john o'brien joins me and he participated. thank you for being with us. can you tell us what it was like that night? >> i was 20 years old. i was legally a criminal, mentally sick and morally simple. >> that's the way the is police and society viewed you. >> exactly. we were without empowerment as basic human being. there was no report, lots of abuse, and people profited off that aggression. >> abuse by police. >> by police, by mob bar owners and others that benefitted. there were lawyers that benefitted. they would pept them. they'd plea deal, get money for representing the gays in court. they made money out of our oppression. there's a lot of elements to that. >> it was boiling under the surface when stone wall occurred, when that raid occurred at the bar, at the club that night. >> because it was part of that period. the civil rights movement had been going on for years, and many gay people involved or observing what was going on were affected by it. they were inspired by it. >> it exploded in new york, didn't it. >> that there was unrest all or the un