Interesting Article - America's Least Trusted - How a Stripper ended up under FBI surveillance
By Coley Ward - creativeloafing.com, 12/28, 2005
Tabby Chase works nights as a dancer at the Clermont Lounge, so she was asleep the morning of Thurs., March 17, when she says FBI Special Agent Dante Jones called her.
Chase says she didn't know what the FBI wanted. When she awoke, it was late afternoon, and she had five messages from three numbers. She says each was from Jones, telling her the FBI needed to ask some questions.
Chase describes herself as a flaky anarchist, somebody who has an inherent distrust of government and big business but who is "terrible at outreach" and "not involved in any organizing." She says she has never been arrested, and her FBI file confirms that. The file is five pages long, but three pages were withheld. It reads like a rap sheet with no raps. Chase's age, Social Security number, and history of participation in various human rights groups is detailed.
Chase called Ken Driggs, a lawyer with the DeKalb County public defender's office, who set up a meeting with the FBI the next day, which lasted for an hour-and-a-half.
Chase says it took awhile to get to the point. "First they brought out a sheet that they were filling out with my personal information. They wanted to know my full name. Where do I live? Do I have any tattoos? Then they started asking me who I date and who I live with." After questioning her for 20 minutes about her personal life, Chase says the agents finally told her that somebody had informed them she was planning a trip to Iraq. They said they were concerned she might be a domestic terrorist.
Her experience speaks to the intensity - some say wastefulness - of the government's homeland security initiatives.
Yet for Chase, showing up on the FBI's radar wasn't a complete shock. She concedes that some aspects of her life could appear suspicious, if viewed through a certain lens. She doesn't have a car, a driver's license, or a bank account. Tabby Chase isn't even her birth name. She was born Jeanette Helen Winsor but changed her name five years ago when she moved to Atlanta. Chase made the change after she and her mother, who has the same name, had a falling out. Then there's Chase's professional life. As an exotic dancer, she does draw attention.
But there is Chase's protest work!! In February, Chase traveled to Washington, D.C., to work for a group called action medical at President Bush's 2005 inauguration. Chase says she was a "street medic," someone who dispenses first aid at progressive rallies and marches. Chase says she also worked as a street medic at the Democratic National Convention in Boston and the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004.
What troubled Chase wasn't that the FBI was asking questions. It was what prompted them to ask that bothered her. The most damning line in the released portion of Chase's FBI file states: "WINDSOR [sic] is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World."
"IWW is one of the country's oldest unions," Chase says. "They'll take anyone. They're the only union that takes strippers. That's why I joined. For a while I was thinking about organizing the strippers in Atlanta, but I ran into some hostility when I was trying to do it."
"During the interrogation, they kept asking me my political affiliation," Chase continues. "And one of them would interject every so often, 'This is the United States of America, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. We just need to know what that is.'"
By Coley Ward - creativeloafing.com, 12/28, 2005
Tabby Chase works nights as a dancer at the Clermont Lounge, so she was asleep the morning of Thurs., March 17, when she says FBI Special Agent Dante Jones called her.
Chase says she didn't know what the FBI wanted. When she awoke, it was late afternoon, and she had five messages from three numbers. She says each was from Jones, telling her the FBI needed to ask some questions.
Chase describes herself as a flaky anarchist, somebody who has an inherent distrust of government and big business but who is "terrible at outreach" and "not involved in any organizing." She says she has never been arrested, and her FBI file confirms that. The file is five pages long, but three pages were withheld. It reads like a rap sheet with no raps. Chase's age, Social Security number, and history of participation in various human rights groups is detailed.
Chase called Ken Driggs, a lawyer with the DeKalb County public defender's office, who set up a meeting with the FBI the next day, which lasted for an hour-and-a-half.
Chase says it took awhile to get to the point. "First they brought out a sheet that they were filling out with my personal information. They wanted to know my full name. Where do I live? Do I have any tattoos? Then they started asking me who I date and who I live with." After questioning her for 20 minutes about her personal life, Chase says the agents finally told her that somebody had informed them she was planning a trip to Iraq. They said they were concerned she might be a domestic terrorist.
Her experience speaks to the intensity - some say wastefulness - of the government's homeland security initiatives.
Yet for Chase, showing up on the FBI's radar wasn't a complete shock. She concedes that some aspects of her life could appear suspicious, if viewed through a certain lens. She doesn't have a car, a driver's license, or a bank account. Tabby Chase isn't even her birth name. She was born Jeanette Helen Winsor but changed her name five years ago when she moved to Atlanta. Chase made the change after she and her mother, who has the same name, had a falling out. Then there's Chase's professional life. As an exotic dancer, she does draw attention.
But there is Chase's protest work!! In February, Chase traveled to Washington, D.C., to work for a group called action medical at President Bush's 2005 inauguration. Chase says she was a "street medic," someone who dispenses first aid at progressive rallies and marches. Chase says she also worked as a street medic at the Democratic National Convention in Boston and the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004.
What troubled Chase wasn't that the FBI was asking questions. It was what prompted them to ask that bothered her. The most damning line in the released portion of Chase's FBI file states: "WINDSOR [sic] is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World."
"IWW is one of the country's oldest unions," Chase says. "They'll take anyone. They're the only union that takes strippers. That's why I joined. For a while I was thinking about organizing the strippers in Atlanta, but I ran into some hostility when I was trying to do it."
"During the interrogation, they kept asking me my political affiliation," Chase continues. "And one of them would interject every so often, 'This is the United States of America, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. We just need to know what that is.'"
posted by Susanna Duffy @ 10:43 AM
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