Police Brutality

This is an entirely opinion oriented blog(as all mine are...) and as such you are entitled to disagree with parts or all of it. Just gotta get some things off my mind.

So far since Occupy's inception we have seen a vast multitude of police abuses across the board, and a very diverse assembly of reactions to such.  From the old woman in Seattle who was pepper sprayed, to the now Pepper Spray Cop meme from the guy in Oakland who acted as if the protestors were not even human, to the beatings in every city (The Marine who was beaten in Oakland I believe it was, a woman who almost had a broken neck from something hitting her in the jaw/neck so hard, a 15 year old here in Portland's been brutalized more than once, a woman I know was grabbed by the hair, the list goes on and on) we have seen pain.

It's not nearly over yet. Judging from the past protests, all the way back to the 60's, those "in charge" have always answered any kind of uprising(Not even necessarily a threat to their way of life, just people using their first amendment right to say their piece) with violence.  In rare cases, perhaps I'm wrong. But more often than not, I'm right in this.

I'm here to say that, obviously, that's not right. I will get a bit more opinionated then go back to the point, so give me a chance and keep reading, please.

I am pretty strong in my "hippie views", though I don't like labeling myself. I don't like that I am labeled as an American because I happened to be born here. I don't like that due to that label, I need to pay taxes that are not used for things I agree with, and that I need to abide by rules other people who have never met me made.  Some of them make sense to me, others just seem arbitrary at best.

I find it disgusting that the rights we were "Given" in this country upon its inception, the rights the original people who moved here chose to uphold because the were being ignored in Europe are now being ignored and twisted by our own government. We are becoming a fascist nation, with the only differece being we don't have one specific dictator. In a way, I wonder if this is not worse.

We are becoming bound up in our own contract, in our own laws, tied into knots around our ankles and wrists, the wording twisted to suit those in power.

I have a serious problem with the fact that without a petition, aka approval, a group cannot march for whatever purpose without the fear of police brutality just because those in power don't like to hear criticisms.


No. I will not be quiet about the fact that I am afraid to march, to make my opinion known for fear of my son's safety. An infant, 4 months old. The fact that we the people have come to accept this as a matter of course is disturbing indeed.


Because once you accept it as a necessary evil, it's that much harder to change.


I shouldn't be afraid to voice my opinions, and take my son along in a baby backpack. These are our rights we are talking about.  It's a deeper issue in my opinion than just cops hitting people (which is terrible enough), but more a matter of us being silenced effectively in a way that goes against the very Constitution our laws are based on.

But I'm not kidding myself. Things are going to get worse, not better. This is a fight that will not be won easily.  There may even be deaths. People are angry, and people are getting confused, mixed signals.

Some who are not protesting have been fed propaganda to such a degree that they've grown accustomed to thinking of Protestors as people who are "disturbing the peace".  The thing is, the peace is a lie- it is already disturbed, it's just hiding under a thin veneer of "Everything is okay".

Even if protestors were "Disturbing the peace", it is our right to take up problems we have with our government. If the Government no longer works in your favor, make a new Government- but that's not so possible these days, is it?


I am positive the violence will escalate. And that bothers me.  I'll protest, in my way, but the fact that I can't be on the street for the fear of the safety of my child is a very strong sign that something is wrong.