power to the people!

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So my friend from grad school is in town, again. We are like sisters, and she is a writer too, a brilliant one. She has been writing a good bit lately, like that switch in her brain that has been misfiring is now reconnected somehow.


In any case, last night she checked her news feed to find that women in Richmond, where we both lived while attending grad school, were arrested for a peaceful rally for women's rights while sitting on the capitol steps. I read the article in the Richmond Times, and I thought how unsurprising this was to me in regards to the extreme reaction by the Virginia Governor as well as law enforcement in Richmond in particular. They had weapons ready to "defend" themselves against unarmed people marching for individual rights. I mean, it is the same city where they have a Museum of the Confederacy, as if the Civil  War never ended.


Mindy, my friend, asked if they, meaning the government, didn't learn anything from the Civil Rights movement? I laughed a little, but while I tried to sleep last night, I kept thinking, NO. They haven't learned anything from the past. Human beings feel they are the only beings in the universe, oddly. Is it really that easy to believe that humans are the only life form in all the cosmos?

Everyone should have the right to protest against inequality, injustice and ignorance. If the 1st Amendment of the Constitution "protects the freedom of religion, speech, and the press, as well as the right to assemble and petition the government" then what is the problem? They assembled. It was a show of solidarity that the rights of women are still being restricted and that as a society, we are not going to stand by idly, although many will, and let our rights, those of women, be taken away or minimized. It's not like they showed up with clubs and pitchforks and torches to hunt down Governor McDonnell. But there were the police, stationed in front of the Capitol in full riot gear. FULL RIOT GEAR! WTF PEOPLE!

Can you say OVERREACTION?


I can't help but laugh, although it is not funny at all, at the stupidity of government officials and law enforcement. What was a peaceful protest against the Abortion Bill, could easily turn into something more sinister. Do we live in a police state? Is our government that clueless? As part of my "liberal education" I was taught that we, as a people, have rights. That we should be able to voice our objections when the Government makes decisions contrary to the voice of the people. This positioning of the Government to show force goes against everything I believe in as an American citizen, a woman and a believer in the democratic process. Nothing about their stance, the Government, screams Democracy. Instead it screams We do not care what you think. We just want you to shut up, sit down, and think what WE want you to think.


I will not be told what to think. I wish I had been in Richmond, been one of those strong, intelligent, feminists who stood before those dark, armed soldiers and said we will not be moved. We will not be silenced. Power to the people!


I have heard the call. I will not be silenced. I will not be one of those citizens who choose to turn a blind eye to what is happening to our society. There is a new voice ringing out, well not a new one, a resurgence of a voice long silenced by complacency. If we do not stand up and say this is not acceptable. This is not OUR country, then our rights and freedoms will continue to be taken away, our voices suppressed, erased, until finally there will be only unrest, again. Wake up and take a stand!