Article: Rioting in the Streets

    I turn on my TV I see police in riot gear attacking civilians. I say to myself,"This must be Syria. Is it Yemen? Iran? NO! It is Oakland, CA, Portland, OR, New York City, Mobile, AL across the bay from where I live.
    So now the 'authorities' tell Occupy Wall Street (OWS)"You've had your say now your time is up. You've become an inconvenience so get out of sight where we don't have to be reminded that this country is "going down the drain."
    Go away! Your 1st Amendment rights to free speech, to freely assemble are hereby rescinded
    They certainly missed the point! Demonstrations against government wrong, social wrongs, any wrongs are supposed to be inconvenient. They are aimed at pricking the collective conscience. They should not, NO! They MUST not be swept under the rug to be ignored and forgotten.
    I have been following OWS since it began, long before the mainstream media could not ignore it any longer. I have watched the movement grow and spread from Wall Street to cities around this country. In fact the movement has spread around the world.
    Lately, however, there has been a disturbing trend of violence at the site of these demonstrations. Even Mobile, my back yard, has not been immune from this trend.
    What is the source this violence?
    It originates with the political authorities who wish to hide and minimize the impact of the OWS message. Why? It is an annoyance to those whom they serve. That is those who finance their campaigns. It is an embarrassment to those same politicians who wish the voters to remain ignorant, complacent and apathetic. They don't want us to see "behind the curtain."They would rather sweep us under the rug. Or in the case of Mobile hide the demonstrators under the I-10 highway where their inconvenient message won't be noticed. Won't prick their collective conscience.
    Who incites the violence?
    The protesters? No, they have gone out of their way to be peaceful, even compliant. They take their cue from the example of Mahatma Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    No, it is the police who attack the protesters on the orders of their political bosses.
    I am a veteran of the civil rights struggle, the the campaign to end the war in Viet Nam, To end war altogether. I have seen it many times before.
    Now I see it here in Mobile. My own back yard. 'Bull' Connor would be so proud.