The short version of the Stranger item below about Acting Police chief Adrian Diaz reversing one Office of Police Accountability (OPA) finding sustaining a complaint of exceeding departmental guidelines against the incident commander for events in June 2020. RantWoman thinks EVERYONE should keep this decision in perspective.
--This decision does NOT undo progress about many police accountability measures even if there is still considerable room for improvement. People have every right to be outraged about police violence against mostly non-violent people protesting police brutality--AND OPA needs to work AT LEAST as well for innumberable individaul situations as it does for mass protests
--Paraphrasing: "police haven't learning anything in 20 years since WTO. Uhh, 20 years is a whole generation.
--RantWoman appreciates the video linked in the Stranger article for illuminating both the famous pink umbrella incident discussed further below and the point that no dispersal order seems to have been given as required before tear gas is used.
--RantWoman thinks it is reasonable and appropriate for the police chief to take responsibility if guidelines were unclear or if communications were garbled. It would be nice if text messages between Mayor Durkan and the police and fire chiefs were available for Monday morning quarterbacks to comb through but they are not. So let's consider comparisons:
WTO vs summer 2020
Heads gotta roll:
--after 1999 events,
--Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper retired.
--Seattle mayor Paul Schell lost his bid for re-election
--After the summer of 2020
--Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best retired
--Mayor Jenny Durkan is taking a pass, not even running for a second term.
Outrage on Capitol Hill:
--1999: People on Capitol Hill not charmed by a few days protests in November / December. One iconic photo of King County officer pepper spraying a woman in her car.
--2020: People on Capitol Hill, the whole neighborhood, especially people living near the East Precinct DEFINITELY NOT CHARMED by weeks and weeks of tear gas and late night chopper flights.
Demonstrator behavior
--1999:
--no reports that RantWoman remembers of attempting to set fire to the east Precinct
--Police testified during the followup hearings after WTO that they were very afraid demonstrators were going to breach the East Precinct.
--RantWoman remembers some issues with graffitti and limited property damage.
--Less than lethal weapons such as rubber bullets plenty damaging.
--plenty of rumors, innuendo, and misinformation.
--2020
--Um, yeah, why would anyone NOT expect the police to be upset by demonstrations near their house?
--It's a pro police accountability anti police brutality protest so where else does anyone expect people to protest?
--RantWoman does not care if people complain about the "peace police." These days there is just oo much vandalism and too many people mindlessly pitching obnoxious projectiles at police.
--Less than lethal weapons such as rubber bullets plenty damaging.
--plenty of rumors, innuendo and misinformation.
RantWoman regrets not having at the tip of her tongue / fingers suggested readings about sustained campaigns for justice where nonviolence overpowered the urge to throw rocks.
When RantWoman thinks of umbrellas and protests, she thinks of
--the pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong
--The demonstrators in Khabarovsk opposed to the Russian central government efforts to undo the local election for governor
--The no-umbrellas but plenty of brutality protests in Belarus about longtime Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko suppressing the results of democratic elections.
--AND ..the "pink umbrella" incident from the summer 2020 protests against police brutality in Seattle.
These comments are in now way intended as an invitation for more police brutality against protestors. RantWoman hopes though that they contribute to the civic conversation.
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