There are a lot of Kafkaesque stories in this piece, like that of wheelchair-bound 62-year-old homeless veteran Al Szekely, who was imprisoned after a nighttime raid on a homeless shelter. His crime? He had an outstanding court summons for criminal trespassing -- he'd gotten a ticket for sleeping on a sidewalk. In other words, "[t]hey arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless." The truancy discussion strikes me as the most vicious part, though.

It's all very true.

Less educated people, too, are more victims of the law. And the passive....it's best if you know and fight for your rights.

And, it should be said...like Professor Gates should have known: It's best not to yell when talking to the cops and
....outstanding court summons...well, if you don't answer a court summons you will soon enough find yourself in jail, if you don't know.