If the government decides to point its finger at you, there’s really no question that they’re going to try to ruin you. – Jim Larkin
I never met Jim Larkin, but the unexpected news of his suicide brought tears to my eyes last Tuesday; those tears were not only for him, but for all of us living under the government that murdered him as surely as if he had been executed.
God help us.
His death was reported in many places online; of course the corporate media reports ranged from typical lie-parroting and bootlicking to outright grave-dancing, and the ghouls at the federal agency which hounded him to death had the jaw-dropping gall to “send condolences to his family and friends, and wish them sustenance and strength in a difficult time“. As is not unusual these days, one needed to turn to the alternative press to read a truthful account, such as this one from Elizabeth Nolan Brown of Reason:
Lacey [and] Larkin built the Phoenix New Times from an anti-war student newspaper into a broad—and still-thriving—record of Maricopa County culture and politics…They [then] expanded their alt-weekly empire nationwide, eventually running 17 free papers, including the Miami New Times, Westword, the Dallas Observer, and The Village Voice…Collectively, the papers and their staffers were nominated for more than 1,400 national writing awards, won one Pulitzer, and were finalists for the Pulitzer six other times…Among the court battles they fought—and won—was one over infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio demanding data on New Times readers; Arpaio was eventually forced to pay Larkin and Lacey a $3.75 million settlement, which they used to establish the immigrant rights organization Frontera Fund. Another…was waged over a 1971 New Times ad for a group that helped women in Arizona (where abortion was illegal) travel to California for the procedure. The case eventually helped invalidate Arizona’s entire abortion ban…
And this one from Mike Masnick of Techdirt:
…contrary to the public narrative you may have heard, Backpage worked closely with federal law enforcement to actually stop sex trafficking…But they refused to do the same for consensual sex work and that is why the feds eventually came down on them like a ton of bricks, all while telling the media and politicians that it was for sex trafficking. But that was all bullshit. And the bullshit extended to the process of the federal case against Larkin and Lacey, including when the defendants discovered an internal DOJ memo stating flat out that Backpage was helpful, rather than harmful, in the fight against sex trafficking. The DOJ successfully got the court to say that they couldn’t use that in their defense…
His family made this statement in the paper he co-founded:
…Jim fought for voices and issues ignored by society. He fought against police brutality, he fought for immigrant rights and, above all, he fought tooth and nail for free speech. He wasn’t afraid to pick up the unmovable boulders of our society and shine light on the corruption beneath. While many publishers abandoned journalistic principles in the face of pressure and harassment, Jim stood fast and fought for the truth…
But it’s Michael Lacey’s comments which are, unsurprisibly, the most poignant:
I never saw my friend do a dishonest or dishonorable thing in his entire life.
I had a four-decade friendship with a wonderful man.
Now I have only his memory.
