By Bill Ritchey
When Occupy had a camp in Portland, I was there, and everyday and night I watched the police and the TV news fabricate some outlandish story.
There was the camera man who brought his suburban kids and had them lick the air in front of the camera. There was the bomb making supplies one morning, but our lawyers determined that it was just a rumor the police told the press. There was no headline for that in the afternoon.
The girl who had to wait for rape counseling, which turned out to be another police lie that went headline. Guns in trucks that were again only something that the corporate news learned from a cop, but our lawyers could find nothing to it. And on and on.
There were some very bad things that happened, but they didn’t get reported because the press and police weren’t there to keep people safe and report what happened.
So, if you have never been in a situation like Ferguson and are sitting home watching it on TV, I think you should take some time off work, go there, get with the people receiving the bullets and gas and find out what is going on. I also think you’ll meet some of the bravest and nicest people who you have ever met.
And remember: the revolution will not be televised.
Bill Ritchey is a labor and Occupy organizer in Portland, Oregon.