It is annoying to me that everyone goes so goddamn crazy over the violence of the police at demonstrations. Yes, be outraged, I guess, but its nothing new, especially if you live in the colonies, the ghettos of this country, where police brutality is an everyday thing. I have this sense of "quit whining" when white, privileged activists especially, seem to think that this is not how the police are supposed to act. I guess if you don't encounter this kind of violence everyday, its probably shocking, sure... But what do you expect?

I am not of the politic that we should blame the victims... So if windows get trashed, or people defend themselves against frustrated or trigger happy pigs and then the state increases its power, I am not about to throw the blame on to the protestors. I just think that its interesting that the US is about war everywhere else (and here as well against the poor, people of color, working class, indigenous), but when there are mild instances of police brutality at demos here, everyone thinks the world is ending... get real!!!

Two wrongs don't make a right. These people are being beat up unjustly, so there should be protest.

The larger issue of white privilege in protests is important, too, but, not immediately germane to the issue.

Besides, if you ever go to any of these demos, there's a pretty good number of POC demonstrators, at least in LA. Whites usually dominate numerically only at the real big demonstrations, but POCs tend to outnumber whites at labor events, smaller demos, community demos, immigration demos, and basically everything *but* "peace" demos.

The LA black blocs are usually half POC. So, who's really on the cutting edge of change here?

Some white activists are like Laker fans -- they only show up when there's a big game and the home team is winning. They're hooked on television (and seem to create and operate television... so maybe there's a connection).

The big media like to play up the image of the college radical trust funder, but, that's because the people working in big media are also middle class people who went to college with the radicals. They have myopia and prejudices. There are a lot of other radicals who are just working at regular jobs.

You don't see working class radicals in the media for the same reason you don't see many working class people in the media (aside from rock stars and rappers). The big media are not working class -- they are middle class media consumers, film schoolers, and so forth. They're socially liberal, but uptight about giving media access to people unlike themselves (white, middle class, moderate).

I'm just out here straddling the classes, straddling the categories.

WHAT YOU REAP IS WHAT YOU_______ THIS MESSEGE AND POST IS OUT OF FRUSTRATION.....I CANT GET MY BEST FRIENDS FATHER TO PAY FOR HIS CHILDREN,,,,THERE IS NO HEALTH CARE ...NOBODY GIVES A DAM. BUT WE CAN GO TO WAR....PLEASE THERE ARE MEN LIKE THIS WHO LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW WHO GET AWAY WITH NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING, THEY ARE PROTECTED BY MONEY AND IMAGE......BUT BUSH WANTS TO LOOK FOR EVIL WHEN THE EVIL IS WITHIN....I DONT KNOW WHO DRAVENLEE IS BUT THANK YOU...