Monday, March 19, 2007
Sunday Night Fights
Rhonda and I (see her photos on Portland Indymedia) went to the march together. We ran into many people we knew down there and it was rather joyous and sad at the same time. There's a war going on, and here we are kinda celebrating our desire for it to stop.
We hooked up with my friend Heidi and her neighbor and we all marched together. We got rather hungry during the march, and near the end, we ducked into Pazo where a friend of Heidi's worked and enjoy a delicious and rather spendy meal and discussed hoping that next year we would be celebrating the end of the war instead of marching in desire for it to end.
When we got back outside, everything was torn down and there were a handful of folks drumming and dancing and having a good ole time, probably energizing up to again find whatever methods that can work in order to stop this monster known as war.
As Rhonda and I were heading out, we noticed there was action at the front of the justice center. I guess the park is called Chapman Square. It is the park with that statue of the white folks that came over to kill us Indians off and steal our land and resources while carrying the bible.
Rhonda parked the car and we went to see what was going on. We went into the park. On the sidewalk in front of the justice center was a long line of very menacing looking ready for violence riot cops. We talked to some of the people we knew who were in the thick of it and asked what was going on. I guess what happened was some young folks decided to put their bodies on the line and sat down in the street in a peaceful non-violent protest and were then beaten and arrested by the cops.
A large crowd, 150 maybe 200 folks, mostly young folks, a few just caught up in the action not knowing exactly what the heck was going on, formed in the square. The faced off the riot cops from their side of 3rd Avenue.
The horse cops came up behind us and I was ready to leave at that point. But Rhonda, defiant wonderful woman that she is, wanted to stay, and I wasn't about to leave without her.
At one point, I was messing with my camera and suddenly there was screaming and people running all around me. I started running and looked behind me to see the riot cops nabbing a few folks to beat on and arrest. They retreated with their booty, and the rest of us folks lined back up again.
I have to admit, the tension got rather exciting. Don't think the cops will follow along with the upcoming police state (this was the kinder gentler version), you have another thing coming. It was very invigorating. I started to really feel alive. It was like facing down the 7th, and Chivington, though with a "kinder gentler machine gun hand." So we knew we wouldn't get slaughtered, but we definitely had the potential to be severely hurt by these folks.
Fucking work. I have to be up at 2, so I told Rhonda I really needed to go. However, as we got to the Northeast corner of 3rd and Main, we noticed more tension building as a few of the protesters stepped into the parking area of the street. Defiance in the face of fascism.
The people around us were saying things like "We're the peaceful protestors, I don't know who they are," referring to the folks in the park acting in defiance. This type of stuff really pisses Rhonda off, this arrogance and divisiveness amongst people who should be united. It was pissing me off as well, so I started pointing to the protesters saying very loudly, "Unarmed peaceful protestors," then pointing to the cops and saying just as loudly "Heavily armed very violent and dangerous cops." I kept repeating this action very loudly.
A young man in a red t-shirt tried to cross the street toward the cops from our corner, and the cops were gracious enough to push him repeatedly until he fell to the ground. They didn't arrest him.
Had to get to bed, so we geared up to leave. We drove in front of the action, but before we could get across, we say a couple of defiant younguns lay in the middle of the street, quickly get up, and go back into the crowd. As we drove up, the cops charged, pulled out the young folks, threw them down, and brutally arreseted them. Rhonda got out the car screaming, "MOTHER-FUCKERS!" She was told to get back in the car or we'd be arrested. I filmed as much as possible and was screaming, "FUCK YOU PIGS!" We pulled around to the other side of the park, but it was getting late and I had to get some sleep, if I could.
There is a difference between the peaceful folks on the corner and the peaceful folks in the park. The peaceful folks in the park are willing to put their bodies on the line.
We hooked up with my friend Heidi and her neighbor and we all marched together. We got rather hungry during the march, and near the end, we ducked into Pazo where a friend of Heidi's worked and enjoy a delicious and rather spendy meal and discussed hoping that next year we would be celebrating the end of the war instead of marching in desire for it to end.
When we got back outside, everything was torn down and there were a handful of folks drumming and dancing and having a good ole time, probably energizing up to again find whatever methods that can work in order to stop this monster known as war.
As Rhonda and I were heading out, we noticed there was action at the front of the justice center. I guess the park is called Chapman Square. It is the park with that statue of the white folks that came over to kill us Indians off and steal our land and resources while carrying the bible.
Rhonda parked the car and we went to see what was going on. We went into the park. On the sidewalk in front of the justice center was a long line of very menacing looking ready for violence riot cops. We talked to some of the people we knew who were in the thick of it and asked what was going on. I guess what happened was some young folks decided to put their bodies on the line and sat down in the street in a peaceful non-violent protest and were then beaten and arrested by the cops.
A large crowd, 150 maybe 200 folks, mostly young folks, a few just caught up in the action not knowing exactly what the heck was going on, formed in the square. The faced off the riot cops from their side of 3rd Avenue.
The horse cops came up behind us and I was ready to leave at that point. But Rhonda, defiant wonderful woman that she is, wanted to stay, and I wasn't about to leave without her.
At one point, I was messing with my camera and suddenly there was screaming and people running all around me. I started running and looked behind me to see the riot cops nabbing a few folks to beat on and arrest. They retreated with their booty, and the rest of us folks lined back up again.
I have to admit, the tension got rather exciting. Don't think the cops will follow along with the upcoming police state (this was the kinder gentler version), you have another thing coming. It was very invigorating. I started to really feel alive. It was like facing down the 7th, and Chivington, though with a "kinder gentler machine gun hand." So we knew we wouldn't get slaughtered, but we definitely had the potential to be severely hurt by these folks.
Fucking work. I have to be up at 2, so I told Rhonda I really needed to go. However, as we got to the Northeast corner of 3rd and Main, we noticed more tension building as a few of the protesters stepped into the parking area of the street. Defiance in the face of fascism.
The people around us were saying things like "We're the peaceful protestors, I don't know who they are," referring to the folks in the park acting in defiance. This type of stuff really pisses Rhonda off, this arrogance and divisiveness amongst people who should be united. It was pissing me off as well, so I started pointing to the protesters saying very loudly, "Unarmed peaceful protestors," then pointing to the cops and saying just as loudly "Heavily armed very violent and dangerous cops." I kept repeating this action very loudly.
A young man in a red t-shirt tried to cross the street toward the cops from our corner, and the cops were gracious enough to push him repeatedly until he fell to the ground. They didn't arrest him.
Had to get to bed, so we geared up to leave. We drove in front of the action, but before we could get across, we say a couple of defiant younguns lay in the middle of the street, quickly get up, and go back into the crowd. As we drove up, the cops charged, pulled out the young folks, threw them down, and brutally arreseted them. Rhonda got out the car screaming, "MOTHER-FUCKERS!" She was told to get back in the car or we'd be arrested. I filmed as much as possible and was screaming, "FUCK YOU PIGS!" We pulled around to the other side of the park, but it was getting late and I had to get some sleep, if I could.
There is a difference between the peaceful folks on the corner and the peaceful folks in the park. The peaceful folks in the park are willing to put their bodies on the line.
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