Wish me luck. I’m heading down to the protest/die in to take place immediate after the Eagles/Seahawks game in Philly. What could possibly go wrong?
Afterwards, providing everything goes well, I’ll be at Connie’s Ric Rac joining many other musicians to play Christmas songs, which, if you think about it, is fitting end to the evening. After all, Christmas celebrates the birth of the supposed Prince of Peace (if you believe in that sort of thing). Ol’ Jesus would definitely be protesting police brutality.
Stay safe, Brendan. You have written the National Lawyers Guild phone number on your arm in marker, haven’t you?
Hope there is a large enough crowd to make the crazies start retreating back into the woodwork.
Give us a report.
Considering what was up in Berkeley last night, you might want to find a good gas mask to take along. Be safe out there.
what they said.
Good luck and be safe.
Thanks for your civic contribution! It’s not easy to put yourself in the line of fire and risk arrest and harassment.
Unless shit erupted later, this was safe as milk. Cops did a good job.
Too safe, in some ways.
Cops completely blunted the impact by rerouting traffic so the precious Iggles fans didn’t have to see the dirty rotten preacher protesters.
That’s what coordination with the police get you, symbolic feel-good and ineffective direct action.
That said, getting the clergy into the street begins to mainstream the movement and that affects the political atmosphere and the attitudes of pubic officials.
Thanks for getting out there, Brendan. Even if it was pretty pro forma, having more people out helps.
NYC and Chicago tonight were much more confrontational. Berkeley is testing whether the Berkeley police are capable at all of not being brutal.
One of the Philly tweeters who threatened to shoot protesters has been doxed as an East Bucks County school guidance counselor and is likely to have her principal notified of her tweet advocating violence against protesters. For some folks, apparently her advocacy of violence against innocent people, even unseriously, crossed a line that justified an invasion of privacy. Isn’t the FBI through the NSA preventing domestic terrorism, or is that only a ruse to suppress lefties?
The cops were less concerned with the Iggles fans seeing protestors than a riot breaking out. While I believe riots have their due place, this was not that venue. I agree that the protest was pro forma, symbolic, and ineffective, but the last thing anyone needs is a fight with drunk Iggles fans. It would have served even less purpose.
For better or worse, the cops have figured it out in Philly: co-opt/tolerate the protests when you can. Some of that is good, some of that is bad. Sure beats the Timoney years though.
Yep, not the right place or situation at all. 100 non-violent protesters, a lot of which are clergy of laity who are philosophically non-violent against tens of thousand of Iggles fans some portion of which were ready to run over the protesters thinking they were “black thugs”. Not the battle you want to see unless you are in the business of creating martyrs–and we see how well the country reacted to Kent State in 1970.
It seems some of the folks at DeclarationPHL and Billy Penn have been in dialog with the PPD, which began with citizen media issues and broadened out to protest management. Because the PPD was awful with Occupy Philadelphia–worst of all in their use of horse patrols.
The real test is whether the policy issues are being moved forward to solution, not whether one tactic or another is comfortable.
There have now been Ferguson response demonstrations in every state of the union. And they will continue-how can anyone not participate in a Protest or two? In two days we reach the 5 month mark and we are still learning names of Americans-mostly black-who have been seriously injured or killed by cops who protect and serve themselves not the community.
Oh, and, there are bail funds in every city that need donations to support arrested protestors.