Are you participating in the Occupy movement in your community? I hope so!
If you are, and the police come, you may feel the wish, or pressure from others, to criticize and condemn the police. I have a word of advice for you:
DON'T.
Yes, the police in many cities in the United States and the world are to blame for opposing the peaceful, unarmed Occupy movement, for opposing honest citizens exercising their constitutional right to express their conscience in the form of free speech.
Yes, the police in many cities are appearing in full riot gear, wearing more protective and attack equipment than the U.S. military do in Iraq and Afghanistan - clearly in order to intimidate and frighten and humiliate peaceful, unarmed citizens exercising their right to free speech.
Yes, the police in many cities, including Atlanta, Georgia, New York City, and especially Oakland, California, are culpable for using extreme measures against peaceful, unarmed Occupy participants.
Yes, at least one serious injury must be attributed to the police - that of Scott Olsen, 24, who as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq, but in Oakland was shot in the head by police with either a tear gas canister or a "bean bag" (a bag filled with lead shot), and at this writing his condition in hospital has been upgraded to fair, with a fractured skull and swollen brain. (Please keep Scott Olsen, and others injured, in your prayers.)
Yes, Oakland police further aggravated the situation by throwing a flash bomb in the midst of Occupy participants who had rushed to Olsen's aid.
Police officers who are responsible for these actions - and others, like tear gassing citizens, pulling them by the hair, and bludgeoning them with their billy clubs - should be charged as criminals and tried in court. So, too, should their superiors who ordered these attacks.
Maybe there'll be a sweep-it-under-the-rug investigation. At best, some sergeant or even the Oakland chief of police will be turned into the fall guy, put on leave or retired early, and that'll be that. Poof, problem solved. But anyone with sense knows the real orders came from high up. That's why we're seeing coordinated attacks in several cities in the last few days. That's why, when the Albany, N.Y. police refused to follow their mayor's orders to attack Occupy in that city, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo himself ordered them to attack - and yet they still refused. If Cuomo did so publicly, you can be sure that other governors are ordering these attacks, but don't expect them to be implicated! And, in any case, the order is coming from even higher than governors. It's coming from the plutocrats themselves - the ultra-wealthy men on Wall Street who have turned the U.S. government into their obedient lapdog.
Therefore, we, the Occupy movement and its supporters, must not make the serious mistake of condemning the police as a group. Instead, we must appeal to them to join our cause.
It's easy for us to say these officers had a choice, and should have chosen not to use such extreme, violent measures.
I've known plenty of cops, including as my parishioners when I was a pastor, and most of them are decent human beings who want to do the right thing. I'll bet they feel terrible about what they are being ordered to do by their superiors. But I'm sure that, deep down, they're scared - just as scared as you and I - and, overwhelmed by fear, they stick to the familiar, the safety of familiarity, and do what they're told. They're as afraid as you or I of losing their livelihoods and, as a result, being unable to feed, clothe, and house their families.
It's easy to say they have a choice, but so do you. You know perfectly well that your taxes are rising to cover the gap in revenue that grows as the ultra-rich and their corporations find legal maneuvers to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
You know perfectly well that your taxes are being used to pay off crooked politicians, to fight attempts to repeal DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), to pay for the riot gear that police are wearing as they attack innocent, unarmed civilians - and worst of all to wage unjust insane wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But you still pay your taxes, don't you? Even though you know how your taxes are going to be used?
In the same way, I'll bet a lot of these cops know what they're being ordered to do is wrong, but they don't feel they have any choice. If they refuse, they are out of the force, and helpless.
Sure, it's easy for us here to say we'd refuse, but we don't know what pressures are being exerted on them. So, definitely cops who go overboard need to be charged and tried and, if found guilty, sentenced.
But we must not lose sight of the REAL villains!
The real villains want us to hate the cops. That's because as long as we, the citizens, are divided against each other, we will never unite, and become strong enough to take on the real villains.
So, whenever you talk hate about police - or hate about fellow citizens who, in good conscience, think the Occupy movement is a bad thing - or hate people who disagree with you as regards abortion, gun control, and so on - you are doing the bidding of the REAL villains. You are falling right into their hands.
And bear in mind that some police departments are refusing to obey orders to attack peaceful Occupy demonstrators - including, notably, the police department in Albany, N.Y., and, earlier, the police department in Madison, Wisconsin. This goes to show that police have a conscience and, with good superiors, do the right thing.
Bear too in mind that many brave honorable members of the United States Marines - of whom Scott Olsen is a brother - have volunteered to stand side-by-side with Occupy participants to protect them and their civil rights! If the Marines can do this, so too can the police.
So what can we do? What should we do?
When you're at your local Occupy gathering, and the cops arrive in full riot gear, waving billy clubs and flash bombs and guns with rubber bullets, they want you to be intimidated, and to back down, disperse, give up, and go home.
Don't give up.
Stand there, peacefully. Stand your ground. If they attack you, don't attack back. If they arrest you, stay calm; many of us have spent a night behind bars in defense of our civil rights. It's not the end of the world!
When the police come in their riot gear, tell them, in a loud, firm, loving voice -
"YOU ARE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS. WE'RE HERE NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE, BUT FOR YOU TOO, AND YOUR FAMILIES! THE REAL ENEMY ONLY WANTS YOU TO DO THEIR DIRTY WORK. THE REAL ENEMY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU. AS SOON AS YOU'VE DONE YOUR WORK, YOU'RE AS EXPENDABLE AS ALL OF US. SO WE APPEAL TO YOU TO TURN AROUND AND JOIN US, AND HELP US PEACEFULLY TAKE ON THE *REAL* ENEMY! JOIN US, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Are you a police officer yourself? Or an active or former member of the armed forces? My message to you is the same! You are sworn to protect and serve the PEOPLE from the ENEMY. You are not sworn to protect and serve the ENEMY from the PEOPLE. Please remember which is which! The enemy is taking away our right to free speech. Our access to affordable health care. Our children's right to a decent education. Our opportunity to buy property without being killed by the rates. Our right to a clean environment. Think about those brave Marines, and the courageous Police Department in Albany! And choose carefully - to protect and serve the PEOPLE.
If the cops join with Occupy, we are much closer to victory. If we keep saying we hate the cops, we are doing the will of the enemy, and pushing victory farther away.
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