Resistance

I could go into all of the reasons why my sad little blog has been, once again, left quiet and untouched. But instead, I want to talk about something else- something that makes me angry. It isn't related to Nancy Drew, although knowing our heroine and her belief in the goodness of the police, I'm pretty sure she'd be pissed too. This is why:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM&feature=related

Last Friday, I hopped on a train to go home and spend the weekend with my family. About an hour after I arrived home, I found this video posted all over Facebook. Unlike those that I had seen of police brutality in Berkeley, Oakland, and New York, this video showed a place that I recognize well and faces that I know. On the Quad that I walk through every day, police were arresting, beating, and pepper-spraying my friends, classmates, co-workers, and residents. Not because they were being violent, but because they were quietly linking arms in peaceful protest. They were being sprayed not from a distance of 15 feet (the legal minimum distance), but from about 3 feet away- and for some protesters, the substance was sprayed directly in their faces and down their throats. They were being sprayed and arrested not because they served any threat to police officers, as our Chief of Police Annette Spicuzza asserted, or because this group of cops was separated from their colleagues and consequently felt unsafe. Rather, police officers in riot gear who were armed with rubber pellet rifles and pepper spray felt, for god knows what reason, that dismantling the Occupy tents (which was the order given by Chancellor Katehi) was not enough. If you can step over the line of protesters and casually wave around your can of pepper spray, and if you can aim your weapons at students and have them back away, you are not threatened in any way.


These weren't just students at my school that I didn't know. Some of my family members are ardently opposed to the Occupy movement and have no idea that I have been protesting with them for just over a week. But these aunts and uncles will be shocked to learn that I actually know these crazy students who, according to some news reports, shouldn't be complaining because they didn't move when they were told to. They might be surprised to know that my friend from work was sent to the hospital with chemical burns. She was sprayed directly in the face, despite the 'ASTHMATIC!' warning written in Sharpie on her arm. A classmate of mine was also a part of the chain and was pepper-sprayed- there are videos of her on CNN wiping the face of another protester with her headscarf. Two other friends of mine- one a former co-worker, and another a former resident- were standing by and watching in horror, whilst the wind also blew some of the pepper spray in their direction. One of my History TAs was arrested, as was one of my residents who was not doing anything at all (he was cited for 'lodging without a permit' when he did not even have a tent at the encampment). These aren't crazy activists who don't go to class and spend their days lazily sitting around in tents- these are everyday students who attend UC Davis and work hard just to stay there, especially at a time when we face a potential 81% tuition increase. And they were met with violence because they sat peacefully in a circle and linked arms, or because they had the audacity to stand by and watch.

But here's the upside:






We're not going away.