

letter writers By letter writers The Kalamazoo Gazette
on April 21, 2012 at 6:00 AM
K0827GrantWalters.JPGGrant Walters

Do police have the right to use brutality against peaceful protesters?


Our nation has not experienced widespread cases of brutality against citizens since the Civil Rights Movement. However, some Americans recently experienced a bitter taste of the brutality law enforcers can use during the University of California-Davis protests in November.

College students at UC-Davis were camped outside in protest of tuition hikes and in support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Police sprayed students point-blank with pepper spray, and apprehended and arrested students with considerable force as protesters resisted leaving the school's quad on Nov. 18.

In this instance of protests, police acted inappropriately against students exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. The question is what constitutes “peaceful.” Students who refused to move their tents off the campus lawn and linking arms not allowing police to move them is not exactly “tranquil,” a synonym for peaceful in nature.

However, even the chancellor of UC-Davis, Linda Katehi, stated that force was not supposed to be used in the removal of students. Students have the right to protest whatever and wherever they see fit and about whatever they choose, as long as they abide by the laws set in place. Their cause was the proposed raised tuition for their school, and the government in general. Whether they had the right to spend the night in camps on the quad is debatable, but to pepper spray seated, peaceful students who were “resisting” is extremely out of line.

The officers were put on administrative leave right after the incident and claimed their actions were justified in the heat of the moment.

Living in a country such as the United States, we often take for granted the freedom and peace we possess. My heart goes out to all of those affected by this incident, but I believe that this should also make us appreciate the general lack of brutality from our military and police forces.

Grant Walters is a senior at Portage Central High School.


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