Pubdate: Tue, 30 Dec 2003
Source: Island Packet (SC)
Copyright: 2003, The Island Packet
Contact:  http://www.islandpacket.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1514
Author: John King

CITIZENS NEED FREE VOICES

To The Packet: At Stratford High School near Charleston, 14 police 
officers, several with guns drawn, rushed into the school early in the 
morning of Nov. 5. They told students in the halls to lie on the floor 
while they put plastic restraints on some and dumped out their backpacks. 
No drugs were found. The paramilitary-style raid has the community angry 
and distrustful.

In Miami, for three days in November, 2,500 police in full riot gear beat 
peaceful demonstrators with wooden clubs, shot them with rubber bullets, 
shocked them with Tasers and pepper-sprayed their faces. The protesters, 
mainly seniors and union workers, were objecting to the Free Trade Area of 
the Americas they believe will hurt U.S. workers. Miami's mayor called the 
police actions "a model for homeland security."

Next June there will be an economic summit meeting on Sea Island, Ga., and 
in Savannah. Anticipating future protests, the director of Georgia's 
Department of Homeland Security told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "We 
need to do much the same as they did in Miami."

What's happening in America? Has 9-11 caused us to confuse antiterrorism 
and patriotism? Are the actions of paranoid government leaders from the 
executive branch and Congress to state bureaucrats and local police chiefs 
raging out of control?

It's time we stop treating ordinary citizens like terrorists. It's time we 
realize the future of our democracy depends on freedom from fear and our 
right to voice different opinions.

John King

Hilton Head Island
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom