There is a diary currently on the rec list that claims that police beat and arrested teachers at an ALEC protest in Chicago today. The comment thread is full of outrage, naturally.
However, there is a significant problem - neither the article nor the video linked to in the diary supports the claim. The article describes the protest, the video shows three people dressed in black, one shirtless, being arrested.
Nothing in the diary, nor in the comments, supports the diarist's claim that the police "...are doing snatch and grab arrests and beating teachers."
From past experience in similar situations on DK, I expect to get flamed with outrage and accused of being a lackey of the totalitarian police state. It would be far more sensible, were I more sensitive, to just ignore this. But I feel that diaries like this that make specific but unsubstantiated claims of police brutality do a profound disservice to the DK community's reputation, and undermine DK's ability to respond with credibility to documented cases of police brutality.
Diaries that claim police brutality should be able to support those claims with documentation, whether it's eyewitnesses, video, or quotes. Serious accusations require serious proof. I know that many here have witnessed and experienced acts of irresponsibility and brutality by LEOs. I have myself, and I condemn such acts.
It's certainly possible that what the diarist claims did actually occur. However that is not documented in the diary, and there is no indication that the diarist was actually present or witness (directly or indirectly) to such incidents.
I'm not trying to call the diarist out, but I do feel that we need to be more careful and responsible about how we respond to such incidents. In this case, there's an important story about a strong protest against ALEC. That's strong enough to stand on its own, and needs no exaggeration. Let's stick to the facts - it makes our case stronger!
Update: Ebgill posted a link in the comments to a great story on the protest by Progressive Illinois: http://www.progressillinois.com/...
Update2:
jpmassar shared a twitter feed: https://twitter.com/...
that included another perspective on the arrest incident: http://www.youtube.com/...
That does seem to show protesters being struck by police officers. It's not clear whether they're teachers.