Last night we stood in the rain with a large crowd across from the #Ferguson PD. People came and went from their cars and the Subway and the warming tent, the rain was restless but so too was the passion for justice. KB brought a weather-ready drum (a 5 gallon bucket, wooden dowels and a rubber mallet) and kept the heart beat. Prayerful, steady, empowering. Early on we filled the street but quickly we were met with National Guard troops and riot-gear clad police and the droning voice over the loud speaker telling us to remove ourselves from the street. We moved. But the voice kept droning. We talked amongst ourselves, truly perplexed as there was no one in the street. The droning continued and after a few minutes, the troops and officers marched out of the gate (en masse), filled the street (themselves) while their front line came through the sidewalk where we legally stood and snatched a guy apparently randomly. They then pushed another woman to the ground, and it appeared they were taking her too, but then they retreated with their one hostage. The exact same scene played out again an hour later. Snatch and grab with apparent randomness. Those arrest last night (two) were breaking no laws at the time they were arrested. While I dont know either, I do know that during their time with us they were not in any way antagonizing, obstructing, or doing anything that would have singled them out. This is a pattern of arrests that has been practiced now for the past several weeks where protestors are literally snatched out of the crowd *while* following police orders. The effect is terrorizing and the message clear: no one is safe from arrest. It is a game of cat and mouse and the cat clearly has the upper hand. But the mouse has not only truth on its side but the most powerful of passions… survival. Make no mistake, this movement lives. And, as Tim Wise says, this gear shift has no neutral. This is not a time for neutrality nor nice, Whos side are you standing on? is not a rhetorical question. The children are watching. #BlackLivesMatter
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 15:18:01 +0000
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