“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.
For previous entries, click here.
So, as we continue to assess the war zone of it all (whether it be in Portland or Chicago), here are a number of stories and video clips that demonstrate that, regardless of anything else, many members of law enforcement are clearly seeing themselves as above the civilians they are supposed to be serving. While we all continue to try and understand where we will land in the space between the rhetoric of the administration and the actual usage of troops in our streets, the increasing willingness of law enforcement to treat peaceful protestors like the enemy is profoundly disturbing.
Take, for example, the case of David Black, a clergyman who appears to have been shot in the head with a pepper ball for the crime of praying on a public street.
Via the Religious News Service: In Chicago, clergy and faith-based protesters say ICE is threatening their religious freedom.
Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
A few people peacefully shouting is no reason to deploy crowd control methods. The agents are at least two stories in the air. There is no threat. And yet, they keep firing pepper balls.
And here is Black again getting it in the face at close range and demonstrating why agents want to be masked, because who wants to be identified as the guy who attacked a priest?
But it is not just priests, how about older men?
How is this necessary? What was he doing to justify being shoved to the ground?
And, to share a clip again, what, big, strong, armed officers can’t take being talked at by a girl?
Then there is this via The Oregonian: Federal agents knock down elderly couple during Portland protest.
Laurie Eckman, 84, said she and her husband Richard Eckman, also 84 and a Vietnam war veteran, were rushed by federal officers “for no apparent reason.” She said her husband was leaning on his walker and wearing his Vietnam veterans cap as he was pushed to the ground.
“It was totally unprovoked. It was not the kind of crowd that shouts the ‘F word.’ It was people like us, our neighbors. There were families, there were several veterans,” Laurie Eckman told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “With no warning the feds charged into us, knocked us down and sprayed us. I was hit in the head with a projectile.”
But it isn’t just Chicago and Portland. The willingness of federal officials to escalate is constantly being recorded (and goodness only knows what isn’t being recorded).
For example.
Getting frustrated and grabbing an elected official is not acceptable. Just walk away if you are at an impasse.
What justifies this? I am referencing especially the second clip.
Or this?
Look, I get it; she is impeding the vehicle, and I expect is breaking the law by doing so. But you cannot tell me this is the best and only way to get her out of the way. Such tough guys, shoving a middle-aged woman to the ground! Call the police. Have her arrested or find some other way of dealing with the situation. Shoving her to the ground like that is unnecessary and thuggish and speaks to the character of the one doing the shoving, and to the culture of their organization.
All of this is the direct result of rhetoric from Trump. He keeps talking about the “enemy within” and wants US troops to train in US cities and has, since his first term, told law enforcement that they don’t have to “be nice” to suspects.
Respect my authoritah! is no way for law enforcement in an alleged democracy to behave.
