Just a short blog today to publicly thank the folks at Occupy Dallas for organizing a march in support of the Dallas Police, and to offer some brief reflections on it.As you may have heard, 23 members of Occupy Dallas were arrested Tuesday, in front of a downtown Chase Bank location for blocking customer access to the bank. They were charge with disorderly conduct, and held overnight.
I recognize that not everyone will be supportive of that kind of direct action, and might question that tactic. But one of the long and proud traditions of American civil dissent is non-violent protest that ends in arrest.
As some will recall, I've marched with Occupy Dallas several times now. (A previous reflection here)
Tuesday, I visited the camp for about an hour, just as people were returning from the arrest scene, just to listen to folks and help them process what had happened.
While I was not there at the Chase Bank, by all accounts it was peaceful and non-violent. Those involved accepted the fact that their actions might lead to their arrest, and they spent the night in jail. And as I was leaving the camp to go to my home Tuesday night, some of the Occupy "brothers and sisters" were preparing to walk back over to the Lew Sterrett jail, to sleep outside, holding vigil there, in honor of their colleagues in jail that night.
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