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Is This How We Represent Cop Block?
*This post was submitted by Larry Freeman, founder of Ohio Valley CopBlock, and is unedited.*
The views made in this piece are mine and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Cop Block as a whole.
On Saturday, April 11, 2015 around 15 Cop Blockers met up in Zanesville to do some cop blocking. Included in that group were several younger, more impressionable people that had never been cop blocking before. This night was a perfect night to give some guidance to the new people on cop blocking and to show what we are all about.
Also present for the evening was a guy named Herbert. I know little to nothing about this guy or his past interactions with police other than what he has shared before the evening got rolling. His words and actions right from the start of the evening left no doubts about his hate for the police.
We piled into cars and broke off into groups to locate police activity in the city of Zanesville. Shortly thereafter, the car I was in found a traffic stop in the downtown area. We parked and then got out to begin video documenting the traffic stop. The scene was calm. The officers saw that we were there and continued to concentrate on the traffic stop. Nothing was said to us and no aggression was shown towards us while there.
The rest of the group showed up shortly after our cameras began rolling. Herbert immediately began shouting at the officers that were present.(sample clip can be seen towards the end of the attached VLOG) This was all unprovoked as the officers were pretty much ignoring our presence. As the traffic stop was concluding and the officers were getting back into their cars, Herbert became more boisterous and the profanity was flowing.
I too believe we have a right to say what we want and what he did was his First Amendment Right. We are all responsible for our own actions and words. By my observations of his actions, I believe he deviated from the Non-Aggressive Principle that I had read in the about section of CopBlock.org. “Those of us volunteering at CopBlock.org do not condone violence, though we recognize it is morally acceptable when used in self-defense of self or others. As a general practice, we do not enforce intellectual property claims of any sort, and encourage everyone to use Cop Block information, logos, graphics, etc. to join the fight and contribute to activism in their preferred manner. However, we dissociate ourselves from those who encourage initiatory violence to further their ends, or otherwise do not adhere to the non-aggression principle.” (quote from copblock.org/about) A brief summary of what the non-aggressive principle can be found at http://www.5stepstoanarchy.com/what-is-the-non-aggression-principle/.
I did not video the second group interaction we had with police that night, but several others did. During that second interaction, there seemed to be a pretty courteous debate taking place between Ademo and a Zanesville officer. That was until Herbert again stepped in shouting and taunting the officer. I walked away from the scene and waited to leave. While waiting for my ride, I could hear the shouting from over 50 yards away and heard Herbert make a comment to the affect of taking a baseball bat to the cop.
Although I am speaking on my own behalf, if this how we want to be viewed by others when out in the public eye? Were the actions of this individual warranted or did they mirror the actions of the police that we strive to put an end to by the police and other public officials?
Larry Freeman
Is This How We Represent Cop Block? is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
Source: http://www.copblock.org/120248/is-this-how-we-represent-cop-block/
