Last year, the American Movement for Israel invited Ray Tanter, PhD, to speak at the UM. In his 1998 book, Rogue Regimes, Tanter admitted that in October of 1980, at a high-level meeting Tanter participated in, future President Ronald Reagan "raised the possibility" of the illegal arms deal that became the Iran-Contra scandal. According to Tanter, "not one of the participants spoke out against" the proposal, which didn't "seem so outrageous at the time." In October, 2002, Tanter told the Michigan Daily that the coming US invasion of Iraq would be " 'an antidote' and that there would be no backlash. 'Arab people won't go crazy, Muslim people won't go crazy. They'll roll over because they hate Saddam Hussein.' " Vanity Fair reported that in a speech in late 2005: "Tanter went as far as to suggest that the U.S. consider using tactical nuclear weapons against Iran." During his 2006 UM presentation, Tanter advocated reversing the State Department's designation of Mujahedeen-e Khalq as a "foreign terrorist organization" so that they could receive funding to expand their terror campaign in Iran and bring about a civil war."

It was against this backdrop that an informal group of local peace and justice activists, including Dr. Wilkerson, decided to stage a nonviolent protest. The protest began calmly outside the UM's Michigan League, where Tanter was to speak on November 30, 2006. It was inside the building that things went awry. UM police physically attacked an Iranian-born woman who was heckling Tanter, supressing her free speech rights. Heckling is explicitly permitted under the UM's policy on "Freedom of Speech and Artistic Expression," which says, in part:

"[The University's] prohibition against undue interference does not include suppression of the usual range of human reactions commonly displayed by an audience during heated discussions of controversial topics. Nor does this prohibition include various expressions of protest, including heckling and the display of signs. Protesters have rights, just as do speakers and artists. The standard of 'undue interference' must not be invoked lightly, merely to avoid brief interruptions, or to remove distractions or embarrassment."

Nevertheless, at the behest of the event organizers, UM police did lightly invoke the standard of 'undue interference.' In the ensuing police riot three people were arrested. As the senior medical professional on scene, Dr. Wilkerson took responsibility for the well-being of a middle-aged man who was forced by police to the floor. The man told the two police officers on top of him, at least twice, that he couldn't breathe. After he lost consciousness, Dr. Wilkerson exhorted police to get off him and allow her to check his breathing and pulse. Wilkerson described the scene in an article published online by CounterPunch:

"Eventually an ambulance arrived, … I tried to fulfill my obligation to my patient. … What I witnessed in the course of their treatment appalled me.

When the patient didn't respond to a sternal rub, one of the paramedics popped an ammonia inhalant and thrust it beneath the patient's nostrils. … That it's 'just bad medicine' is sufficient to make the paramedic's actions unacceptable, but what happened next made my blood curdle. He popped a second inhalant and a third, then cupped his hands over the patient's nostrils to heighten the noxious effect. 'You don't like that, do you?' he said.

At that point I issued a direct medical order for him to stop, but he ignored me. 'What you're doing is punitive,' I said, 'and has no efficacy.' Then as the patient retched, rather than rolling him onto his side to avoid the chance of his choking on his own vomit, a firefighter held his feet down and yelled, 'Don't spit.' In thirty years of doctoring, I have never witnessed such egregious maltreatment of a patient. Again I spoke up: 'This is punitive.' I hoped to shame the paramedical into stopping his unethical behavior."

It was at this time that she was physically assaulted by Ann Arbor police and detained. To this day, Wilkerson still requires physical therapy for the shoulder injury she suffered at the hands of Officer Warner. Wilkerson was never handcuffed or even required to produce identification because she had committed no crime in advocating for a patient in her care. However, nearly two months after the incident and just seven days after she filed a police brutality complaint, she was charged by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie's office, at the request of the UM police, with two attempted felonies—one against Officer Warner and one against the EMS personnel.

Dr. Wilkerson and her supporters are calling for UM President Mary Sue Coleman and Prosecutor Mackie to drop all charges against her. She is represented by attorneys Dennis Hayes and Buck Davis. The Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson meets weekly and welcomes your support and assistance. The Committee's work is supported by the Nationals Lawyers Guild, Detroit & Michigan Chapter; Council on American Islamic Relations, Michigan Chapter; and the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality.