![]() "Military police pounced on peaceful protesters. Here is the accepted narrative anyone who contradicts it is liable to lose a job in academia or be ostracized by liberal friends (emphasis added in the below quotes). The media, reporting on the events of June 1, have continually stressed the modifier "peaceful" with regard to the protesters at Lafayette Square. I repeat the words "peaceful" and "protester" again and again here to prove a point. The "peaceful protester" I spoke to on that balmy Monday was, however, fed not by President Trump but by well-wishers and fellow travelers, identities unknown, who left dumps of food and water bottles (mostly used as projectiles by the "peaceful protesters") on every street corner. A party of Royal Engineers ate a good dinner at President James Madison's expense before getting down to their act of national vandalism: "So unexpected was our entry and capture of Washington," British Major General Robert Ross later wrote, "when our advance party entered the President's house, they found a table laid for forty." The invaders torched all the official buildings, including the White House. 24, 1814, the British took the city nearly unopposed. ![]() Of course, as everyone knows, the White House has been burned before by enemies of the republic: On Aug. Also, as a veteran of Washinton's 1980s punk scene, I could conjure the juvenile attitude of wanton destruction (F- Reagan! F- the Police! F- everything! Tear it all down!) and could put it on again when necessary, like a tattered old jean jacket held together with Clash buttons, safety pins, and nostalgia. I'm a novelist.) People just assume the camera is on their side. I found that most people would talk candidly to a man carrying a camera pretending to be a photojournalist. This was my first foray with my daughter's camera into the protesting crowds. What looked like an eastern European army surplus infantryman's helmet hung at his side. He wore black cargo shorts, military boots, and a homemade "anarchy" T-shirt and carried a heavy black backpack full of something I didn't ask about. He was about 25 years old, thin (bordering on anemic), and had a scraggly beard and many tattoos. The "peaceful protester" was white, as was most of the crowd that day. It all sounded like good fun: the rioting, the vandalizing of revered public monuments, the smashing of windows, the burning, the looting - exactly what you'd do on a dull Sunday night during lockdown after you've seen everything there is to see on Netflix. "Bricks, rocks, bottles - they decided to get us back." "We were giving it to them good," he laughed. "Why did they shoot you off the roof?" I asked. In fact, being shot by the rubber bullets of riot-clad park policemen and other law enforcement agents excited him enough to make him want to burn everything down, including the White House itself. The "peaceful protester" in question had been atop the maintenance structure in Lafayette Square the night before and was among those who set it on fire, he said. This was late afternoon on June 1, about an hour before Trump made his much-criticized walk from the White House across Lafayette Square to St. ![]() The "peaceful protester" lifted up his shirt to show me where he'd been hit by rubber bullets the night before - three or four round, red welts about the size of quarters. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |