Bill Kunstler and David Dellinger with Abbie Hoffman’s son Andrew, The First Annual Abbie Hoffman picnic, June 10, 1989, just a few months after Abbie Hoffman’s death from suicide. (Snapped by Allen Ginsberg)
Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” premiered this weekend and among its most troubling fabrications was having David Dellinger, a consummate lifelong pacifist, punch a courtroom officer. Didn’t happen. Full stop. Jerry Rubin is reduced to a Cheech & Chong character, sidekick to Abbie, which he was anything but, Rennie Davis, ‘Made out to be a complete nerd who’s afraid of his own shadow,” (Davis’ own words on seeing the film on which he wasn’t even consulted!) and there's general overemphasis on factionalism within the group, & disagreements between Hayden and Hoffman. It also completely lacks the cultural and literary context, omitting Paul Krassner, Ed Sanders, Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, and entirely leaving out Ginsberg’s legendary testimony, (Allen is only briefly featured, clownishly, at a march) You can’t fit everything into a film, but these were huge moments in American history. Fred Hampton, seen frequently conversing with defendant Bobby Seale in the film, was never in the courtroom, and Seale was bound and gagged for three days, not an hour or so as the film suggests. Seale is so prominently featured it should be titled the Chicago 8.
Flaws aside, it hopefully reignites discussion about the trial & illuminates more history of police brutality. It highlights the Nixon Whitehouse’s pursuit of the case after the Johnson administration determined the Chicago Police were responsible for the riots, and that it was, after all, a political trial as the Abbie Hoffman character played by Sacha Baron Cohen asserts throughout the film. Fun fact: According to David Dellinger, Allen introduced him and Abbie to each other telling them that he thought two of his favorite activists should meet each other.
