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I don& #39;t think I ever shared my ACAB story
lemme tell you about how I was at the very periphery of the Battle of Seattle in 1999
I don& #39;t think I ever shared my ACAB story
lemme tell you about how I was at the very periphery of the Battle of Seattle in 1999
So in mid-1999 I had moved to the Seattle area. I was feeling pretty fucked up about some failings in my personal life and moving across the country for a fresh start felt like a good idea.
(spoiler: it wasn& #39;t, but that& #39;s not the point of the story)
(spoiler: it wasn& #39;t, but that& #39;s not the point of the story)
So there comes a point at which I am almost broke and I& #39;m unemployed and I& #39;m not really doing anything, and I hear there& #39;s these protests about the WTO in the city.
I don& #39;t even know what the hell the WTO *is*, but fuck it, I& #39;m not doing anything else. May as well go into town.
I don& #39;t even know what the hell the WTO *is*, but fuck it, I& #39;m not doing anything else. May as well go into town.
So I get on the bus and I ride into Seattle and I basically wander around until I can find some protests. Maybe I& #39;ll learn something, I figured. Like what they& #39;re so angry about. Or at least what & #39;WTO& #39; stands for.
Here& #39;s what I (hazily) remember about that day.
Here& #39;s what I (hazily) remember about that day.
So I kind of hung out near the periphery of one group of protesters, and then I noticed one guy passing out sandwiches to his fellow protesters, and I was both broke and hungry, so... I edged a little closer and started joining in the chants.
Free sandwich! Fuckin& #39; score!
Free sandwich! Fuckin& #39; score!
I am not proud. I left and joined like four different groups of protesters that day in order to cadge sandwiches and coffees and waters. Because I was unemployed and broke. I learned an important lesson about The Radical Left that day:
They don& #39;t give a fuck if you& #39;re a Protest Tourist (as I most assuredly was, and as I know they KNEW I was). They will still feed you. Because you& #39;re a human fuckin& #39; being.
No one demanded a purity test or questioned my commitment to The Cause or demanded an entry fee
No one demanded a purity test or questioned my commitment to The Cause or demanded an entry fee
It was honestly sorta beautiful.
Anyways, so I& #39;m standing there polishing off another sandwich between chants and I start hearing some yelling from, like, the distance.
And I look and there& #39;s this big cloud.
"Oh shit," I think. "What the hell just happened? Let me get closer."
Anyways, so I& #39;m standing there polishing off another sandwich between chants and I start hearing some yelling from, like, the distance.
And I look and there& #39;s this big cloud.
"Oh shit," I think. "What the hell just happened? Let me get closer."
(this was a Dumb Idea)
As you can probably guess because... you know, 2020, but what 1999-me was in no way expecting, that cloud was tear gas.
I still don& #39;t know what started it. I sure as fuck didn& #39;t see any violence, but again, I was off at the edge cadging sandwiches.
As you can probably guess because... you know, 2020, but what 1999-me was in no way expecting, that cloud was tear gas.
I still don& #39;t know what started it. I sure as fuck didn& #39;t see any violence, but again, I was off at the edge cadging sandwiches.
All I know was, I got a bit too close and OOF.
Being tear gassed sucks, y& #39;all, especially if you are, as I was, totally unprepared for it. I was no protest veteran, I was a tourist. I was not ready.
So that sucked.
Being tear gassed sucks, y& #39;all, especially if you are, as I was, totally unprepared for it. I was no protest veteran, I was a tourist. I was not ready.
So that sucked.
I sort of stumbled out of there and found some water and was washing shit out of my eyes when I could see again I looked up and saw this line of cops in riot gear.
Pictures do not do justice to the experience of a line of cops in riot gear coming towards you
Pictures do not do justice to the experience of a line of cops in riot gear coming towards you
The riot gear is designed to intimidate. It& #39;s like a whole crowd of Darth Vaders. It is *terrifying*, especially if, like me, you are inexperienced and unprepared for this shit.
Anyways, they& #39;ve got these batons, right?
Anyways, they& #39;ve got these batons, right?
Line of cops gets closer and closer and I& #39;m still recovering from the gas, and besides... they& #39;re cops. They& #39;re not going to do anything bad to ME. I& #39;m not a criminal, right? I& #39;m just standing there being helpless! And these are the good guys, I learned that in school!
So, yeah. I got a baton to the gut.
I wish I could say I was cool and tough and took it like a man, but I crumpled like a fuckin& #39; marionette with its strings cut, y& #39;all
And I swear to you, I thought to myself "Oh fuck. I am gonna die here. The sandwich wasn& #39;t even that good."
I wish I could say I was cool and tough and took it like a man, but I crumpled like a fuckin& #39; marionette with its strings cut, y& #39;all
And I swear to you, I thought to myself "Oh fuck. I am gonna die here. The sandwich wasn& #39;t even that good."
Someone, and I wish to God I knew who so I could thank them, grabbed my shoulder and, like, dragged me back up onto the sidewalk out of baton-swingin& #39; range, and I scrambled off to find a place where I could catch my breath.
It took me like a half hour to pull myself together and get to the point where I could walk and only shake a *little*, and then I got up and found a bus stop and waited until a bus came and I went home.
I had to transfer like three times but I just wanted AWAY.
I had to transfer like three times but I just wanted AWAY.
Then I went back to the place I was living, where I learned that apparently I was an anarchist terrorist who& #39;d damaged property, because those were the only people the cops had attacked, honest
I pissed blood for three days
I pissed blood for three days
I had been assaulted for the crime of, you know, being vaguely in the vicinity of something bad happening and being, I guess, in a cop& #39;s way
it& #39;s... been kinda hard to trust the police since then
it& #39;s been hard to trust the media, too, in all honesty
it& #39;s... been kinda hard to trust the police since then
it& #39;s been hard to trust the media, too, in all honesty
