In every movement there is a moment and an iconic image that seals its fate. Think the shootings at Kent State. Think the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein. Or the World War II photograph of soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima. The images of UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike callously and maliciously pepper spraying these students is one of these iconic images.
Students at UC Davis Friday during an Occupy Wall Street non-​violent protest were pepper sprayed by police point blank, in the face, by Lt. Pike, and other cops, and just sat there, passively, and took it.
Watch: Shocking Video Of Police Pepper Spraying UC Davis Students
Lt. Pike, who makes over $100,000 year as a UC Davis police officer, has been the focus of many who quickly identified him. His actions are reprehensible and he will spend the rest of his days living with the knowledge that he physically and emotionally tortured young students — no doubt many in their teens — in what is, in all likelihood an act that is illegal, as already determined by the California Supreme Court. (More o that soon — check back for a later post.)
Know also, as we see in this video, Lt. Pike was not the only one who pepper sprayed these kids — and they, for all their heroic activism and refusal to fight back — are kids. They are your sisters and brothers, your little nephew, your next door neighbor’s daughter.
Efforts are underway to have the Chancellor resign and the police fired. I fully support this.
For now, watch this entire video. I cannot watch it in one viewing, but you must watch it in as long as it takes.
And then share this video and this story.
Sadly, Google News, for whatever reason, has burned this story. We cannot allow this story to go untold.
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