"It's like we don't have rights. Like we don't even live here."
Sitting outside the Black Dog cafe in lower St. Paul late Tuesday morning, a lanky kid in dreadlocks and a black Bob Marley T-shirt stopped, asked me for a light, and sat down next to me. It was drizzly and gray, and eerily quiet. The night before, nearly 300 people had been arrested by Minnesota police in a sweeping display of brute force. Among them were journalist Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers, both of whom were physically assaulted. With helicopters overheard and the National Guard out, it felt like a city under siege.
I asked the guy if he lived in St. Paul. "Yeah." It turned out he lives next door, in the building where I've been staying, an artist's co-op on Broadway Street. I was about to ask him what he thought about the scene here when he sort of laughed and said, "Yeah, you know -- I was just arrested."
Peacenik likes the spirit of Punditman's previous post with the Rage Against the Machine video. Nice to see someone cares as the assault on civil liberties, freedom of the press, and the right to protest, continues unabated. Watch the video and read this story. Restoring the right of assembly and protest should be the first priority of an Obama administration, but unfortunately Peacenik hasn't heard much from the politicians on this. Peacenik thinks they like their "free speech zones".
