For most North Americans, Wednesday July 18 is not a date of any significance; just a typical workday during a slow and lazy summer.
But, for Canadian Aaron James, it marks the one-and-a-half year anniversary of an incident sparking an unending saga of racism, police brutality, intimidation, harassment, character assassination, trauma and personal anguish.
On January 18, 2006, the twenty-nine year old man of West Indian ancestry was subjected to an unprovoked attack by Minneapolis airport police, tasered over the heart, and left lying in a pool of his own blood in the aisle of an airplane. He was then falsely accused of causing the disturbance himself. He’s been threatened and intimidated, and smeared by an uncaring press…
…and virtually NO Canadian or American government, legal, or human rights authorities will offer him assistance!
This Kafkaesque scenario all started with a plane trip to Minnesota, not unlike those taken by hundreds of Manitobans every single day.
Aaron James had then been a University student and bodybuilder who had sustained an injury to his shoulder and needed to consult with a physician at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester regarding treatment options. On January 16, 2006 James and his mother Linda traveled by air from their home in Winnipeg, Manitoba to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and then on to Rochester. At the transfer point, their luggage had been missing. Three hours later, in their hotel room, their bags arrived with notes attached, stating that they had been seized and searched for security reasons. As Aaron is a visible minority (part black), this appeared to be an instance of racial profiling.
As they were getting on their return flight home to Winnipeg from Minneapolis, one of the flight attendants, Sherri Caudill, subjected the two to what they thought was shockingly rude and abusive treatment. They believed they had done nothing to provoke such behaviour.
Feeling the unpleasant treatment may have been racially motivated, Aaron got up to complain, in a very subdued but firm tone, to the woman in question in front of senior flight attendant Beverly Banks. Upon querying the Jameses about their complaint, Banks spoke with both Caudill and the pilot. Caudill apparently yelled and even vilified the Jameses on the open P/A system.
Soon, the plane taxied back to the terminal and five police officers (court and media accounts would later report four), entered the plane and asked Aaron to get off. After being assured he was not under arrest or being charged with a crime, the Winnipeg man calmly asked under whose authority he was being asked to leave the aircraft.
This question precipitated an angry response, which led to the aforementioned taser assault. James was taken to hospital to repair the laceration to his face sustained in the police imbroglio. Afterward, Aaron was taken to Hennepin and Sherburn County prisons, without ever being read his Miranda rights. He was subjected to threats and intimidation from law enforcement and prison officials and interrogated by the FBI. Medical attention ordered by the doctor was denied. His phone card was de-activated, and he was denied access to the Canadian Consulate- a right guaranteed under the Vienna Conventions.
After a nine day nightmare, he was finally released on a $25000 unsecured bond, placed on a “no-fly” list, and allowed back to Canada with the understanding that he would face charges at a later date.
For the next few months, he found himself being monitored continuously and being subjected to phone wire-taps. His friends and acquaintances were being intimidated. Voice-mail messages would be erased. On one occasion, he arrived home to find FBI agent Mark Rensch outside his home! Through it all, he was presented with plea bargains, which he stubbornly refused to submit to, as he claimed complete innocence.
In June, 2006, he testified in US Federal Court presided over by Justice David S Doty, who it appears, is an ex-marine and has been charged with judicial impropriety! Furthermore, the supposedly randomly selected jury pool includes individuals with strong CIA, FBI, NSA, MN police and NWA (Northwest Airlines) affiliations!!
In this kangaroo court where Aaron and his mother were intimidated into silence, key officials misrepresented the facts (ie the cops perjured themselves!) and one sole witness for the prosecution contradicted his earlier testimony that he had seen nothing, and answered “yes” to the prosecutor’s question: “Isn’t it true that you saw James head-butt an officer?”
Aaron James was charged (falsely) with minor assault on a police officer.
Finally, Aaron was sent back to Canada to await sentencing. He was warned by the magistrate that "...you don’t come back and I'll send the U.S. marshals out to GET you-they will hunt you down: Oh Hollywood overdoes the FBI somewhat but not the U.S. Marshals, they're every bit the blood hounds Hollywood portrays them to be! They'll GET YOU-YEARS FROM NOW! I'VE SEEN IT BEFORE! You understand?!"
Today, Aaron lives with the door to his apartment barricaded. Both he and his mother suffer from heart palpitations stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder and, in Aaron’s case, the damage caused by a 50,000 volt taser gun. Canadian consular authorities, parliamentarians, and human rights watchdog groups refuse to address this assault on the liberties of a citizen, some telling him to get an American lawyer.
The major media have been similarly callous with regard to the James family plight. Apart from the slander emanating straight from Minnesota law enforcement officials, there has been virtually no mention of Aaron’s story in the American or Canadian media.
Normally, standing up to your accusers is considered a cherished right in a democracy. But when you become the victim of post-9/11 paranoia and Department of Homeland Security madness, correcting an injustice by State authorities guarantees your entire society will conspire to turn you into a pariah!
Aaron’s plight is everyone’s plight! Aaron encourages all men and women of conscience to get this message out. To help clear his name and the names of others like him! To pressure government, consular officials and human rights groups to not, through their silence or active complicity, contribute to the suffering of an innocent family!
Remember the warning by Holocaust era Pastor Martin Niemoeller:

1ST They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

For a more comprehensive review of the Aaron family’s ordeal and their struggle for justice consult the following websites:

aaronjamesstory.com
justiceforjamesfamily.blogspot.com/

See Aaron’s video:

video.google.ca/videoplay

Also, listen to the following interviews:
Alex Jones Infowars Audio File: prisonplanet.tv/audio/080207james.mp3

Canadian Dimension.com Podcast www.canadiandimension.com/alert/broadcasts/alert_(05_04_07).mp3

Charles Boylan Co-OP Radio Pod Cast: www.wakeupwithcoop.org//Discussion/07-4-4-Discussion.mp3

Finally, read the passionate speech he prepared for last June’s Vancouver 9/11 Truth conference:

v911truthspeach01.blogspot.com/

PEACE, PAIX, SALAAM, SHALOM…