(Don't) Shut-up Stupid Sunday: Violence doesn't prove anything

Two men got in an argument over the idea that violence doesn't prove anything. One man got so mad that he slugged the other across the chin knocking him down. He screamed, “Now do you see my point?”

The other man looked up and said, “Hell no.”

The first man smiled and said, “Exactly!”

In cities across the nation, police supervisors (not the actual beat cops who have to deal with citizens on a daily basis) are beating up the OWS protesters. In Berkley a police supervisor walked back and forth pepper-spraying sitting protesters until they were taken to the hospital.

In Oakland, a 94 year old was pepper sprayed and a Iraq war vet was given a concussion and is now unable to speak.

In New York City a man was beaten and when a former supreme court judge who was acting as a legal observer told the cop to cuff him or let him go she was pinned against the wall and threatened.

In Chapel Hill the SWAT team raided the support camp for the occupy movement, threatening them with assault rifles.

In Tampa the police rolled out a Tank, actually a 12 ton armored personal carrier, to remove protesters. The Chinese government tried this tactic in the 90s on protesters in Tiananmen Square.

The response from government officials has been to say that, “the unwashed peasants and drugged up hippies are starting class warfare by calling the 1% names.” and that the Union members should, “Get a job.”

For some reason this message isn't catching on.

This violent response to the OWS movement has to stop. During the Tiananmen Square protests the US condemned the Chinese Government for sending Tanks to stop a peaceful movement. When the Egyptian Government used force against the protesters in Tahrir Square the US condemned the violence even while not taking a side.

By remaining silent as the police are sending the protesters to the hospital our leaders, even the ones who claim to be progressive, are showing exactly whose side they are on.

So to the politicians who claim that they are in favor of free speech but say nothing about the spreading violent response to the protesters, I say, “By staying silent you are complicit in the violence. If this sort of government sponsored violence were happening anywhere else in the world, you would be quick to condemn it. But here in America when city governments violently abuse their citizens the silence is deafening. I call on anyone who calls themselves a Government Official and a Human Being to stand up and say: The violence against the protesters must stop!”

By Darrell B. Nelson author of I KILLED THE MAN THAT WASN'T THERE