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Dignity and Restraint, they has it.
I'm taking a short break from working on the book to comment about the weekend's goings on with OWS and specifically, the events at UC Davis. If you haven't heard, the chancellor of the college called in the police to disburse a peaceful student protest. A row of kids was lined up, seated, across the road. They were told to move. They didn't. So...a cop decided to douse them in pepper spray. There are a bazillion videos of it, and every one of them makes you want to punch this guy in the junk.
I'm not posting any because they really are hard to watch. The crowd is screaming, crying, chanting "Shame on you!" over and over again to the cops--who finally left after the brutal crowd shaming.
This makes me feel like an idiot, seriously. I've been arrested and was not treated badly at any point. I've been approached by cops at Planned Parenthood in Detroit when shit was getting just a bit out of hand. Nothing bad happened, the cops genuinely seemed to be there to help keep the peace.
Then I realized...
I'm white, I'm a woman, I'm not gay, and when I smoke pot, I don't do it in the middle of the diag (anymore *snerk*). So I'm not really on the average cops Hate List (unless they are a racist cop and I'm out with H). I maintain that the average cop is probably not overtly racist.
So yeah, I'm being confronted with what most other people seem to already know. A lot of cops are brutal assholes who use their authority to do violence on people they don't like. And even if another cop doesn't go along with it, they are not going to intervene.
You know how there's that pedophile coach at Penn State, and everyone is saying how disgusting it is that someone saw an assault and didn't stop it? That's what all of the cops NOT doing violence are guilty of--watching an assault and doing fuck-all to stop it. As such, I am losing my faith in the whole institution of public police--because obviously these apes are not working for the American public. They are not protecting them, they do not serve them.
Obama has denounced police violence against protestors all over the world. He has not done so here, not publicly at least. WTF? I will presume that it's forthcoming.
Do not disappoint me, Barack. I always stick up for you.
And these kids...they are blowing my mind with the restraint they are mustering up in these awful circumstances. You know some of these cops are trying hard to get the crowd to fight back so they have an excuse to beat up on civilians. I'm so deeply touched and impressed that these kids are not responding to violence with more violence. It's a sign that as a people, we're improving.
I'm not posting any because they really are hard to watch. The crowd is screaming, crying, chanting "Shame on you!" over and over again to the cops--who finally left after the brutal crowd shaming.
This makes me feel like an idiot, seriously. I've been arrested and was not treated badly at any point. I've been approached by cops at Planned Parenthood in Detroit when shit was getting just a bit out of hand. Nothing bad happened, the cops genuinely seemed to be there to help keep the peace.
Then I realized...
I'm white, I'm a woman, I'm not gay, and when I smoke pot, I don't do it in the middle of the diag (anymore *snerk*). So I'm not really on the average cops Hate List (unless they are a racist cop and I'm out with H). I maintain that the average cop is probably not overtly racist.
So yeah, I'm being confronted with what most other people seem to already know. A lot of cops are brutal assholes who use their authority to do violence on people they don't like. And even if another cop doesn't go along with it, they are not going to intervene.
You know how there's that pedophile coach at Penn State, and everyone is saying how disgusting it is that someone saw an assault and didn't stop it? That's what all of the cops NOT doing violence are guilty of--watching an assault and doing fuck-all to stop it. As such, I am losing my faith in the whole institution of public police--because obviously these apes are not working for the American public. They are not protecting them, they do not serve them.
Obama has denounced police violence against protestors all over the world. He has not done so here, not publicly at least. WTF? I will presume that it's forthcoming.
Do not disappoint me, Barack. I always stick up for you.
And these kids...they are blowing my mind with the restraint they are mustering up in these awful circumstances. You know some of these cops are trying hard to get the crowd to fight back so they have an excuse to beat up on civilians. I'm so deeply touched and impressed that these kids are not responding to violence with more violence. It's a sign that as a people, we're improving.
no subject
I cannot fathom the thinking of the Chancellor in her decision that the appropriate way to handle a protest against police brutality was to call the police in to remove the protesters.
The revelations in this next link invokes that protest chant "Who do you serve? Who do you protect?" and ...it made me throw up in my mouth a little at how corrupt the system has become. Before reading it, be sure you are feeling strong.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/10/financial-giants-put-new-york-city-cops-on-their-payroll/
no subject
That is very upsetting...and not entirely unexpected.