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Authors, sign in!I live ten minutes from downtown St Paul. Just to be right up front, I am not super involved politically. I don't watch speeches (even Democrats!), I don't watch TV news at all. My main news source is NPR and the public radio station here in Minnesota is one of the best I've encountered around the nation. That said, I want to share my take on the recent Republic National Convention here.
My son Harley is 17 and told me last week he wanted to go to some peace demonstrations during the convention. I said, "Of course, just don't get arrested!" I think he truly had no idea of what he was getting into. The good news is that he did not get arrested, though he was ten feet away from someone who did. He said some cops on bicycles rode up, one got off and pushed a young man to the ground, cuffed him and took him over to a police car. Harley said he didn't see that this person was doing anything wrong and was so shocked by the cops' actions that he didn't even join in with the other protesters when they started shouting at them. I heard him tell a Texas friend on the phone that tears came to his eyes. He was appalled and outraged.
What an education for my son! I am a child of the '60s and demonstrated during the 1984 RNC in Dallas, so I knew that arrest was definitely a possibility for him. I believe this experience was invaluable and worth that risk. He really had no idea and just laughed when I told him not to get arrested. He had never seen the police act arbitrarily before. To be balanced, the St Paul police started out with a minimal presence on Monday, and there was some property damage. By Tuesday, they'd donned the riot gear. It's true that anarchist groups came to St Paul, but many innocents got swept up in the arrests as well.
On MPR they told about a home-schooled, Zen Buddhist boy from Wisconsin, my son's age, who got arrested. He was walking away from a rally and a guy asked him for a light. He was looking through his backpack when the police came up and told him to put the pack down and put his hands on top of his head. When he asked why they merely repeated their commands. When he continued to question them, they apparently decided he was resisting arrest. At that point they pushed him down and manhandled him to the extent that he had a boot-shaped bruise on his shoulder! He was taken to juvenile detention for about an hour and a half, then released. His parents were never even called, although Minnesota law states that juveniles must be released into their parents' custody.
As far as I know, the great majority of the rallies and demonstrations were peaceful. Even after hearing the story about the Wisconsin boy, I allowed Harley to again go to a rally yesterday. Because of another commitment in the evening, he had to leave just as the demonstrators were about to march to the Xcel Energy Center where the convention was wrapping up. He said when he left it was announced that they had a permit to do so. Apparently ten minutes later, that permit was revoked and police on horseback corralled the marchers. Before the evening was over, nearly 400 people were arrested!
This was nothing like Chicago in 1968, of course, but the police did use tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowds. The fact that nothing like this occurred last week in Denver speaks volumes. Were the anarchists there? You tell me... Young people (and many of us older folks) around the nation are ready for a change. Personally, I'm not 100% positive that we're going to get it even with Obama, but I am 100% certain we will NOT with McCain!
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Comments (2)
Thanks for this post. I've been thinking about the arrests at the RNC over the past couple of days. I was at the DNC and it didn't seem to have that resistance feel at all. But, perhaps I was insulated from that. I'm not sure.
I'm interested in your comment, "The fact that noting like this occurred last week in Denver speaks volumes. Were the anarchists there?"
What does it say? Does it say that democrats are more resistant and eager to cause disruption? Does it say that republicans are more respectful because there weren't as many arrests in Denver? Does it say the police are biased? Does it say the RNC is more radically right, which causes people to snap quicker because they are so frustrated with the last 8 years?? I'm really curious as to how to read the situations of all of the protests and arrests. What do you think? What do others think?
Posted by Janet
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September 6, 2008 9:44 AM
Posted on September 6, 2008 09:44
Janet, Pat and Julie,
I thought you guys might like to read this article that was printed earlier this year about the RNC's work with the FBI in hiring informants to infiltrate the "vegan potluck" gatherings preceding the Republican National Convention.
Read the rest here: www.citypages.com/2008-05-21/news/moles-wantedIt's definitely eye opening in that the RNC's use of the FBI and the local police and their attitude about protesters is very different from the Democrats. I think that Democrats love and encourage protest, since much of the Democratic party is populated by activists and people who value freedom of speech and equality.
So, I think that when Julie said that it speaks volumes about the differences between the the two locations, I don't think it's simply a matter of the difference between the two states and their respective cultures.
I do believe that the Republicans have no love whatsoever for protests or protesters and they work with the FBI, the secret service and local police to crack down hard on protesters.
Julie is right. It speaks volumes!
Posted by Nora Thomason
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September 10, 2008 1:37 PM
Posted on September 10, 2008 13:37