Dear President Obama,
I write to you humbled by the courage of young people across the country, defying power and sacrificing their time, energy, and safety in the cause of liberty. Indeed, it was you sir who instructed us to force both yourself and the government to change for the better.
Sir, we stand before you shouting and bleeding and pleading for change. We know it wont be easy, and the battle we be long and hard fought. We fight against the corporations, the 1%, cynics, skeptics, critics, fearful, and the wealthy that desire the status quo. But you once said, "nothing can stand against the voice of millions of people calling for change".
Sadly, you have watched the scenes of violence unfold all across the major cities (and some not so major) of your country for the past two months with seeming disinterest. Perhaps you are timid given your upcoming reelection bid.
Neverthless, your silence is haunting and stands out like a bullhorn. When the Egyptians used force to clear tahrir square you spoke out. When the Libyans used force you spoke out. When the Syrians used force you spoke out...
America mayors and police are using force against peaceful protestors and you say only each mayor must decide how to deal with protestors the best they know how.
Sir, that cannot be your only response. Support the 99% or not you must forcably denounce the use of violence against peaceful protestors. This is fundamental to a free nation and as our leader you must immediately address is issue with all the eloquence we all know you possess.
Please, as a former Constitutional Law professor, expound on the necessity of the First Amendment, and the right to assemble, for the right to petitin for redress of grievances...failing that tell the mayors and the police chiefs across the country that the people they are abusing are our sons and daughters and are observing the most American of values there is...there is a word for what they are. Patriots.
Can you possibly go another day, another hour in silence while this travesty against democracy continues? While the Egyptians, following our queue, fire live rounds into a sea of protesters demanding freedom? Will you at least once again denounce the Egyptian atrocities?
Or have we finally come at last to reveal that America has now little in common with the dreams of the framers who sought to ensure that we never suffer the tyranny of a police state.
I beg you as a citizen of the United States of America to show leadership and stand up for the right of the people to protest against injustice. Is power so sweet that you can remain silent?
~A citizen who, blisters on foot, went door to door for you in 2008