Commenting on the settlement received by the U.C. Davis
students who were pepper sprayed during a peaceful sit down demonstration on
campus last November, Chronicle columnist Debra
Saunders offers to get herself pepper sprayed for the $30,000 settlement
each student was awarded by the University. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/UC-Davis-pepper-sprayed-students-settle-3896116.php
(Read the very thoughtful comments too;
they are eloquent and make me feel this blog is redundant.)
I’d like to see that.
The trouble with this story, as with much of Saunders’
jaundiced and skewed view of the world, is that she twists the truth just enough
to weight the story in her favor. In
Debra’s world, because the students sat down in protest of tuition hikes, they
were asking to be pepper sprayed, and cannot now cry foul over that treatment. What
she doesn’t say is that the Davis students were also protesting police brutality
used against peacefully protesting Berkeley students just days before. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/20/18700509.php
But Debra doesn’t let the facts get in way of good
rant. In some bizarre alternate reality,
Debra tells us the students surrounded the cops, refused to leave and got
pepper-sprayed for their threatening posture.
Once again, it is clear to me that Debra must phone this column in from
outer space. Her own paper carried the story and the photos showing students seated on the ground, arms linked
together being pepper sprayed. While
other students may have protested outside the police circle, the ones who got
sprayed were the ones on the ground.
Civil disobedience is a longstanding tactic of the civil
rights movement, but where does it say that when college students engage in it,
whether protesting tuition hikes, striking for free speech or showing
solidarity for fellow students, those people protesting become willing participants
in having their eyes doused in chemicals designed to be used to subdue vicious
dogs, riot control or personal self-defense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_spray
Here are some other fun facts about pepper spray Debra might
want to ponder before offering up her eyes:
“When sprayed
directly at the face, the effects of pepper spray can be severely
incapacitating, invoking temporary blindness, breathing difficulties, a
long-lasting burning sensation and severe coughing, with effects lasting
anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Although pepper spray is deemed a non-lethal
agent, studies suggest that high levels of exposure can have serious health
effects. A 1999 report on the health effects of pepper spray by researchers at
Duke University and the University of North Carolina states (pdf):
“Depending on brand, an OC spray may contain
water, alcohols, or organic solvents as liquid carriers; and nitrogen, carbon
dioxide, or halogenated hydrocarbons (such as Freon, tetrachloroethylene, and
methylene chloride) as propellants to discharge the canister contents.(3)
Inhalation of high doses of some of these chemicals can produce adverse
cardiac, respiratory, and neurologic effects, including arrhythmias and sudden
death.” Pepper spray
by Brianna Lee, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/five-things/pepper-spray/12472/
So, is pepper spray a proper response to peacefully
demonstrating? Especially the military grade
pepper spray used by the Davis police. There
seems to be a trend among the right these days that civil rights were something
that happened in the past and are only for African Americans. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/24/ann-coulter_n_1908958.html (Also see this blog on that very subject, Ann
Coulter on "Civil Rights" - Bring on the Exorcist, http://greendogdemocrat.blogspot.com/2012/09/ann-coulter-on-civil-rights-bring-on.html).
Everyone else, I guess, who speaks out about unfair
conditions, deserves pepper spray in the eyes. What next, Debra, dogs attacking
striking teachers? Fire hoses for veterans
marching for health benefits? How much would you take for those experiences? 
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