Reply #69: Not only is it not legitimat, it isn't Constitutional!

[bobbolink]

"It's tragic and it's entirely possible to stop, if only we had the support of those who actually have political power."

You are looking in the wrong direction. It is up to ALL of us to stop this! We work on other issues, but on this one we shake our heads and walk the other way.

Not too long ago, a town in western Colorado had problems with the police harrassing homeless people. Finally, they actually went to the encampment where a number of homeless people were living in tents, and pepper sprayed their clothes and belongings, so they were rendered unuseable, and slashed some of the tents.

A local group of young people went to the encampment, took pictures of the damage and interviewed the tent city residents and gathered the evidence, and successfully fought this. They ended up getting two cops fired immediately, and another one was fired later, and two were put on leave and resigned!

These were young people with no resources, no legal training, no nothing except a strong sense of justice and that they were supposed to "do something". And "do something" they did!

The homeless people in that town now know they have friends there, and know they don't have to keep eating injustice, and the cops know they are being watched, and are responsible for their behavior.

Everyone of us can do this!

WE just have to admit to ourselves that we CAN, and that we MUST.