What he is saying is that there is a professional way to deal with protests and an unprofessional one — a way to allow legitimate protest and a way to suppress it.
We are now seeing this dichotomy in various towns and cities around the country. In some places, peaceful dissent is welcomed and the authorities act appropriately to ensure it remains within bounds and also that the demonstrators are protected, while in other locales the opposite is the case.
I had a similar experience when I completed my tour at the time of the Vietnam conflict and came back to protest what I considered behavior antithetical to American ideals being perpetrated under false pretenses. Protestors were certainly emotional, but they were not violent. Very often the violence was on the other side. Never forget that no one was ever held to account for the murders of protests at Kent State.
It can happen here. It has.
The sergeant is right. Veterans need to stand up here for what they fought for there.
1 comment:
Olbermann should have asked him why he thought he wasn't arrested. Others were arrested for doing far less screaming at the cops. My guess is that there is a standing order at NYPD to keep hands of servicemen and women. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is a former marine and I'm sure he told his troops to leave the military alone. Without that uniform, Sergeant Thomas, being big, black and and loud as he was, would have definitely been arrested. Uniform or not, I commend the guy.
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