S.I.T R.E.P

Umass Superbowl “riot”

I was at the superbowl “riot” on Sunday.  I will never understand “rioting” over sports, but lets be serious when we talk about this “riot”; it was not a riot.  There was no property destruction, very few if any people were out of control and the only people being aggressive were the UMPD and State troopers. 

I arrived in SouthWest at most 15 min after the game ended, and no sooner had I arrived, the UMPD was firing less than lethal pepper pellets at the crowd.  They were throwing flashbangs to “disperse” the crowd.  I’m sure they’ll claim that they were “out-of-control” but that would be the farthest thing from the truth.  Most students didn’t even go there to riot, they were there to watch the “rioters”, they were spectators to something that would not be.  

The Umass Alarm system sounded as almost a beckoning call for students to come to SW.  Nothing the administration did was constructive.  They sent out emails telling students in more words, “don’t riot”.  They had riot police in full riot gear stationed in SW before anything even happend.  The scheduled signing in sheets at 4pm.  They used extreme force to “prevent” a possible riot.  

The police violence was within reason, if reason is defined as overreaction and provocation.  They fired on the crowd to “disperse” them, when it is well within our rights as students to gather.  Freedom of Assembly is guaranteed by the constitution and for these officers and the administration to act as if a gathering of students is a “riot” is a clear violation of our constitutional rights.   The use of overwhelming force and militaristic tactics to break up a peaceful assembly is nothing new of course and based on Umass’s record its almost understandable why they administration acted how they did.  However without provocation they fired, charged the crowd with horses and threw flashbangs.  They arrested students who did nothing but verbally dissent to police commands.  It was exhilarating (I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie) but defiantly in violation of our rights.  

In this modern police state that we live in, the police are kings.  Their modest operandi is fear and intimidation.  In which they can do no wrong, and by no wrong I mean beatings, shootings, torture.  They can lie to the judge, lie to the media, but there will always be those in the public who can see through their propaganda.  The black community has experienced this since the dawn of our nation, the poor have always received the brunt of police brutality.  Now it has reached the doorstep of middle-class white America, and it’s only a matter of time before we either rebel, or follow an Orwellian path. 

In a square time

They assembled in-front of us, readying a line of advance.  I could hear cries of “hold the line”, from the white shirts, the supervisors.  The air was tense with anticipation, with fear, with dread.  Slowly they advanced, pushing, shoving, shouting.  They advanced in a phalanx, pushing the crowd back inch by inch, step by step.  Not heading the cries of resistance, of outrage, that the police were acting as if these protesters, these citizens where breaking the law, were rowdy.  

A gleam was in the eye of the officers, as if stating outwardly, “make a move, I dare you, resist.”  They wanted trouble, they needed trouble, to justify their actions.  After all these were citizens peacefully assembling.  Peacefully protesting, for their rights, against the corruption, the thievery of wall-street, of corporate America, and our political leaders.

Forced to protest in designated zones, blocked off by barriers from the public.  Caged as if wiled animals, that will strike, that will kill, that will destroy this precious civilization we have built upon their backs. They cry out in frustration, in anguish at the futility of our system, at the injustice.  They are heard through the baton of the patrolmen.  They are greeted by white zip ties.  They welcome the day, facing the cold dark pavement of the street.  

Officers of the law, civil servants of the people, guard banks in the hundreds.  Stand idly around joking, laughing about the protests, about their lot protecting those who have destroyed this country and so many lives.  Sniveling at protesters who walk by.

This is the state of our country.  People herded down the street, into the street, told to leave, yet forced to stay.  Arrested for not following orders.  Orders they were not allowed to follow. Civil disobedience, can not be civil.  They have destroyed the civility in it, when they respond with a baton to the face.  When they respond with pepper spray to the eyes.  When they respond with tear gas.  

Platoons of police patrol the streets, the park is filled with the riot police.  The entrances are blocked by 10 patrolmen.  Inside they line up to prevent people from entering.  All those inside have been detained.  The paddy wagons drive in.  One by one they load them in the trucks waiting to take them to holding cells.  For what?  For civil disobedience? 

Now they push us down the street, mounted police, strobe lights.  Inch by inch, step by step they push us back slowly, peaceably, yet forcefully.  Off the public sidewalk.  So that “pedestrians” might pass.  We must clear the side walk for ourselves.  If we are not “pedestrians”, if we are not “citizens”, who are?