I was actually gonna give it a rest ... Really ... but after the stupidity that passes for legislation at Halitosis Hall (The Rhode Island State House: All Credit To Rudy Cheeks) I simply couldn't hold back ... That a God Awful Attention Whore from our State Senate, Lou Raptakis, someone who found no outrage in supporting the execrable Richard Licht & Joseph Montalbano for the Judiciary, would suspend a fundamental political tool, civil disobedience, in order to grab headlines, was just a little too much. What's at stake here is far bigger than a group of protestors blocking a highway.
Consider:
"A man who tried to force his way into a meeting among U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady and local business leaders and politicians was arrested today and dragged bloodied from the building."
"When he was hustled into a side corridor by a uniformed police officer and another unidentified person, the man began using his flag to fend off the officer and shouted, ``You're not going to keep me out of there.''
The man could be seen struggling with police as he was being handcuffed.
The sight of him being led, blood streaming down his face, to a waiting police car brought threats of other civil disobedience from demonstrators who were ordered to keep marching in front of the building but refused. The crowd then rushed to the side door."
A scene from Ferguson, Missouri … or perhaps the streets of New York City, post Grand Jury Verdict?
Or:
"Seven of them were arrested for disorderly conduct when about 250 demonstrators erupted from a meeting and blocked an entrance ramp to Interstate 95"
This must be news reporting from the recent series of protests outside of Providence's Public Safety Headquarters ...
This analysis from the fine folks @ The Hartford Courant ....
"local radio talk shows started encouraging depositors to speak up, and a grass-roots movement emerged that took them onto the streets."
The lead photo should be a dead giveaway ... We aren't talking about ANY of the events of this past year ... These quotes directly reference civil disobedience waged by primarily white middle aged depositors of the failed Rhode Island Credit Unions, whose deposits were frozen by the collapse of the then infamous RISDIC, at the instigation of the talk radio medium that would demonize individuals involved in the protests of the past few months ...
Can we draw differences as well as parallels between these two moments in history? Of course ...
One series of protests are a community reaction to the seemingly inexplicable inability of the American Criminal Justice System to indict police officers for what would appear to be appallingly obvious to the common man: That there appears to be clear justification for trying police officers for excessive force, leading to the deaths of American Citizens.
Another series of protests, from all those years ago, are a reaction to the sudden loss of income, & property to a Corrupted Banking System.
The recent protests highlight a dangerous pattern of behavior, where common civil liberties are taken from a group of individuals, primarily because of racial profiling .... Under the guise of the "Broken Windows" theory of policing, a failed tactic of a failed "War On Drugs".
The Banking Protests? Acts of desperation from a suddenly bankrupted Middle Class
Why is one period of history, where the white middle class rose up in reaction to the theft of their property considered heroic? While even alleged Libertarian & Liberty Types are ready to bring down the full force of the government, even going so far to invoke the despised Patriot Act, upon the perpetrators of I95 & I93?
Please. Explain.
Civil Disobedience does not exist to entertain ... It is a necessary tool, designed to outrage ... to call attention to issues that continue, in this case, to be ignored for generations. Yes, racism. Folks who engage in civil disobedience are not here to be your friends, or to level reasoned discourse ... All of that has been tried, and has failed, miserably ...
We have just celebrated the Legacy of Martin Luther King, a man to whom civil disobedience was no stranger ... As the HIV virus has been, at least contained, we must honor the members of "Act Up", who redefined political theater, and managed to convince an in-denial nation that the Aids Epidemic was a threat to all, Gay & Straight ...
And just how well has "Working Within The System" worked out for African Americans, for whom "Stop & Frisk" and "Broken Windows" have reduced life to a series of daily indignities, often leading to indiscriminate arrests, and possible violence? I'm sure they take great comfort in the age old canard ... "If they've done nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear ..."
http://articles.courant.com/1991-09-06/news/0000212392_1_depositors-rights-organization-banking-crisis-bruce-g-sundlun
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910308&slug=1270433
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Rhode-Island-Depositors-Hitting-the-Streets-Statehouse-to-Agitate/id-c6f92d461703046fd40177ce108b3208
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Rhode-Island-Depositor-Unrest-Boils-Again/id-11461502d862948a9b50c4c12d2be270
Consider:
"A man who tried to force his way into a meeting among U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady and local business leaders and politicians was arrested today and dragged bloodied from the building."
"When he was hustled into a side corridor by a uniformed police officer and another unidentified person, the man began using his flag to fend off the officer and shouted, ``You're not going to keep me out of there.''
The man could be seen struggling with police as he was being handcuffed.
The sight of him being led, blood streaming down his face, to a waiting police car brought threats of other civil disobedience from demonstrators who were ordered to keep marching in front of the building but refused. The crowd then rushed to the side door."
A scene from Ferguson, Missouri … or perhaps the streets of New York City, post Grand Jury Verdict?
Or:
"Seven of them were arrested for disorderly conduct when about 250 demonstrators erupted from a meeting and blocked an entrance ramp to Interstate 95"
This must be news reporting from the recent series of protests outside of Providence's Public Safety Headquarters ...
This analysis from the fine folks @ The Hartford Courant ....
"local radio talk shows started encouraging depositors to speak up, and a grass-roots movement emerged that took them onto the streets."
The lead photo should be a dead giveaway ... We aren't talking about ANY of the events of this past year ... These quotes directly reference civil disobedience waged by primarily white middle aged depositors of the failed Rhode Island Credit Unions, whose deposits were frozen by the collapse of the then infamous RISDIC, at the instigation of the talk radio medium that would demonize individuals involved in the protests of the past few months ...
Can we draw differences as well as parallels between these two moments in history? Of course ...
One series of protests are a community reaction to the seemingly inexplicable inability of the American Criminal Justice System to indict police officers for what would appear to be appallingly obvious to the common man: That there appears to be clear justification for trying police officers for excessive force, leading to the deaths of American Citizens.
Another series of protests, from all those years ago, are a reaction to the sudden loss of income, & property to a Corrupted Banking System.
The recent protests highlight a dangerous pattern of behavior, where common civil liberties are taken from a group of individuals, primarily because of racial profiling .... Under the guise of the "Broken Windows" theory of policing, a failed tactic of a failed "War On Drugs".
The Banking Protests? Acts of desperation from a suddenly bankrupted Middle Class
Why is one period of history, where the white middle class rose up in reaction to the theft of their property considered heroic? While even alleged Libertarian & Liberty Types are ready to bring down the full force of the government, even going so far to invoke the despised Patriot Act, upon the perpetrators of I95 & I93?
Please. Explain.
Civil Disobedience does not exist to entertain ... It is a necessary tool, designed to outrage ... to call attention to issues that continue, in this case, to be ignored for generations. Yes, racism. Folks who engage in civil disobedience are not here to be your friends, or to level reasoned discourse ... All of that has been tried, and has failed, miserably ...
We have just celebrated the Legacy of Martin Luther King, a man to whom civil disobedience was no stranger ... As the HIV virus has been, at least contained, we must honor the members of "Act Up", who redefined political theater, and managed to convince an in-denial nation that the Aids Epidemic was a threat to all, Gay & Straight ...
And just how well has "Working Within The System" worked out for African Americans, for whom "Stop & Frisk" and "Broken Windows" have reduced life to a series of daily indignities, often leading to indiscriminate arrests, and possible violence? I'm sure they take great comfort in the age old canard ... "If they've done nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear ..."
http://articles.courant.com/1991-09-06/news/0000212392_1_depositors-rights-organization-banking-crisis-bruce-g-sundlun
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910308&slug=1270433
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Rhode-Island-Depositors-Hitting-the-Streets-Statehouse-to-Agitate/id-c6f92d461703046fd40177ce108b3208
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Rhode-Island-Depositor-Unrest-Boils-Again/id-11461502d862948a9b50c4c12d2be270
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