Forum Post: Be mindful

From a friend in St. Louis...some good observations and advice from a vet of foreign & domestic "police actions"

I listened to a live stream last night and heard a lot of bad acting in a poorly written political drama all the way around. Some twit kept screaming at the police "Where's your warrant?" as if they needed one. He repeatedly and quite erroneously kept saying it was in the Constitution. Police make arrests every day, seize property every day based on observing ordinance violations and apply for warrants later. Those ordinances are long on the books and posted around the park. The ignorance of basic legal processes is very irritating. I would hope someone would have looked into how these things unfold. Were my name Francis Slay, I would have gone to the camp, had my picture taken, proclaimed solidarity with the 99%, declared, "We are not Oakland. We are not New York." and made sure the port a potties are kept clean and gone home. By giving them something to resist, he is giving them a reason to persevere. They get to see themselves as martyrs for their cause. Symbolically joining them is cheaper than confrontation and arrests and gives the protestors nothing to resist. The campers should, everyday, make sure that park is the most litter free park in the city and they should take pictures everyday to prove it. It isn't. The litter is a terrible image and makes it easier for the city to cite safety. They should have had a discussion with someone from the ACLU or more better, the law clinic at St Louis University about how this would unfold, select those specifically to be arrested and have an actual operational plan beyond shouting some nonsense like 'where's your warrant'. I would have had cocoa and roses to offer the police upon the start of their action. Further, I would have built a creche with baby Jesus, (who was also homeless) in the middle of the camp. I would make sure everyone had an American flag to literally wrap themselves in. I would have a cross, a star of David or a crescent moon and star in everyone's hand. This is political theater and it is being done by amateurs with no sense of image iconagraphy. Upfront operational planning was basic stuff during the civil rights era. Groups planned on who and in what order folks would be arrested and tried to anticipate the actions of the opposition. Very few of their opponents understood the stage they were on and how they were perceived beyond their little sphere. That was an essential part of the movement, compelling the Bull Conners to act out their rotten attitudes and behaviors on the national stage. Neither Gandhi nor King would have screamed, period. They would not have demanded to see a warrant. They would have been unfailingly polite, cordial and compliant even when their oppressors weren't. I saw some idiot in Oakland burned a flag. Absolutely the wrong image. If you are the 99%, that means it is your flag. If you want to turn millions of possibly sympathetic supporters off, burning the flag is how to do it. Never surrender the flag. It is ours. Think of the Bonus Marchers because they are the historical ancestor to the current movement, proud veterans seeking what they had been promised. On one hand, their movement didn't end well for them, but their dignity and integrity is unflinching and the event is remembered as an ugly blot on American history, a reason why some readers of this will have to resort to google to know what I am referring to. You have to get to college before you get more then a sentence or two about that event, (If that.) in a history class.