2017 and I’m ashamed of Both of You. Read a book on Citizenry. Then go to your rooms.

“The gubbermint used ta po-lice to break us up!”

“Police are racists, they broke up our protest!”

“What kind of government needs to use force to stop speech?!”

Here’s a better question.

What kind of protesters are you that officers must to be used against you for the safety of your own community?  That officers have to respond with weapons drawn - in fear of their lives and the lives of others?

What happened to civility?   To discussion?   To our ability to have discourse, rhetoric and informed argument without resorting to tear gas?  When did we start stealing each other’s property and lighting it on fire, or wearing masks to town hall discussions?   Why is it okay to kick people off campus by violence if you don’t like white skin color, or make privileged, threatening demands of law enforcement? 

You want to point the finger at the police – but in the many protests I’ve been to (as an officer and an observer) I have yet to see things kicked off by an officer.   I’ve seen officers take defensive positions, I’ve seen officers draw weapons (well within their own rules of engagement, btw) and I’ve seen citizens who don’t have the faintest clue what their responsibilities as citizens are.   

What I’ve seen are hundreds of citizens who have no idea what the police are actually for, or actually do, in this society.   (Maybe they were at Protesting 101 that day, instead of Citizenry 102). 

Great example.   Did you know that in over half of the United States, you are committing either a misdemeanor or a low-grade felony by wearing a mask or hoodie with the intent to conceal your identity during a protest?   

That’s not a joke, folks.   Read your local laws.   City, state AND local.  That’s your responsibility anyway – not the responsibility of the cop who is arresting you while you scream about knowing “your rights”.  (BTW, rights?  Not the same as legal responsibilities, legal freedoms, expectation to abide by ordinances, or etc.) 

Those Guy Fawkes masks, the face bandannas, the Anti-Fa black and red face shields – wearing them in public is illegal in almost half the US.   Including Washington DC, where protestors have been allowed to slide on that particular law so many times it isn’t funny.  If a Police Chief in Alabama, DC, Harrisburg or Florida ever decides to – every single protestor with a hoodie or a mask is going to prison and doing 3-6 months from evidence provided by their own cell phone cameras.  

When a cop gives you an order to take the mask off– and it IS an order – he isn’t being a dick.   He’s giving you the opportunity to avoid arrest.   He’s being nice. 

Yet the screams of “My 1^st Amendment rights!” echo incongruously through the halls (or the streets, more recently) as protestors are either un-masked or arrested for wearing them and inciting violence.

Here’s another.    In several states (check your local laws, people) – you are REQUIRED to identify yourself to an officer when asked.   It’s a lawful order.  Whether you’re wearing your cute little face mask or not – you are required by law in many states to carry identification “sufficient to identify a citizen to a reasonable person” and present it when asked by a law enforcement officer.  

When the cop asks you for ID – again, most of the time, he isn’t ‘asking’.   He’s giving you a polite opportunity to comply, instead of being (completely legally) a hard ass about it.  It isn’t his job to teach you the law – it’s your responsibility to know it. 

Another fun fact – those workshops you go to on how to protest effectively, rather than just (you know) learning to discuss things effectively – those make your later actions into pre-meditated crimes.  The people giving the workshop (generally lawyers, who will generally profit off of you later) throw up their hands and say “we told them not to!”, but you went out and committed felonies, or assault, or property damage – after attending clinic on how to do it without getting caught. 

That can be used to prove that you had prior intention.   Hence, pre-meditation.   Which in several states bumps the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony.   True story.   I just watched a string of arrests from the Pope’s visit get turned into felony convictions on just that fact. 

Last fun fact, and then we’ll call it a day.

Your first amendment right protects your right to free speech.  And the right to assemble.   On public land.  Or with permission, on private.   It protects your right to freedom of expression (within limits narrowly defined by the Supreme Court – limits which you REALLY need to know). 

It does NOT protect you from the consequences of it.  

If you shove someone as part of your “free expression”, you have still committed assault and are now eligible for a pretty new pair of shiny wrist bracelets. 

If you get fired when your employer recognizes you on YouTube punching a cop in the mouth – you have no legal recourse.  At least the county jail will be willing to provide you room and board for a few months.   

If you protest vigorously and spill over onto private property – in many states the property owner has the right to open fire with a weapon in defense of his home, or demand the police forcibly remove you – and you have little to no legal protections from either.

And finally – if the police tell you to disperse?   Parties over.   No way to win that argument – it’s a lawful order.  Your right to be on that land (public land, the land which is held in the interest of/controlled by local government) has been revoked by representatives of that local government.  

No amount of wailing or fighting back will help you.   You can file complaints later against the officers if you really feel that butthurt about it.  Screaming and complaining about how unfair things are to your generation?   Throwing punches because you have “the right” to be heard?   That kinda thing won’t change anyone’s mind. 

It will get you on YouTube, though.    And in the county jail. 

Hard enough to get a job right now – do you really want to have to disclose a criminal record to Wal-Mart the next time you apply?