Category Archives: blog

[Play slideshow]

Today I went to a protest in downtown Los Angeles, part of the Occupy LA protests in support of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street protests. I took the bus in, and ended up getting out a few blocks away. I walked up and already there was a growing police presence in the area. Was there a riot going on? Were the expensive bank buildings and luxury hotels in danger from a mob of angry, dirty people frothing at the mouth?

I walked a little closer to see if I could spot one of the “lazy bums” for myself. Not surprisingly, I saw a crowd of peaceful people, of all ages and races, standing together, chanting peaceful slogans. There was nothing threatening about their posture or words. I joined them, as I had come to do.

A couple of friends joined me soon enough, and we stood there, among people with placards, shouting slogans, all about taking back our system of governance for the people that are supposed to be represented. There were volunteers encouraging people to stay on the sidewalks and out of the street. There were chubby officers up on the bridge. There were ever growing lines of police in full riot gear, ready to crush our skulls. The order was twice repeated in English and Spanish, in a polite enough voice telling us that this was an unlawful assembly and that anyone still there in 5 minutes time would meet violent force, risk serious injury and go to jail. One of the cute kids next to me waved at a police officer, as lines of them spread along the street, billy clubs brandished in their fists, staring at old, short Latino women, children, and non aggressive adults of all races and builds.

I felt sad that all these beautiful people have to struggle so hard to demand so little. I felt hurt for Pancho and many others I have never met who have been tear gassed, beaten and imprisoned, for peaceful protest around the country. The officers looked stern and ready to attack at a single order. They looked like us, the protesters, except they had helmets, billy clubs and all kinds of other riot gear, ready for violence. They ended up picking up all the people sitting on the street and taking them away without incident, and eventually, instead of taking the rest of us in, they backed down and left. The protest organizers, entreated upon all of us to pick up what few bits of trash were left around before the street was reopened to traffic and the next protest site was announced.

I find it heartbreaking to see these officers who willingly become vicious monsters in uniform when given the order. They too are like you and I, but if given the order, they won’t hesitate to break bones, trample freedoms and crush rights. That separates “them” from “us”. It is not an easy choice to be moral, when those around you discourage it, but if you took an oath to protect and serve and someone orders you to attack unarmed, non-threatening civilians with brutal force then you may wish to consider what you are serving and who you are protecting.

Today, I saw but a small drop in the strong current of resistance to the status quo. People dismiss this movement for not setting out policy goals, and yet there is a commonality of grievance and shared desire for redress. Just because there isn’t some ego maniac telling us all what to think, doesn’t mean we have no direction. Instead, the direction is one of discussion, consensus and a desire to come to decisions as a group of people brought together by the common desire to make positive change. Sounds like a democratic process to me.