Lawyer Reacts to the Trial of the Chicago 7 (movie)

[@treewalker1070]

5:22 "Where are all the revolutionary boomers?" I was one. I lived in Chicago at the time. Was around for lots of things, got in to the Chicago 7 trial eight times. Also met Fred Hampton several times and heard him speak, and went on the tour through the assassination site. All of a sudden my youth is getting lots of attention.

[@LeejaMiller]

Amazing!

[@treewalker1070]

@@LeejaMiller You didn't ask, but I'll give my impressions anyway of how the actors compared to the real people. But I haven't seen the movie, so this is based only on clips and trailers. Abbie Hoffman - SBC doesn't quite have his accent right, but other than that, there couldn't be more perfect casting. Who could carry that prankster spirit better. Jerry Rubin - practically a dead ringer, though I haven't seen him act in any clips I've seen. Bobby Seale - fantastic, perfect. Tom Hayden - actor doesn't look like him, but captures his earnest manner. He was a serious guy and didn't approve of the clowning. Dave Dellinger - almost a dead ringer, physically, at least. Something about his expression seems a little different. Rennie Davis - actor makes him look like a little kid, which he wasn't. But when he is seated he does look like the real thing. Froines and Weiner - don't look like the actors but they don't matter. Bill Kunstler - utterly miscast, although he has the hair style perfect. Bill Kunstler was a large, imposing man with a deep resonant voice like a Shakespearean actor. This actor doesn't have his commanding presence or his manner. In the real trial, as the lawyer, Bill Kunstler was the main star, so he should have been cast right. Lenny Weinglass - no resemblance to the real thing. Judge Hoffman - the actor seems to play him as dignified and aloof. The real Judge Hoffman was sour and snarky. He didn't seem to care about being unprofessional, probably because he was close to retirement. If an actor played Judge Hoffman the way he really was, he would be accused of caricature. The times I went to the trial, I mainly saw Bill Kunstler arguing motions and Judge Hoffman snarkily shooting him down. Judge Hoffman made NO effort whatsoever to hide his bias. One last note -- the courtroom looked nothing like this set. It was brightly lit and had a contemporary look with blond wood paneling. The movie courtroom is much more atmospheric.

[@LeejaMiller]

This is amazing insight thank you for sharing!

[@Kunsoo1024]

@@treewalker1070 - Abbie Hoffman was also much shorter, but that's okay.

[@RealElongatedMuskrat]

this made me a little emotional. That spirit is certainly being carried on, and it's kind of a beautiful thing to think that against the odds, that rebellious spirit is passed down.

[@bethanyosgood4976]

The transcripts from this trial is crazy. I remember reading it in high school and being completely baffled by how Seal was treated and how openly hostile the judge was

[@skyejacques]

Even watching the movie was painful. The actor who played the Judge did an excellent job. I was disgusted the entire time

[@MAnuscript421]

The judge and the prosecutors wanted to treat them as draft dodging hippies and unpatriotic potheads.

[@dLo0324]

Right? Tom Hayden (I’m told) was actually kind of a real life whimp and Schultz was actually NOT sympathetic to the defense- on the contrary, he was referred to as a “snake and a nazi” by one of the defendants.

[@charki40]

Almost Boomer here and yes you are right. Many of my early friends grew into soft and hard conservatives or right wing extremists. Weird I know. I however along with a few mates committed our lives to pursuing social justice and equitable political change in our careers. I live in Australia and just watched this movie. I yelled, cried, cheered and then cried again. It is so offensive and sad that it still rings true to the circumstance in the world today. Keep up the fight for democratic rights, and as we say in Australia. No matter what, "Keep the Bastards Honest". Im an Aboriginal Australian and turn 54 next week.

[@LeejaMiller]

Aw thank you for sharing!!! Glad to know there are some of you out there!!

[@Kunsoo1024]

@@LeejaMiller - It's actually not that bleak. I was only 4 years old when this was happening, but my parents were very active against the war and knew Hayden and Seale personally. Most of the family and friends have mellowed over the years, but only one has become "conservative." I put that in quotes because he's a Trumper and that's not really conservative in the classic sense. Most of the rest have mostly the same politics, but expressed differently. I do have family who were conservative at the time, but are much more liberal now after decades of intense political conversations at family gatherings. My parents, uncle, and some cousins are very persuasive. Tom Hayden is worth reading up on. He would "mainstream" a bit and lead the transformation of politics in Santa Monica. Married to Jane Fonda until the late 80s when they had an amicable breakup. Hoffman unfortunately was manic depressive who like many others with the condition often "forgot"t to take his medication. He went into a very deep chasm and unfortunately couldn't find his way out. Ruben did "sell out" a bit, but he never became a right winger. He and Hoffman played up the differences in their "Yippie vs. Yuppie" debate tour, and they were great friends until the end. Unfortunately Ruben was killed in a freak car accident in the 1990s. By the way, the documentary "Growing Up in America" contains biographical footage and narrative about 7 or 8 figures from the time, including Kunstler, Hoffman, Hayden, Hampton, and Ruben. Another figure covered in the documentary is Alan Ginsberg, who testified at the trial (I was disappointed in the omission, but they did have to keep the film at a couple of hours). Check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZqXo4mvoLaakLs

[@annenelson5656]

Thank you! You put the words in my mouth. I’m an old boomer and did my damnest to keep my hippie radicalism throughout my working career; which was not easy being an accountant. Anyway, I sadly watched my classmates and marching buddies peel off and joined the yuppie, greed is good, 1980’s B.S. I watched them cheer on Ronald Reagan. I cried the night he was elected (I cried when Trump was elected too). Those of us who did hold on to our liberal ideals championing civil rights, we marched for the ERA (remember that?). We marched against Nuclear Power. Gradually many of us were worn down and ground up by the power the yuppies acquired through money. And once we were comrades. We got a few pitiful breaks with getting Clinton in for two terms but in truth he was a massive disappointment. We had to endure George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Then we got Barack Obama which gave us hope, but he carefully kept right down the middle and avoided any hint of scandal while the republicans lied and threw veiled racist epithets like “birtherism” and all that crap. Now as I approach 70 I feel like my compatriots and I are finishing a 50 year trail of tears. Funny thing is I’m probably better off financially that some of my former classmates and friends because I did want the BMW, or McMansion, the yacht, the thrice weekly golf game, designer everything. I didn’t leverage my earnings on any of that stuff. My only luxury if you call it that was owning and riding horses. So now I’m retired comfortably on what I earned and saved and invested as best I could. Some of my former classmates are panicking because of their debts are preventing or postponing their retirements. So some of us stuck to our values. We called out unjustified wars, institutionalized racism, school to prison pipeline, women’s rights, fair schools, dang - I could go on forever. So for the few of us holdouts, we’re still here. But the Trumpists Q-Anon crazies are shouting us down. Then there’s the lefties that are going to far. Frankly, I’m scared for my grandchildren. But they inspire me to keep on keeping on. Some of us are still here, ashamed of the world our generation has left in its dust, but still here. We’ll be here as long as our mouths and votes will let us.

[@annenelson5656]

@@LeejaMiller Some of us are still here. And boy, do we have a story to tell. A story of refusing to stay quiet.

[@brittneybabeee4031]

@@annenelson5656Anne, I just want to thank you for sticking to your values & not letting the way America has always been & the way it’s gotten worse keep you from being a good person internally and externally. It’s so frustrating to see people I grew up admiring, including my own family, become mean, racist, homophobic, hypocrites (or rather, pull down their mask of kindness to reveal the truth) & because so many of these people were the adults I looked up to, my entire of view of “boomers” has become skewed in ways I hate. I hate the fact that I struggle to even talk to my grandparents on the phone or interact with my aunt’s Facebook posts because it all inevitably leads to an argument as I simply can not sit idly by while they discuss such hateful thoughts & rhetoric. I hate that most of the family friends I couldn’t wait to have “adult conversations” with can’t even hold a conversation outside of general niceties because they tie everything to Trump/his rhetoric/the right wing’s faux culture wars. I hate that people I grew up watching be so kind, loving, caring, & honest have become so selfish, toxic, & vile. I’d like to think it’s simply mass brainwashing & they’ll realize the truth & fight for justice, but I’ve spent too many years now just trying to get these people to see reality outside of their right wing/Trump bubble, I’ve sent them loads of factual information, & I have dedicated countless hours to showing them legislation, current consequences, potential consequences, and so on & yet, absolutely none of it makes them even think twice about their voting decisions, their political alignments, nor the harm they’ve caused & continue to cause. It’s not just insanity to me, it’s heart breaking. So, to see someone who is 40 years older than me still actually give a shit about other people (and not just straight, white men) & still works towards trying to make America better for *everyone,* even when we’re not getting the same back. You’ve renewed my hope that we’re not entirely alone in this fight and maybe, just maybe, we have a chance to prevent shit from getting worse.

[@optimisms]

just wanted to say that Sorkin didn't fully invent the ending scene. it didn't happen at the sentencing hearing but earlier in the trial David Dellinger actually did read some of the names of fallen soldiers in Vietnam and I believe was held in contempt for that. so the ending scene is likely inspired by that real event

[@sakurakitokara5249]

That’s exactly what I was coming to say as well! It did happen, just not when and in the way show, but they did care.

[@PaperbackWizard]

“There is no present or future-only the past, happening over and over again-now.” ― Eugene O'Neill

[@LeejaMiller]

💯

[@thomash.schwed3662]

I agree with that wholeheartedly. It’s in line with the other saying: “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.” This is one of the reasons why I go back and review what has happened before. Yes, I read about it. But I also like to go back and listen to and watch available reporting from the time. Those reports actually provide a great deal of insight into what is currently happening. Additionally, through the reporting from the time, I’ve been able to reconsider my position on various earlier events. That, too, informs my understanding of current events. For instance (due to the mention of John Mitchell in this case and his boss, Dick Nixon), going back to the real-time reporting from the early to mid seventies, my perspective on Watergate has somewhat changed. I had always been against Jerry Ford issuing the pardon because it meant that Nixon would never face any repercussions for his crimes. That position has only been bolstered by the reporting from the time, with one exception which I’ll mention below. What has changed, however, is my view of Nixon’s resignation. I didn’t realize just how close the House was to impeaching him. In fact, according to the contemporaneous reporting, impeachment was only a matter of days away. Furthermore, the Senate was certain to convict him and remove him from office. (Thus, the calls from Republicans on the Hill for his resignation.) Both the House and the Ervin committee in the Senate had overwhelming evidence. And the missing eighteen and a half minutes on the Nixon Tapes were the clincher. The Federal Constitution mentions a remedy for such crimes, impeachment and conviction. There is no provision for a president to resign-let alone to resign simply to evade the administration of justice by the Congress. Consequently, Nixon preempted the Federal Constitution by resigning. That cowardly act effectively cut out the Congress from acting on behalf of the American people. (Of course, as later events perpetrated by a member of Nixon’s own party would show, the Congress still had its Constitutional authority, after all.) But, the judicial branch could still act. For his part, Jerry Ford doubtless did not want that to happen. Consequently, his stated desire for national unity and for “our long national nightmare” to be “over” notwithstanding, he, too, preempted the Federal Constitution by issuing the pardon, thereby making himself an accessory to Watergate after the fact. That puts Ford in an even more unfavorable light than did my earlier position mentioned above. Federal crimes were committed by members of the executive department-crimes perpetrated and authorized by the president himself. As a lawyer himself, Dick Nixon knew full well the consequences prescribed by the Federal Constitution. Yet, he evaded those consequences; he evaded the administration of justice both by resigning and by accepting the pardon from his successor. Jerry Ford, for his part, avoided justice on the grounds that this was a presidential pardon. Nonetheless, in so doing he sealed his own place in history, a deserved place of dishonor as one who knew the only proper course to take and still chose to do the opposite. Some of that deserved dishonor came before the decade was out-he lost his bid for election to the presidency in his own right in ‘76 and even Reagan rejected him as his running mate in ‘80, although Reagan and the Republican Party disagreed with the pardon for the ridiculous “reason” that, to paraphrase the well-known line from a certain film, “[politics] means never having to say you’re sorry”. Even today, that remains the attitude of the postmodern Republican Party with regard to the crimes of Nixon (including his slush fund in 1952 (worth over a quarter-million dollars adjusted for inflation)), Reagan (too many to list here), the Bushes and currently Trump, et al. Again, that’s only one example. And there are others. Please forgive my verbosity. I hadn’t intended this response to be so long. But, once I get started on one of these topics, I feel as though I need to finish it.

[@justtere]

​@@thomash.schwed3662where did you find this contemporary reporting? If you enjoy reading about this time period, The Pentagon Papers is a dry but exceptional read.

[@LuqqyMan]

Your channel is a gem, thanks for working to make the law understandable to the general public

[@LeejaMiller]

Ahh thank you!!!!!

[@camibraccia3688]

Agreed!!

[@Zwangsworkaholic]

during that movie i really started to loathe Julius Hoffman (no Relation to Abbie Hoffman), Langella is such a brilliant actor, that i would probably feel the urge to punch him, because he played j Hoffman so convincingly.

[@LeejaMiller]

Hahahaha absolutely

[@thefaceofinsecurity]

Wait. Are we sure they’re not related? It was really confusing 😂

[@ellax325]

One of the best running gags throughout the movie

[@cinemaocd1752]

Langella played Nixon as well in a different movie! He's so good at playing terrible people. I love him.

[@skyejacques]

Same. Felt like vomiting each time he was on screen

[@Serenity113]

When I watched this movie the first time in Netflix I was infuriated by that judge. I thought there’s no way this happened but I looked it up and it was all true. I couldn’t believe how openly rude and unfair he was. He had already had them guilty before the trial even started.

[@treewalker1070]

I was there and you are right.

[@rustomkanishka]

​@@treewalker1070 its a pity that the revolutionary spirit that the boomers were known for is rarely seen today. I studied political science and sociology at University and frankly there is a lot of scholarly debate as to why the majority of boomers went right. If you have any opinions I'd love to hear them. I'd have asked my own parents who were VERY boomer but they passed away and i have a habit of back-answering relatives which isn't appreciated in any asian culture.

[@treewalker1070]

@@rustomkanishka "why the majority of boomers went right" -- Well, for one thing, labels on the political spectrum have been turned around. The media have split us up and relabeled "left" and "right," in my opinion in intentionally manipulative ways. But I will use the conventional labels for convenience. In the 60s, the biggest thing that united the left was opposition to war. Starting with the war in Vietnam and expanding to all imperialist wars and including the nuclear disarmament movement as well. How long has it been since you have seen the so-called left protesting any wars or US intervention anywhere? In the 60s, the left fought for free speech, but now that suppression of free speech is mainly directed at the right, the left supports censorship. In the 60s. the left used to oppose corporate power, but now, with tech companies pretending to be allies of the left and enemies of the right, the left supports their power. In the 60s, the left saw both major parties as corrupt, now the left is supposed to support one of the two corrupt corporate-controlled parties. In the 60s, the left saw the intelligence community (CIA, FBI, etc) as the enemy, but now that the intelligence community targets the "far right" more than the left, the left has allied itself with the intelligence community. And so on. There's another factor, though. I think that people get naturally conservative as they get older, because they get more practical and they start to see stability as important. We young revolutionaries of the 60s didn't care about practicality at all, because deep down we knew we weren't really ever going to run society, so we were free to indulge in all kinds of idealistic utopian fantasies without worrying about how they would actually work. We could talk about "tearing down the system" without analyzing what parts of the system should stay and what should go. But as people get older and start to take responsibilities, they have to start compromising with the reality of real life in the real world and focusing on how to make things work. And that means valuing a framework of stability within which change can be made. So that means that culturally people tend to become more conservative.

[@emmao6578]

@@treewalker1070 So your explanation is to make up this caricature of a modern leftist and blame that imaginary person for why boomers went right, doesn't really make any sense does it?!

[@treewalker1070]

@@emmao6578 Is it really a caricature to say that, since Bush, the so-called Left has forgotten to be anti-war? To say that the contemporary so-called Left almost never talks about imperialism? To say that it has shown very little concern about protecting freedom of speech? Or surveillance? Or to say that it has acted as though intelligence agencies are to be trusted (when they target someone you don't like). Yes, there are a few voices out there, but they get little attention. I think that the "Left" has been artfully and intentionally coopted by the neoliberal establishment, through its control of mainstream media.

[@hamsterpaj111]

What a great video! been looking for something like this after i watched the movie. Also, that gagging scene was really horrifying.

[@LeejaMiller]

God so true. Thank you for watching!

[@carmendebenedictis-larue6250]

And he did it for WAY longer than shown in the film which is CRAZY. It was for multiple days I believe.

[@chloekrueger9497]

A scene that also makes me cry every time is when the frat boys assault the girl with the flag.

[@thomash.schwed3662]

@@chloekrueger9497 Regrettably, we would see similar scenes play out during the insurrection January 6, 2021. To paraphrase the song: “When will [we] ever learn? When will [we] ever learn?”

[@StereoWarfare]

I watched this movie whilst working on poli sci homework recently. I pondered on what others thought about the film and found your video! I thoroughly enjoyed your professional insight and personal observations of the movie. Comparing what really happened at the trial to Sorkin’s portrayal. Overall great video and I would love to see you analyze more courtroom depictions from movies and tv. I honestly don’t comment very often, but I felt compelled to publicize my gaiety from discovering your video. Also your channel in my opinion wholeheartedly deserves more attention.

[@StereoWarfare]

Sorry for blathering as well lol. My verbosity gets the better of me, especially online. Big reason why I don’t comment too often. Anyways earned my sub for sure.

[@LeejaMiller]

Ahhhh no it’s very appreciated, thank you so much for watching!!

[@archeewaters]

this was such a shaping event in our studies at school. it inspired a lot of rebellion and student "sit ins".

[@cinemaocd1752]

Mark Rylance's comb-over situation in this movie still haunts me.

[@LeejaMiller]

lollllllll

[@larryoloane7579]

Excellent piece. I was coming of age as this all occurred. Not like yesterday but indelible memories. I was suggesting to a friend, who is a recovering lawyer, to watch the Chicago 7 movie and was looking for some more supporting documentation. Very well done! Subscribed.

[@LeejaMiller]

thank you so much!!

[@osmanyousif7849]

28:08 - 29:33 This is factually incorrect. While names of fallen soldiers were read aloud in court, it wasn’t at the end of the trial and it wasn’t Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) who led this act. It actually happened before sentencing, and David Dellinger (John Caroll Lynch) read the names. Also, when reading the story, you'll actually learn that the main character really should have been William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Skenkman) been in reality, those two were the one mostly arguing with Judge Hoffman (Frank Langella).

[@alexisc6136]

To address the important question you asked around the 5-minute mark before the start of the film, from personal experience I can say that there are still some good boomers left, the hippie civil rights boomers who love people and love the earth, my mom is one of them and she is still awesome lol. She's not famous, but she votes ❤️

[@LeejaMiller]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@felixyork2755]

I really don’t know much about law but I loved this movie so much! And I rly like the way u explained it but because I’m not American I didn’t really have that much backstory.

[@LeejaMiller]

Aw thank you! Thanks for watching!

[@vl2809]

Once again serving sassy young professional realness and I'm LIVING !!

[@bellamaz1972]

I’m all for nuance, and I did love the film, but Sorkin humanized Schultz too much, who didn’t have as much complexity of thought and feeling as portrayed in his work regarding this case. Thanks for your vid!

[@LeejaMiller]

Oo fascinating. I feel like that’s a theme, people love to humanize lawyers like they’re really grappling with the ethics of their job. Some do! But many many do not and see it the same way I imagine surgeons look at the bodies they’re cutting open.

[@VampByDay]

Great video. There is actually an earlier. . . I guess dramatization that was made in the 80’s that was more accurate. But actually the reading of the names into the court record was a thing that did happen, just not during the sentencing. But yeah, if you can track down a copy of the dramatization do. That Judge was nuts. Apparently the judge was so bad at least a hundred lawyers signed an Amicus brief (sp?) saying how his behavior was unconscionable.

[@katrose5179]

And they let him continue to hear cases until his death anyway. Makes you wonder about all those other cases.

[@MrDeadhead1952]

I've never understood why the prosecution didn't intervene in the issue around Seals representation since Judge Hoffman's behaviour was destroying any chance of them successful winning the case. This is demonstrated by the fact that whole farago was thrownout at appeal.

[@Thehood5304]

If we don’t learn from the pass it will happen all over again.I am just praying we as people that love freedom and life can just pray🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼😢🥲is sad

[@madalynnmccarron4590]

Leeja & all her sass fuel me, I've become addicted to this channel and have been binging it for a couple days now. Also that wink at 7:12 😳 almost making me wish i were a little less gay so i could not be distracted

[@aicram62]

5:24 !962 Boomer here. So I heard of the Chicago 7 from my elders. I have been a communist and now an accessist all my life. I wore a mask. I voted for Bernie Sanders, Cynthia McKinney, and Howie Hawkins and I wore a mask.

[@thefaceofinsecurity]

I totally agree with you on how easy it was to go into certain positions. I was a history major and polisci minor and it was very interesting just how minimal the criteria was for some of the most respected positions like medicine and law. Sure for that time period it meant a lot because the literacy rate was much lower back then (especially when you factor in just how far English has come in the last 500) but yeah I feel like the standards were a lot lower in the early 1900s!

[@mysticjoe295]

I was 8 yrs old living in Chicago and remember my parents going to fund raising dinners for the members of the 7 - like Abbie Hoffman. Fast forward to the 90's - I'm flying into Chicago and start talking to my seat mate who is also from Chicago. And, he was a policeman on the force in Chicago in 1968 and he told me that at that time the word went out from Mayor Daley to the police to "get the kids and the journalists". And all the "hip young policeman" on the force were advised in no uncertain terms to take vacation that week because it was going to be bad. They were definitely looking for a chance to beat up the kids. And not just because they were protesting - it was a chance to get back at their OWN rebellious kids, indirectly. Were the kids ill-behaved and antagonistic. For sure. If they'd been left alone in the park, none of this would have happened. But no.....the.cops had to be authoritarian pigs. And that is NO Excuse for a Police Riot. And it was the '68 convention that coined that term. You can read the transcripts of the trial and even not being a lawyer it was clear "Julius the Just" - as the 7 called him - was insane and probably senile. Also, look at Boss by Mike Royko for history of Chicago politics and how this all went down. So...the inner city Democratic machines absolutely controlled (stole) votes - but it was offset by the rural votes the republicans were controlling (stealing) + voter intimidation -- still used today. - so it tended to balance out back then. Also worth noting, Abbie wrote “Steal This Book” while awaiting this trial In cook county jail. I no longer have my copy.

[@StereotypicalJordie]

That's so true, like a lot of defense attorneys do be looking "Disheveled"

[@RedPanda79]

The hardest part was when they gagged him. It was like watching a slave sell, I cried.

[@SBereft]

My parents are of that generation, and I can tell you, that what happened was they became apathetic. Insanely apathetic. My Dad always says, "I already lived through this," and my mom says, "been there, done that." Whenever I bring up todays politics and my insane irritation on it all they both just kind of nod and continue reading whatever random newspaper they're already reading. I mean they're not so apathetic that they were Trump supporters, but they're definitely not the same Bob Dylan, RFK, Ass-gas-or-grass, VW bus, no more war, 20 somethings they once were. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@LeejaMiller]

Omg my mom is the same!!! I remember especially when I was younger she was like “ah the youth are so idealistic”

[@LeejaMiller]

I mean part of me can understand getting disillusioned by a society that doesn’t seem capable of real change, but man I hope I never get there

[@SBereft]

@@LeejaMiller Agree! I always tell my daughter to never give up hope, never stop fighting, never stop believing; and not just for big things like policies, or politics, or laws, but little things, too. I hope I never become *that* jaded. Lol.

[@roserocksrapidly]

Listening to the part about inciting riots and then checking the date this was uploaded... really was a "this sounds familiar" in advance huh

[@sixthjayhawk]

Came here after watching your Legally Blonde video. Both are excellent. Keep up the great work!

[@RWSCOTT]

Great points, I need to see this one, and I was born that year. re: other film/cases- I'd love to hear you dish on the inaccuracies between the Wineville Chicken Coop murder case & the 2008 film Changeling. They had to alter the details so much to just make it palatable as a film it really made me wonder why anyone thought it was a good idea to adapt it in the first place.

[@marianotorrespico2975]

BECAUSE AMERICANS REFUSE TO FACE UNCOATED FACTS. | . . . artsy-fartsy "screenplay writers" do not think it through, thus Sorkin pulls punches. Consider "Schindler's List" (1993), which presents a relatively BLOODLESS (psychologically sanitised) Holocaust so that the spectators in the cinema not vomit at the sight of SO MUCH BLOOD shed in the name of white supremacy. An example of "not pulling punches" is the anti-Fascist film "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom" (1975), which SHOWS the mechanics of dehumanising people (rape, torture, mutilation, coprophilia, etc.) into OBJECTS and THINGS for the entertainment of Nazis, Fascists, and their businessmen sponsors; usually one screening suffices for decent people.

[@larryhovekamp4318]

Leeja, some incidents portrayed in the film you have not mentioned need some commentary and background. One was the juror whom the prosecution was concerned when they saw her reading James Baldwin and her reliability as a manipulable juror. She suddenly resigns after family members received suspicious threats in the mail said to have been from "the Black Panthers". The other was when defendant Jerry Rubin was at a bar and he was suckered to reveal his thoughts by a straight attractive lady who later revealed herself as a police agent. There was a lot of very dirty manipulative shit going on by shadowy forces outside the trial.

[@harleenquinzel2058]

You make me want to study law, and I’ve never wanted to do that!

[@Bantam1980]

Humphrey's main rival for the nomination was Eugene Mccarthy, not McGovern. LBJ took himself out of the running in April after the Tet Offensive debacle and a relatively weak showing in the NH primary. US casualties were in the tens of thousands in Vietnam; Vietnamese were likely in the millions (or at least hundreds of thousands).

[@continuallycountingchicken7338]

I had not heard of this movie. I look forward to watching it! Thanks!

[@mksugerman1500]

Nixon was a 2 term president who resigned during his second term. He was re-elected

[@coleford4258]

I worked as an assistant in a law firm for a few years. I specifically worked with an alcohol-bev lawyer, and I can definitively say there were plenty of "client meetings" that involved going to breweries, drinking, and talking very loosely about anything law related lol. My impression is that you won't find attorneys just hanging out in their offices drinking whiskey during the middle of the day, but I only worked for a fairly small firm so what do I know?

[@lauras5359]

This movie made me incredibly sad for Bobby Seale, he was denied a fair trial and the judge was being a massive a$$

[@genevieve-with-grief]

I wasn’t super interested in this movie but holy shit I want to read Bobby Seale’s book immediately. Growing up my mom had abbie hoffman’s book and I read part of it and definitely did not understand what I was reading.

[@Kunsoo1024]

Nixon was 1 1/2 terms, but otherwise great video! I think that Sorkin kept the chained and gagged moment short to avoid it being turned into a racist kind of porn thing. The attempt to read the names (not all got read before it was shut down) actually happened earlier in the trial. Sorkin moved things around for effective story-telling, but very little was actually made up. What bummed me out a little was that they left out a great line from Hoffman when he was being cross-examined on the question of conspiracy. I'm paraphrasing from bad memory, but it went something like this, "Conspiracy? With them? (pointing at Hayden). We couldn't agree on lunch!"

[@waynewright5023]

*THIS* is the history of this country that *NEEDS* to be taught in schools!!! A defendant at trial being *deliberately denied* the presence of representative legal counsel actually happened in this country, and almost none of this particular historical event is ever taught in any classroom in this country!!! And the deliberate silencing of Bobby Seale by binding & gagging *IS* accurate!!! THIS HAPPENED!!! Bobby Seale was not the *ONLY* defendant who disrupted court proceedings, but he was *THE ONLY* trial participant (by compulsion) who was dehumanized in this depraved racist manner..

[@worldbefree20001]

Dear Leeja, what are the chances of you making a video on the a trail of Emmitt Till??? Love your videos

[@Alex-est-ded]

I’ve been to a few retirement homes and yes, a lot of those boomers are the classic, stereotypical boomer, but a lot of them also did participate in political change and were the people fighting for civil rights and against war in the 60s, so they do exist still, there just in hiding, Love your videos!

[@absurdmunchkin]

I constantly think about "I'M GOOD AT LAW" and "sound familiar?????"

[@hinduhillbilly]

This older HBO film is taken directly from court transcripts and interviews with the participants. It's probably more historically accurate. (Also Audible has a great cast including Jeff Daniels and JK Simmons as the judge reading selections from the transcripts of the trial.) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIXdipqfgZd7n68

[@katrose5179]

Actually, this is almost entirely lifted from transcripts and records.

[@boricuamorena6646]

wow. i just watched a more recent vid and wow your voice has changed so so much in the past year.

[@rivule]

3 Minutes in and I'm just repeating like 'Does this sound familiar' Meme/Gif worthy I swear

[@rivule]

'He had the center surrounded with barbed wire' Me: 'Does this sound familiar?'

[@erinhutchins3008]

Wow. You did this video like more than a week ago right and legal eagle just dropped a video on the same topic with nearly the same title.

[@LeejaMiller]

Ugh damnit he’s always besting me SOME DAY ILL CATCH UP

[@erinhutchins3008]

@@LeejaMiller for sure - no. You are better in my opinion. You had the best video about britney spears conservatorship, no doubt. I was implying he stole ur idea. Lol. I'm sure alot of people did a review on that. I was just teasing. You two should collab. Thay would be interesting

[@thefaceofinsecurity]

@@erinhutchins3008 yesssssss I would love a collab!

[@dianasayson2846]

Not sure but what little I've seen of Legal Eagle isn't all that impressive, at least not as much as Leeja Miller. Ehh maybe I'll check out his channel. I hope it's as good as this channel.

[@kingofrivia1248]

I have full respect for a judge, and i do think that in court one has to be honorable. But this judge is particular really was insane. He was unjust and most of his decisions just straight up wrong.

[@hansaleksikasilag7889]

The last scene is so good yet inaccurate. It's not Tom Hayden who said those almost 5,000 names, it is David Dellinger who said it during Moratorium Day of 1969.

[@aliceboss3134]

i would really love to see your take on the mauritanian

[@Tediruxevelt]

I spit my coffee out at “maybe they’re dead” yeah that’s probably the reason for sure 😂

[@dLo0324]

If my mind serves me right: the 4th and 9th circuit courts struck down the Rap Brown law in 2019, 2020, and 2021 as 1st amendment violations. Am I right?

[@sudarshankrgact]

Please review to Jodie Foster's 'The Accused'.

[@LeejaMiller]

Ooo you know I think you’re not the first one to suggest that one I’ll have to look into it 🧐

[@MichaelSmith-tt7cq]

I would argue that the AIDS crisis did a lot to revolutionary boomers.

[@nellgwenn]

I would like you to react to the movie Denial (2016). And focus on the difference between the U.S. and England on the issue of presumption of innocence. I thought the courtroom scenes were riveting.

[@davidwright7193]

Denial doesn’t involve the presumption of innocence it involves differences in libel laws. To establish liable in English courts all you need to do is establish that the statements alleged were made by the defendants and that they were defamatory. That is it. The prosecution doesn’t need to establish that the statements were false or that the defendants knew they were false for libel to have been committed. Calling someone antisemitic is clearly defamatory so that would be libel under UK law. However if they are actually antisemitic then the statement is merely factual and not defamatory. So it is a defence to libel to say that you had a reasonable grounds to believe that your statements were true however it is up to you to prove that. In the case in Denial both sides agreed that the statements had been made by the defendants and the statements were obviously defamatory so the defence had admitted the offence of libel in law and had to show that their statements were true to prove them not defamatory and establish innocence. In the US libel is saying something that you know to be both defamatory and untrue hence the plaintiff is required to prove that the statements were untrue and that the defendant knew that they were untrue. From the point of view of logic the English set up is better as the burden of proof is on those asserting a positive while the US system requires the plaintiff to prove a negative. However the US law cannot be written that way because to do so would breach the first amendment. In both cases the presumption of innocence is the same however the offences are different.

[@nellgwenn]

@@davidwright7193 I only used the term presumption of innocence because that's the term that was used in the movie. Putting that issue aside I thought the courtroom scenes were some of the best scenes in the movie.

[@basementdwellercosplay]

Man I had no idea of this and the ego the judge has, and they bond and gagged a defendant! How was this let to continue past day one

[@johnmcglothin7581]

Abbie Hoffman is an American hero in my humble opinion. Jerry rubin used to be until he sold out and became the very thing he was against

[@aimeeletynk]

Really enjoying this channel!

[@cwilliams7017]

Dudette, no. There are plenty of us still getting more radical every year. And that's a lot of years.

[@aundraeblackwell2949]

Great channel!

[@bilalgarcia7685]

The judge was actually 19 when he got his law degree 1915 lol

[@hannamakela6989]

Wasn't Nixon TECHNICALLY a two-term president, at least election-wise?

[@chinmayganguly457]

Can someone explain me the whole ramsey Clark John Mitchell thing and why some beef between them both is also the reason John Mitchell wants to prosecute the 7 or 8??

[@brunoribeiro3800]

that law that prosecutes over state law for inciting riots, I see the video was made in November....seems like it was brought up again the follow January.

[@michaelautrey6641]

i think the statement by tom hayden at the end was watered down compared to the statements given by the real guys, especially what rennie davis said.

[@Akat1997]

They did end up reading the names, it just happened earlier in the trial

[@LeejaMiller]

Oh did they really??

[@LeejaMiller]

I didn’t find that in my research but that’s cool

[@Akat1997]

@@LeejaMiller they talked about it in the behind the scenes. The director said that he interviewed Tom Hayden and Hayden said they did in fact read the names, just it was earlier in the trial and someone else read them. I don’t remember who it was off the top of my head

[@Akat1997]

@@LeejaMiller dellinger read them

[@richardgeorge372]

@@Akat1997 Thanks for this interesting fact--good to know it's pretty much a true event.

[@tomc8888]

While the Sorkin movie is good, there are two other movies that are better, one is a made for HBO one from the early 80s called "Conspiracy: the Trial of the Chicago 8" that's on KZbin, and another, mostly animated one called Chicago 10 that had Roy Scheider (the sheriff from "Jaws") as the voice of Judge Hoffman. The other two films are more historically accurate than the Sorkin one.

[@annsanse2935]

not dead yet left leaning boomer here. i grew up in a nixon-goldwater family but eventually got out from under the conservative bs and have become more of a leftie as i age. so i wasn't a hippie then but i kinda feel like i am now. peace.

[@GossipGirl711]

As someone who does not live in the US, can I ask whether the Rap Brown law has been brought up again in the context of the storming of the White House?

[@katrose5179]

It has not.

[@pedroV2003]

Now that you've reviewed this one you should check out 'Judas and the Black Messiah'. As for your question about 'Boomers' let me say that I am a Boomer and its my experience that during this period of time not all young people (Boomers) were rebellious anti-war protestors. Some of us were and some were not. Sadly, those that were not have remained the way they were. I believe that should answer your question.

[@MattyH1992]

JGL looks good all the time. >.>

[@meeeka]

How was Nixon a one term president? Ultimately, he was elected twice... but by 1968, LBJ had assumed the remnant of JFK's term and was elected once on his own. Also: John Mitchell could get any clearance he wanted because J.Edgar Hoover still drove the FBI. J.Edgar knew everything about EVERYONE. So, it would have been easy for the former VP Nixon to "ask a favor" from J.Edgar Hoover, and expect favours from Nixon in return. And what happened the Boomers? The 1980s, where most of us/them made a LOT of money as the Reagan Admin dismantled all the reform legislation that had been created after Watergate. (He also abused his wife Martha.) As Boomers grew up to be hippies, in the 1970s, by Reagan, they got jobs, professions, inherited property, got married, had kids and watched what they thought would be their fair way, middle class life had preceded from their childhood. They also watched their upper middle class lifestyles slip, in many cases, down to poverty levels, as their pensions disappeared into the claws of venture capitalists or bank closures or other economic failures. I'm a Boomer, though I was a child in 1968. I became a human rights professional, an expert in the Helsinki Accords, following that, a war crimes and crimes of genocide expert. As such, I voted AGAINST 45 twice as an ex-pat. I now live with my family, outside the US.

[@marc8h726]

Do one on Betty Broderick

[@WilliamEricStone]

You did miss a point of comparison between then and now, (although as you made this 2 years ago, and I am just watching it now, so now is relative...But I digress). Anyway, the protesters were chanting, "The whole world is watching", and that is as true today as it was then.

[@kieranczyzniejewski2178]

This video's audio makes it sound like it came out around the time of the trial

[@LeejaMiller]

ok rude listen we're all doing our best here

[@vl2809]

Also: how does this have less than 200 likes????

[@dogearedverse]

Looking for boomer activists? They moved to Canada 🇨🇦. One of the many reasons we're so cool.

[@andrewhoyle1521]

Her history is off. McGovern didn't run till convention. She should've said mcCarthy ran. Also 4 neighborhoods in Chicago were effected, the other 48 was like any other day. Shes a smart woman though , and her legal smarts is on full display

[@itsthevillainerd1351]

The link was broken for a while. It appeared in my Subscribtions-videos, but when I clicked on it, I couldn´t open the video. That´s probably why this video only has 15 views. Maybe you´re allowed to reupload it.

[@LeejaMiller]

Ugh I know, it got messed up because Netflix had a copyright flag on it that I had to dispute, I’m annoyed!!! But I think reuploading would just create a new copyright dispute and wouldn’t solve the problem - very dumb. I’ll have to figure out a better way of dealing with this in the future

[@LeejaMiller]

Thanks for letting me know though!

[@emcdonald496]

My parents were two hippies who objected to the war, now they are hardcore trump supporters. My dad was at Woodstock, he still has his tickets framed on the wall. His picture was in that Life magazine article. What happened, in my opinion, is he spent years watching Fox News. The cognitive dissonance is so strong, the hypocrisy is so overwhelmingly obvious. It

[@lindarichards3195]

Not one of the Chicago 7 is a Baby Boomer! They were the so called Silent Generation.

[@dLo0324]

With regards to your comments on Trump appointed justices: I definitely agree with you. The only thing that I will point out, is that the lower level fed justices that he appointed, have largely v gone against him. At SCOTUS, Gorsuch is the only one with enough trustworthy brain cells that give me just a little bit of hope. Kavanaugh surprised me in Mahanoy Area School District v B.L and a few other cases. Still, I largely feel that Trump is guilty of tainting the federal judiciaries and it will take what amounts to a lifetime, to correct. What are your thoughts on this?

[@HemelrickScience]

Leeja, please comment on "If a Tree Falls" about how a failed democratic process led people to take direct action. This documentary is posted for free here in KZbin ... About the Earth Liberation Movement... Please do NOT slaughter the word anarchist... make sure you understand very well what it means...i.e. no such thing as a anarcho capitalist for instance...capitalism is a hierarchical system and anarchy is horizontal and the original human structure...before being replace by the bastardized hierarchy. Greetings from Chicago... soon from the South USA...

[@dvdv8197]

That poor old nice man who had to play such a heinous character... 😢😪😭😭

[@evolutionoes]

Can u do a show on the central park 5, the young african americans that were wrongly accused . And Donald trumps part in getting them wrongly convicted.

[@ninamartinez5596]

Those Boomers are Trumpers now

[@fosterck13]

Booooo

[@lloydreynolds7484]

Umm, you DEFINITELY DO N O T LOOK LIKE “THE ROCK.” You are a pretty woman and far from looking like that! Take it from a drag queen!

[@doakthecreek]

Have only recently discovered your channel. Have enjoyed everything viewed so far. I maintain a "what-to-watch-next" list as time permits. Regarding possible topics for your reaction -- are you familiar with the Leonard Peltier case (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier)? My knowledge of his story stems largely from Michael Apted's documentary "Incident at Oglala" and Robbie Robertson's song "Sacrifice."