of the people running the prison INDUSTRY are unqualified people with little education.

Okay- point to any government misconduct here.

[Hildy]

I don't know if this happened or not...but this is the funniest thing I've read all week:

My Legal Aid lawyer claimed she was also a medical professional and diagnosed me as mentally ill when I told her I teach poetry at New York University.