Attack of Scott Olsen Evokes Emotion In Protesters Nationwide
Scott Olsen is a 24 year old Iraq veteran, fulfilling two tours, who took a blow to the head yesterday by a police projectile from the Oakland police department. He is currently in Highland hospital with a fractured skull and brain swelling. The question being asked is what hit him. Keith Shannon, Olsen’s roommate, is now at the hospital. The two met while serving in the US Marines together. “It’s terrible to go over to Iraq twice and come back injured, and then get injured by the police that are supposed to be protecting us,” he said. Shannon said it appears Olsen was hit in the head by a tear gas or smoke canister shot by an Oakland police officer. Apparently, after Olsen was hit in the head he just dropped to the ground, and hit hard, a witness said. As the police stayed behind their lines, fellow protesters are the ones who not only came to Olsen’s rescue, but also who took him to Highland hospital in Oakland. As fellow protesters gathered around Olsen to help him a police officer threw an exploding device of some form into the circle of protesters, scattering them for a moment, only for them to return and pull Olsen to safety.
This incident has pushed a stone cold dagger into the emotions of Occupy protesters nationwide. At this current moment, a group of Marines, including Marine Shamar Thomas, just finished leading a massive march in New York City to show their solidarity with Occupy Oakland protesters. They took to the streets with haste, NYPD trying to block them in with policemen on scooters, the masses just running around them, taking backstreets, being chased, throwing trash cans into the streets to try and slow the police down while chanting “Our Streets our Streets” and “March For Oakland.” Protesters seized a kettle net and carried it like a trophy through traffic on Broadway… Marines still leading the way, chanting “March for Oakland!”
Here is a video of the incident.
There are a lot of people in our country who will dispute the video, dispute the incident. And I will say there are a lot of honorable police officers in our wide nation, however certain ones in this crowd definitely appear to need more training. However, for every slip up an officer makes, for every explosive device an armed officer throws into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators, thousands will use their voices, bodies, laptops, social medias to fight back with non-violence. Now is the time to unite, come together in solidarity. “A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” -MLK. Demonstrators are learning more and more with each day, with each arrest, with each baton bean bag round pepper spray punch kick hit abuse of power. We have more information at our fingertips than any generation who has risen up. I do not think we will overthrow the government, and truthfully that is not something I am promoting. The people are saying this system is broken, I am saying this system is broken… we are the 99%… we are the generation raped of hope, gifted a diminished future… it is up to us to make the needed changes… and until we, as a consensus, feel alright about things, we will occupy our streets, our social media outlets, our stairs of congress, our city halls lawns and sidewalks.
Let positive thoughts and vibes to go out Scott Olsen and hopes for safety upon all who rebel for a better world.
-andrew spearman blake