Sunday, September 18, 2011
In June, capitol police officers threatened to arrest Lt. Dan Choi and other LGBT rights activists who were peacefully protesting outside the capitol building in Topeka, if they did not dispose of the potentially dangerous weapons in their hands.
These “weapons” were American flags.
It isn’t difficult to see that the officers’ concerns had little to do with the actual flagpoles themselves. Even if American flags, symbols of patriotism, were somehow a display of potential violence, this issue did not come up until this specific group was demonstrating outside the capitol building.
Had it been an anti-immigration group or a pro-life demonstration in the same location, I have a feeling American flags on flagpoles would not have been an issue.
Because of this treatment by the capitol police and the discrimination it implied, the Kansas Equality Coalition and the Kansas National Organization for Women found a way to respond—again, peacefully. They had a pro-LGBT rights rally on the capitol steps again, and this time, they brought flags without poles.
There are various methods of peaceful protest, some considered effective, some considered ineffective. Sometimes a method of protest that seems peaceful to one person may be termed violent by another. In the U.S., as long as we are peaceful, our speech and assembly are protected—that is, unless a situation like Dan Choi’s protest occurs.
But if our free speech is tampered with, we have ways to address the issue and fight back.
In Syria, peaceful protest has not been protected. The government has ordered troops to respond with violence to peaceful demonstrators. Over 1,700 people have been killed since January, according to various human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
In Egypt, peaceful protest brought down a regime. But now, more anti-Mubarak protestors are demanding the former president be handed the death penalty swiftly. Protestors who once used peace are now turning to violence in response to a political figure who implemented so much violence against those protestors to begin with. The climate in Egypt is not conducive to a fair trial for Mubarak. With that in mind, the question is whether this form of violence, the death penalty, is legitimate, and whether its legitimatization makes it acceptable.
In the rest of this opinion series on protest and peace, columnists will explore various methods of protest, the cultural implications and sources of these methods, what qualifies as peaceful, and whether different methods are successful.
It is our hope that these discussions provide a back drop for further conversation on what we view as peaceful in the United States and in what ways we can make effective change through protest.
— Cosby is senior in English and political science from Overland Park. Follow her on Twitter @KellyCosby.
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Comments
Cosby: Peaceful protestors fly flags without poles
Did I get this right...you start by talking about police officers in Topeka worried about protesters carrying staves (flag poles) and somehow you connect this to protesters being killed and beaten in foreign countries. Good job with the double speak, but the two have little to do with the other.
For the record, I was trained to defend against rioters with a baton about the size of a flag pole. So I can see the point of the police officers even if it is something that you can't.
Cosby: Peaceful protestors fly flags without poles
American flags are now considered weapons by DC police officers? Is this some Lewis Carroll allegory or something?
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