#Hashtag Revolution
The Police will do something stupid
You know they will
Make sure to get photos and video
Before you go to jail
Maybe the media was quiet hoping we would all go away. Maybe they didn’t want Wall Street to run astray. Taking away more of people’s savings in the blink of an eye, with the reports of protesters and possible riots. Any story has legs and a life of its own. Now the occupation has set up in many states and has become home grown. A #hashtag could start a revolution that becomes full blown. There are so many millions who are unemployed. So many who owe so much in student loans.
There are no jobs and the future is bleak. No pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps as they have grown brittle and weak. For many Wall Street has taken our shirts and our boots. Given our money to the kings of the corporate zoo. Who look out through their high rise window view. And see only opportunity. The ability to buy buildings with one mouse click. The ability to swap debt making it all clean and slick.
I am NYPD
Third generation of New York’s finest
I commute over an hour to get downtown
To watch these painted bodies and clowns
As they protest to protest what they don’t know. They don’t think I’m pissed about the economy too. I can’t take a day off because my little girl is sick. I save all my time in case things get bad real quick. I sit here looking at these filthy people. And I wonder why they think the NYPD doesn’t care. We are down here taking our eyes off the real crime. To make sure that these people don’t get run over or cause accidental harm. I know they come in peace but anyone can tell. Peace can often turn into a living hell. Through the many years I have knocked on doors. My gun drawn just hoping no one is home. Only wanting a name so I can go on. Shots are fired and people get dead. This is the stress I live with each day to get fed.
So in defense of the few in blue who lost their minds. Sprayed mace or put some kid in a bind. I just want you to know that this is no easy job. We don’t get paid enough to put our lives on the line. Each day, working in the largest terrorists target. What did you think we would do when you came to our town? After the tenth anniversary of 9/11 we are not fucking around. We lost many friends and family ten years ago that day. If anything you should be proud to stand next to us and say. Thank you.
8 Comments
Nick
September 29, 2011I understand that police have a difficult job.
That said, having a difficult and stressful job is no excuse for macing peaceful (and already contained) protesters, and then calmly striding away, like Anthony Bologna did. It’s no excuse for tackling people to the ground for yelling at a protest.
Most of all, it’s no excuse for the Police Department defending the officers who did these things and saying that they were 100% justified. That’s my problem with police culture: when an officer oversteps their bounds or violates somebody’s civil rights, the department ALWAYS says that the officer was justified.
This leads to the perception that the police as a whole support police brutality– after all, if they didn’t, they would punish responsible officers with more than a wrist slap, but as it is it seems like even a wrist slap is usually too much to ask for. I want to respect the police; I want to believe that they are public servants looking out for my own good, but it appears to me to be one big good ole boy network that will put protecting its own above the interests of justice.
Byron King
September 29, 2011I agree with you 100%. And I also feel maybe people should realize how on edge they might be. How close Occupy Wall Street was to the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and that although how peaceful the marches are they are also wildly chaotic. I’ve been following this from the very beginning on Adbusters when it was just an idea.
There are thousands of cops. Don’t let a few bad apples spoil the bunch or the protests.
I’m just trying to see both perspectives as I feel any aware citizen should. The NYPD is not the enemy. And on a side note, being prior military, I’ve been maced in the face many many times and it really isn’t that bad. To be honest I enjoy seeing how much mace I can take without totally losing it.
Byron King
September 29, 2011To follow up I do think macing someone for no reason is ridiculous and that the officer should be charged.
I also take issue with how police get away with anything it seems without being accountable for their actions.
I fear the main reason this movement hasn’t gotten much coverage is that the media fears a real revolution and something that might be used to push our country with aid of Wall Street into a real depression.
So in essence, folks are looking out for their savings and retirement funds by not following the developing Occupy Wall Street story.
Nick
September 29, 2011Yeah, I want to note that I didn’t mean to imply that individual NYPD officers were the enemy– they too are a part of the 99%, this movement is for them as much as it is for everybody else.
I just get very frustrated that the institution as a whole systematically defends its own when they do wrong. I believe we should hold the police to a far higher standard than we hold other citizens, given that we grant them local monopolies on the legal use of (sometimes lethal) force, and because they are one of the most prominent and visible representatives of the government that most people see and interact with in day-to-day life.
But the problem is that even honest, hard-working cops are often a part of the culture that helps sweep transgressions under the rug. And sure, it’s hard to blame them; it’s natural to want to protect the people who serve with you, given the bonds that you form. We just need to expect them to rise above that, and the need to expect that of each other, knowing that the reputation of the police force is on the line every time they don’t.
The question is, how do we change that culture? Systematic problems are by their nature difficult to deal with, which also tends to lead to a lot of anger and frustration.
Byron King
September 30, 2011I understand what you are saying and agree.
it is definitely a dilemma. The same can be said for our soldiers who have also done terrible acts.
This goes deeper than government I believe and deals closer to the fight or flight response.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response
That’s the problem.
Our only solution is evolution and we won’t see that in our lifetimes I’m pretty sure, unless biotech gets involved and even with that it could swing either way.
Stacy
October 2, 2011Great hashtag graphics. Also, I like how you included both protester and police viewpoints in this one. It is crazy how something like this hasn’t been all over the news since the beginning. It seems like it should be one of those things that everybody is talking about, but I guess it was bad timing with really important things like the start of the college football season going on. Anyway, I did finally see a story about it on the MSN homepage, so I thought I’d share. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44742659/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Matt
October 2, 2011I came across this earlier. I bet you’ve seen it but if not you can read it now:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/02/us-wallstreet-protests-idUSTRE7900BL20111002
It’s about the wall street protests
Stacy
October 5, 2011I just came across this slideshow of the Occupy Wall Street protests. http://www.slate.com/slideshows/news_and_politics/wall-street-protest.html