So When Did It Become Illegal To Be Angry At Cops?
The recent arrest of the eminent Harvard teacher Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by the Cambridge Police Department shocked me.
Back in the 1960’s civil rights workers became familiar with authoritarian law enforcement officers far exceeding their authority. At Kent State University the government people went so far as to shoot and kill unarmed students. The Wobblies and other labor organizers in the 1930’s sure understood the totalitarian tactics employed by the government people. In the 1800’s the American Indians lost out to the lies and heavy handed tactics of the government people who supposedly were charged with the responsibility to enforce civilized laws, including the protections outlined in the United States Constitution.
Looking back over the history of America it is hard to find a time when ignorant Napoleonic gun toting government workers ever consistently behaved in an appropriate fashion. It is very easy to get carried away with your own sense of self importance when you are wearing a uniform and are openly carrying a firearm. Subtle concepts like “constitutional protections” or “civil rights” are rarely very high on the priorities of either soldiers or cops.
It is not an exaggeration to say that law enforcement officers are frequently less than honest. Dishonest both in their dealings with the public and in the written reports that they file. This is in no way a justification of their deceit, it is just a simple fact of life. It is ingrained in their culture.
Americans are outraged at the actions of the KGB or the Nazi Storm Troopers. This is because the American military and American law enforcement people often engage in very much the same types of activities, just a bit milder. The American legislative branch in Washington D.C. is thwarting President Obama from closing the entirely illegal torture camp at Guantanamo. Recent reports even suggest that the CIA or other secret police forces funded by the U.S. Government may still be engaged in torture.
America continues to assassinate foreigners who we do like and do not agree with. Now we are doing it with unmanned aerial vehicles, rather than using hit squads. What difference does it make? These people are still dead, and without the benefit of ever being charged or convicted. Just someone in the American government decided “off with his head.” It no longer is even the King who is making this decision. Just some glorified government clerk.
Everyone carries a cell phone nowadays. My advice is: Always, without exception, if you are having any sort of a conversation with a law enforcement person (or for that matter anyone who works for the government), turn on the recorder function on your phone. Always record any conversations and interactions. These government people will certainly have an entirely different story afterwards, both about what you said and did and also about how they acted and what they said.
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