I read with mixed emotions the news reports out of Oakland, California that described yesterday's clashes between police and the 'Occupy Oakland' protesters who were in the process of marching toward a vacant convention center. The protesters planned to take over the empty facility and the police blocked their path. Words flew and tempers flared, and then things turned ugly.
According to the police, protesters bombarded police with debris ranging from rocks and bottles to burning flares and explosive devices. 'Occupy' protesters accused the police of attacking them with tear gas, rubber beanbags and rubber bullets. Whichever version you choose to believe, it's pretty clear that both sides resorted to violence of some fashion. That's why I have mixed emotions. I detest violence, but at the same time, I'm deeply offended by the brutally, unsympathetic economic injustices that are championed in this nation in the name of maintaining our Almighty God of Capitalism. When should our human sacrifice end?
Jesus Christ, Mahatma Ghandi and Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. continuously preached that non-violent resistance was the only true means of achieving an end to political and economic oppression. I truly believe they were right, but I also acknowledge that staring down oppression with non-violence takes more courage than a lot folks are willing or capable of summoning. Fighting oppression with violence is an instinctive response, whereas non-violent resistance is counter intuitive to everything it means to be human. In simpler words, it's easier and more natural to fight than turn the other cheek.
In my heart, I want to calm my 'Occupy Oakland' brethren with peaceful words to soothe their anger and their rage, but in the next breath, I want to exhort them to pick up arms and bloody the streets to force this nation into recognizing the terrible injustices it inflicts on the meek and lowly on a daily basis. Appealing to the better angels of our nation's capitalists hasn't seemed to work; it's hard to refute the argument that force and violence are the only things that will.
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