Bush 'chain gang' attacked in Memphis; Protesters claim police ignored street scuffle

[rawstory]

MEMPHIS – Memphis police officers observed an attack on anti-Bush protesters but drove away and failed to intervene, two activists who were on the scene told RAW STORY.

"We were down on Beale Street late on Friday night ," said Barbara Cummings, a peace activist with the Backbone Campaign, self-described as "a grassroots effort to embolden citizens and elected officials to stand up for progressive values." Cummings, a grandmother from Spring Valley, California, had come to Memphis to attend the Free Press National Media Reform Conference, but believes her own free speech was curtailed while in attendance.

The Backbone Campaign had staged a march down Beale Street, the musical heart of Memphis, which included individuals representing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but clad in prisoners’ garb. Another member accompanied the marchers, while reading aloud a list of war crimes allegedly committed by the Bush Administration.

At first, Cummings recalled, "we were very well received. People were smiling, taking pictures, and saying 'Thank you.' In the second block, we had a veteran in a wheelchair guiding us. I sensed rather than heard something going on. I couldn’t get the mask off at first."

(Police comment at end: Sergeant Vince Higgins, public information officer with the Memphis Police Department, told RAW STORY that the victims should report the alleged attack. "My first priority is to make sure that the public is protected,” said Higgins, who pledged to document and investigate the complaints if a police report is filed.)

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_chain_gang_attacked_in_Memphis_0117.html

[tanyev]

1. A very confused young Iraq vet.

According to both activists, after the Memphis police officers left, the scuffle concluded and the protesters walked away. However, a young Iraq war veteran, who "had obviously been drinking and was very emotional," then confronted the group.

"Why are you doing this to our President?" the veteran asked. "You don’t understand what we’ve been through and what we’ve done."

He then reportedly told the protesters that he harbored doubts about the President’s role in the 9-11 terror attacks.

"What if he did it?" the vet asked rhetorically, according to Cummings, a long-time peace activist who volunteers at military hospitals to assist wounded soldiers. "But he’s still the Commander in Chief. We thought we were killing Iraqis to protect you.’"

He's going to need some help.

[goforit]

2. Memphis has always been a dirty thuggish town...nothing new!!!

[happyslug]

6. The town that started the first Civil Rights Movement.

Here is the report on the 1866 Memphis Riot that lead Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (and the 14th Amendment to make sure the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was Constitutional)

For more on the Memphis Police Riot of 1866 see:
http://www.freedmensbureau.com/tennessee/outrages/memphisriot.htm

Paragraph 1 of the 14th Amendment reads as follows:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The 14th is the most important Amendment to the Constitution ever made. The rest of the Amendment is minor compared to the First Paragraph. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Still on the books) was the most effective Civil Rights era (even after being gutted in the Civil Rights Cases on the 1880s). Both the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 came out of the Memphis Police Riot of 1866.

[rodeodance]

3. the demonstrators are seen as the enemy---not the 'public' (the good guys)

[damntexdem]

4. And if we saw someone being murdered, ...

we'd expect the corpse to come in and file a complaint, so we could investigate.

[Doctor_J]

5. Sadly, we will probably need to soon

arm ourselves before attending peace marches or any other anti-administration exhibitions. The wingers are not taking well to the Coward In Chief being reined in.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. K&R here's a 5th vote