http://oxthepunx.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/arrested/<excerpt>
Yesterday, I was beaten, arrested, and jailed for participating in an act of civil disobedience against the privatization of education and criminalization of dissent in California.
I’ve spent the last day trying to process what happened, and writing this is an attempt to get it out of my mind and on to paper (having spent last night on a cement floor, I could use some mental solace). There’s nothing exceptional about my experience, and yet, even knowing that, I write this grappling with a feeling of voicelessness and powerlessness that I have never before experienced. I know that, once you start talking about “police brutality” and “police states”, you enter into a group of wild-eyed conspiracy theorists that most Americans dismiss out of hand. I can’t control that portrayal, but for whatever reason, I need to talk about what happened, even if I can’t figure out why it has affected me so much.
...
I was in front, near the side of the encampment. A female officer walked up to me and started stabbing me in the ribs with her baton as I screamed at her that I was peaceful and not resisting her in any way. She ordered me to back up. This was impossible since there were lines of people behind me, and, perceiving me as refusing to comply with her orders, she continued stabbing me. I buckled over, letting go of the people around me, because at this point I realized that only by being arrested would the beating stop. I threw my hands up into peace signs and shouted that I wanted to be arrested non-violently. I was not afforded that option. I was dragged through the officers despite my attempts to comply with the officers out of my own volition. I put my hands behind my back, but they threw me to the ground anyway. I turned to ask what the charges were and an officer punched me back to the ground. (If you think I’m pulling this out of my ass, watch this video at 1:40)
They cuffed me and dragged me into Sproul Hall, where they were holding around thirty of us. An officer came and asked me my name, and I told it to her. She then started firing off questions, and I politely told her that before I did that, I wanted to know my rights at this point in the process and when I would be able to speak to a lawyer. She responded, “You have no rights”, to which I responded “That’s impossible.” In one of many disturbing moments of the night, she informed me that I was wrong – and wrote me down as a non-cooperative arrestee. That simple request will earn me extra harsh treatment in the student disciplinary process, she assured me. Throughout the night, we were referred to as “bodies” not “people.” I was never Mirandized.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
