On Thursday I was on a train to New York and received an email announcing a protest at the offices of New York’s two U.S. Senators over their cosponsorship of an AIPAC-driven bill that would move the United States closer to war on Iran. I wrote back, saying, hey, I happen to be on my way to New York and will try to get there.
When I got there, there was a small gathering of protesters, divided into two groups, those choosing to comply with police requests to stand inside a free-speech-cage that they had set up, and those refusing. I joined the latter. Two days later, one of the protesters who had been making his point from within the metal barricades told me that a police officer had approached him with this question:
“So, are you bringing people up here by train?”
Assuming the most likely explanation for that question, let me say this to those of New York’s finest with nothing better to do than read my emails:
You are not going to find in my emails any planning of any violence or cruelty. If you want to know what I’m planning, you can ask me. I’ll be glad to tell you. I plan to protest the bankers whom you guard while they defund your future and erode your rights, the war profiteers who now arm you while they destroy our economy and our environment and our government, and the elected misrepresentatives who tolerate your lawless law enforcement while doing the bidding of the bankers and the war profiteers.
Have you sworn an oath to defended the Constitution with or without the Fourth Amendment? Have you sworn the law enforcement oath of honor? It reads:
On my honor, I will never betray
my badge, my integrity, my
character or the public trust. I
will always have the courage to
hold myself and others
accountable for our actions. I will
always uphold the Constitution,
my community, and the agency I
serve.
Do you mean that? Then who read my email? Why? Justified by what Constitution? Do you have the courage to hold yourself and/or others accountable for your actions?
What community are you upholding? Are you and I in the same community? It doesn’t feel like it.