Sample:
During the 1980s, the activist group I worked with finally figured out how come the Klan and Nazis kept having rallies in places where they were absolutely going to be shouted down by the opposition. They didn't hope to persuade any of us to change our minds, and they knew they were pissing off the neighborhoods they intruded upon. But because of that antagonism, they had to be surrounded by cops two or three rows deep, cops who were facing screaming commies, Jews, lesbians, and POC. Those cops were the Klan's recruitment target.
2 comments:
One of the most terrifying moments of my life was during the infamous nazis-in-Skokie debacle (the subsequent march was in Marquette Park, July 1978) and the Chicago cops (legendary nice guys!) were 5-rows deep, as she says. Several were grinning, cussing and gesturing (with billy clubs!) for one of my especially-hotheaded male friends to break the police line. We had to hold him back. It took about 4 of us. But we knew they would kill him.
At that moment, I remember thinking the cops and the nazis they were "protecting"--were all one entity. I never forgot that moment.
Yeah. Last I heard, direct confrontation is not being used anymore in favor of different tactics, in the same manner that threats of Westboro appearances are now fundraisers.
Sometimes, humans get smarter.
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