Over the past few days, hundreds of students gathered at UCLA to protest the 32% fee increase. During the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday no less than three helicopters hovered in the skies over UCLA at all times, and many police and officials were on hand to control the hoards of angry students.
According to my sources which happen to also be UCLA students, the protests were very dramatic. Although, it was relatively quiet and peaceful- as far as protests go, not only were twelve people arrested and at least one guy tasered, but it would seem there were seven or eight black protesters quarantined far away from the main protest. It would seem that the police did not feel that it was safe to allow those protesters anywhere near the heart of the protest. According to my source who was actually there “It was like going back in time forty years!”
So naturally I decided to watch the News on Thursday night to see if anything about this was mentioned. Of course not, the news discusses the students protesting yes – but in none of the videos nor students interviewed was there any sign of these quarantined blacks.
Continuing my research I have found article after article on the protest itself, but no pictures or reports suggest anything of this sort. It would seem that while is apparently still acceptable for the police to segregate blacks who may be a danger to the protest, it is not acceptable to own up to it in the media. I guess African Americans still have a ways to go…
While it’s true that the police may have had legitimate reasons for separating these protesters, if they did have just reasoning why did they hide it from the media? Call me crazy, but if you truly stand behind your actions, should you not be willing to admit it to the public?
Articles and Pictures regarding the protests:
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/UCLA-Protest-Arrests-70404787.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-cuts20-2009nov20,0,7218101.story
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/ucla-students-end-a-day-of-protest-over-fee-hiks.htm
