If you are old enough, you have heard of, and may even remember, Bobby Seale. He was a Black Activist who was put on trial as one of the “Chicago Seven” in the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
The Library of Congress web page associated with the above courtroom sketch says:
Bobby Seale had not participated in the advance planning for the demonstration, but was arrested and tried with the MOBE members. A co-founder of the Black Panthers, Seale had gone to Chicago as a last-minute replacement for Eldridge Cleaver. Seale, whose lawyer was unavailable due to hospitalization, was denied both a continuance and self-representation. Seale verbally lashed out, interrupting the proceedings. On October 29, 1969, in an extraordinary move, Judge Julius Hoffman ordered Bobby Seale bound and gagged. His trial was severed from the Chicago Eight on November 5, 1969. Finding him in contempt, Hoffman sentenced Seale to four years in prison, appealed at, U.S. v. Seale, 461 F.2d 345 (1972). As he was led from the courtroom, spectators shouted "Free Bobby!"
‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ Fact Check: Was Bobby Seale Really Bound and Gagged in Court? discusses a film inspired by the trial and includes this rendition:
The movie too suggests that Seale was perhaps only bound briefly or during a single day of the court proceedings. In truth, he appeared in court for several days tied to his chair in full view of the jury, unable to speak beyond muffled noises, until [Defense Attorney William] Kuntsler declared, “This is no longer a court of order, Your Honor, this is a medieval torture chamber.”
Seale himself described in detail in an interview with Democracy Now just how much of an ordeal it was. He described his head being wrapped so only his eyes and nose were visible while his legs were tied with bandages. On the final day he was gagged, he said he began losing blood pressure and circulation to his arms and was carried out of the courtroom by the guards.
“They tried to pick me up in this heavy chair, three guards. And the big guard started beating me in the head. Jerry Rubin jumped up out of his hair. Abbie jumped up out of their chair, trying to help me. Guards slammed them back in their chair. I’m trying to turn my hand over, my right hand over, to get my — to get my fingers up to the top of the gag. And then the other guard would turn my hand down and then hit me and knock me back, you know, and stuff like that. They really brutalized me.
The scene shocked the nation, and inspired a hit song by Crosby, Stills, & Nash.
That was then; this is now. But everything old is new again! 1968 had Richard Nixon; We have Donald Trump.
Speaking of which, just recently, Donald Trump expressed a willingness to be imprisoned as the next Nelson Mandela. And now, he has expressed a willingness to be the next Bobby Seale.
“On Monday I will be forced to sit, GAGGED, before a HIGHLY CONFLICTED & CORRUPT JUDGE, whose hatred for me has no bounds.”
The White House Thugs should not be allowed to have these dangerous and unfair Biden Trials during my campaign for President. All of them, civil and criminal, could have been brought more than three years ago. It is an illegal attack on a Political Opponent. It is Communism at its worst, and Election Interference at its Best. No such thing has ever happened in our Country before. On Monday I will be forced to sit, GAGGED, before a HIGHLY CONFLICTED & CORRUPT JUDGE, whose hatred for me has no bounds. All of these New York and D.C. “Judges” and Prosecutors have the same MINDSET. Nobody but this Soros Prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, wanted to take this ridiculous case. All legal scholars say it is a sham. BIDEN’S DOJ IS RUNNING THE CASE. Just think of it, these animals want to put the former President of the United States (who got more votes than any sitting President!), & the PARTY’S REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE, IN JAIL, for doing absolutely nothing wrong. It is a RUSH TO THE FINISH. SO UNFAIR!
No former President has ever been subject to such treatment. Stop The Seale [sic][snark]!
Lock Him Up!
Lock Him Up!
Lock Him Up!
Lock Him Up!
Lock Him Up!
Lock Him Up! ….