In Ferguson 1,000 police officers have been mobilized, the National Guard has been activated, more weapons have been added, and protesters have demanded rules of engagement be enforced. Veterans have urged the National Guard to side with the people.
This is an epic moment, a moment in which we could take a significant step toward survival of the species, a step which is mandated by evolution. It is a matter of learn and evolve, or die and destroy this little branch of evolution. We can no longer engage in domination, exploitation, and one person being more important than any other.
Popular Resistance newsletter states:
The people of Ferguson are reaching out to all of us and issued a “Call To Action.” Organizers in Ferguson and around the country are prepared for a sustained and strategic nonviolent resistance campaign seeking systemic changes. Long-time human and civil rights organizer Larry Hamm puts the Michael Brown killing in context of history and calls for us to fill the streets the day after the grand jury decision.
Read the Veteran's Appeal to the Missouri National Guard below the golden curl of truth:
To our brothers and sisters in the Missouri National Guard:
We are writing to you as active-duty U.S. service members and veterans, most of us having served in the Iraq war.
You have a choice you can make right now.
The whole world is watching the Ferguson police with disgust. They killed an unarmed, college-bound Black youth in broad daylight, and subsequently responded to peaceful, constitutionally-protected protests with extreme violence and repression.
Countless constitutional and human rights violations by these police have been documented over the course of the Ferguson protests; from attacking and threatening journalists, to using tear gas against peaceful protesters, including children.
Now, Governor Nixon has again activated the National Guard to “support law enforcement.” But you don’t have to follow their orders—you can stand with the protesters instead.
Our true duty
When we signed up, we swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.
The police in Ferguson are violating that Constitution.
The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press.
These laws are, as we are taught our entire lives, our most cherished Constitutional rights—the whole basis for the “freedom” we are told makes us the greatest country on Earth who we are.
...bolding mine.
...sorry, I just can't engage in who is better than who games anymore.
You can read the entire letter, see the signators, and find navigation to sign yourself if you are a vet at Veterans' Appeal to National Guard
So lets start here to move this nation forward and get back on the correct track of nurturing, well being, and survival.
Thanks for reading.