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Get Up & Go: Tuesday, Feb. 17 ... Our View: Independent Party of Oregon faces obstacles ... City may aid homeless program ... Get Up & Go: Tuesday, Feb. 17 ... Our View: Independent Party of Oregon faces obstacles ... Tom Loewy: A testimony haunted by murder By Tom Loewy The Galesburg Register Mail MailTribune.com By Tom Loewy The Galesburg Register Mail Posted Feb. 12, 2015 @ 8:51 am Updated Feb 12, 2015 at 9:59 AM By Tom Loewy The Galesburg Register Mail Posted Feb. 12, 2015 @ 8:51 am Updated Feb 12, 2015 at 9:59 AM » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Mearon Diggins’ rap sheet is one kind of testimony. A dozen 8 1/2-inch by 11-inch pages filled with charges. The highlights include criminal trespass, the sale of narcotics, burglary, theft, armed robbery, home invasion and murder. Twelve pages of defiance and anger and addiction and mayhem that started when he was 17 years old. “That’s when I joined the Black Gangster Disciples,” Diggins said Tuesday afternoon while sitting inside the Galesburg Public Library. In his fingers, he held the small Star of David on the chain around his neck. He said he wore it not to signify affiliation. But to remember. “I didn’t get jumped-in like a lot of guys. I wanted to belong. I wanted to join. It was a choice for me and it was the only choice I ever wanted to make. That was … that was back in 1977. I started out a soldier, and I climbed the ranks.” The 55-year-old looked across the library and considered his past. “I did three years for burglary back in 1982,” he said after a few moments. “So I’m out in 1985, and I caught a murder.” Diggins fell silent for a time. “I did it,” he said. There was another pause. Diggins shook his head. “Now that I’ve gotten older, I can admit that. His name was Willie Burnett and he was a night watchman and I beat him on the head with a hammer.” Diggins looked the listener in the eye as he spoke. “I just thought I was going to knock him out. But I murdered a man.” Diggins paused again, but kept eye contact. He exhaled. “Back in 1982, two Chicago police officers got killed and the whole town was crazy. I lived on 103rd — it was called the Wild, Wild West. The police came and scooped up all the gang members. They took me to the police station with another man, Terry Williams. That’s where I learned about torture.” Diggins didn’t blink. “The police, they had a black box there with wires coming from it. They would attach those wires to your testicles and shock some of the men.” “Me? They took a flashlight and beat me on my back and my legs. They took a phone book and put it on my head and then slammed that flashlight down on my head. I spent two days without water or food or a bathroom.” Diggins said he was one of more than 100 African-American men tortured by Chicago Police Commander John Burge and a group of men under his command. Burge was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in federal prison in 2011. “I admitted the murder I did and I was sentenced to 20 years in 1985. It was in 1989, when I was at Henry Hill Hill Correctional Center, that I met Nikki. We were married four months later.” Diggins almost smiled. “She was out to the Hill visiting her cousin and our eyes met. Her cousin and I were on the same unit and I asked him about her and she came to visit me the next day. We’ve been together 27 years this year.” Diggins shook his head. More regret. “I got out in 1995 and I thought I was going to be a family man,” he said. “I was in Galesburg and everything was new and I had been in the penitentiary for 10 years. First I started sellin’ drugs. Then I started usin’ drugs. I’ve basically spent 30 years of my life in the system.” After the testimony came Diggins’ plea. “The truth is the penitentiary saved my life,” he said. “I would have been dead if they didn’t put me away. I finally started thinking about that. Then, on August 27, 2014, Emma Sargent passed away. And before she died, she begged me to get my life together and be something for the kids. I have kids. Five kids. And there are kids all around me.” Diggins paused and held eye contact. He put his right hand near his mouth. “I have to find a way to atone for what I did. I have to find a way to not just say ‘I’m sorry’ but do something. I think about Willie Burnett, the man I killed. And I think about his family. And I know I have to do something.” Diggins laid both hands on the table in front of him. “There was a time when I didn’t have no compassion for anyone or anything. Living with that knowledge about yourself … it’s not something any kid should want to live with. You join a gang, you do crimes and hurt people, and all the torture in the world isn’t going to haunt you like the knowledge of what you are will haunt you.” “There are only two outcomes for people like me — you either get killed or you go to the penitentiary. And if you do live through the penitentiary, you have to live with who you are. That’s what I want to tell kids. I want to look kids in the eye and tell them when you kill a person, when you hurt a person, you can never undo it. You can never go back and change it.” Diggins looked to his hands, then made eye contact again. “I would want that to be the testimony I give to kids. Maybe if they could listen to me, they could live a life where they never have to say they’re sorry for things they can never make right.” Editor’s Note: In 2011, former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was convicted on three counts of obstruction of justice and perjury for lying about police torture. A federal judge sentenced him to four-and-1/2 years in prison, saying his torture of suspects irreparably damaged the justice system, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. Tom Loewy is a reporter/columnist for The Galesburg Register-Mail in Illinois. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @TomLoewy. By Tom Loewy The Galesburg Register Mail MailTribune.com By Tom Loewy The Galesburg Register Mail Posted Feb. 12, 2015 @ 8:51 am Updated Feb 12, 2015 at 9:59 AM » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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