wow tonight's protests are so exciting and inspiring! how i wish i was in new york to participate and witness.  i know I'm always going on about occupy wall street but these new protests, especially what I'm seeing in new york, seem to be following the occupy style in many ways. young, vital, diverse. peaceful, flexible, no preplanned permitted demonstrations, not the usual suspects. warm hearted, sincere, patriotic. and they even do the mike check communication technique.  i imagine many of the people who were in the streets during occupy are out there tonight.  as i write I'm watching (tv) the first large scale arrests of the protesters in new york. some were caught off guard in times square; some are deliberate acts of civil disobedience- noncompliant nonviolent seated protesters blocking traffic and expecting arrest.

id like to slightly amend my emotional post last night.  I've seen some of the newly released footage of the incident. i said garner's hands were up.  having seen more of the videos, he may have simply been putting his hands up to avoid being cuffed. if so, he made a mistake when he did not comply. it was a dangerous move but it should not have been a deadly one.  he wasn't aggressive. 6 professional well trained police should not have almost immediately escalated the situation. they should not have jumped immediately to violent physical force. their response was so out of proportion to the transgression.

worse than that is the callous treatment he received after he collapsed, repeating over and over again, i can't breathe.  it sorta looked like the cops and emts just considered it his problem, brought on by his bad behavior, not theirs.  emts rescued my own mom less than a month ago, (why I'm not in new york) they got oxygen to her within a minute.  when i look at the video of the police, emts and eric garner its so obvious he's not getting treatment. the emt leans over him saying something like "wake up, c'mon now, work with us" heal yourself you malingerer.

i reiterate, i believe this weird contempt stems from the dehumanization necessary to carry out the illegal searches and seizures required by stop and frisk. it gives police of all ethnicities the idea that its ok to disrespect and disregard people of african descent. i know policing is tough, dangerous and often scary and police make mistakes. better policies, training and leadership could have saved
this life and others.

this man was known to police for selling cigarettes. it's common in new york that someone comes into a bar walks through and discretely offers cigarettes for sale.  they buy them in bulk in states that have a low tobacco tax and then go from bar to bar in the east village or any nabe and sell them.  cheaper than elsewhere. squads of 6 cops are handling this?! with deadly force?!  please, nypd- serve me by protecting me from violent crime, not a guy selling cigarettes, one at a time, to support his family!