Cornel West was just arrested in front of the Supreme Court!

[Modern_Matthew]

[elleng]

1. Doing what?

[Modern_Matthew]

3. Protesting for Occupy DC. Him and 2 dozen others arrested. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Arrested for just protesting? or for trespassing? or for...?

Altho I guess you can't really trespass on Federal property because WE OWN IT!!!

[Modern_Matthew]

13. Yeah, really. Not sure of the charges yet. Trying to scout Twitter to find out more. nt

[Peregrine]

17. It is illegal to protest anything on the SC grounds

Federal law prohibits protestors on the grounds of the Supreme Court.

[CTyankee]

19. Really! Then the "grounds" must be pretty narrow. I've seen protests in front

of the steps for years.

[SixthSense]

42. whatever happened to...

"Congress shall make no law... ?"

[girl gone mad]

2. k & r

[glinda]

4. The President really ought to make a public statement in regards to all of these

arrests. It is making him look either stupid, complicit, unaware or weak.

[bluestateguy]

5. And if he does that, you know what his lefty critics on DU will say?

"More empty words and pretty speeches!"

This movement is not about him.

[eridani]

6. I agree. The movement is about pressuring politicians of all stripes

--to enact policies supporting the 99%. I don't think that the party, or even local party organizations, should formally endorse. But individual party members are certainly capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, and if some of the protesters conclude that it still matters who holds public office, we should be prepared to welcome them.

[cui bono]

10. It only matters who holds office if they do the work of the people.

Let's hope they start to do just that!

[eridani]

27. Not all Democratic politicians do, but the ONLY ones who do

--are Democrats plus Bernie Sanders. Replacing the other sort of Dems with primary challenges is a good thing iMO.

[cui bono]

7. He needs to answer with action!

Because you're right, in campaign season his words are NOT enough! We heard the words already, now we want action to finally back them up.

[glinda]

8. It isn't about him. Maybe an interview. If people are getting arrested for no

good reason, the silence of any politician needs to be explained.

[cui bono]

12. Or an action, like firing Geithner and Daley and replacing them with progressives.

That might work.

[glinda]

25. +1

[malaise]

16. Ha

:rofl:

[Mimosa]

23. He has made an oblique statement referencing MLK.

As President Obama's presidency has progressed we have gotten to know him better. His personality little resembles the inspiring one of Candidate Obama. I think he is an insider for certain, as well as an introvert who is not all that comfortable outside Ivy League circles. He has apparently decided to bet his and his family's future with the power structure. He will do well after his presidency and his children will be included within the elite circles.

Anybody who now looks at President Obama without adding a halo of adoration is sometimes called an Obama hater. For the majority of the early supporters who worked on Obama's campaign such bashing is slander.

We listened carefully to every word Obama said as a candidate. He seemed to be giving us reason to believe the future would become far better.

[H2O Man]

30. Respectfully disagree.

[bluestate10]

36. Or pandering. Obama can't win with that crowd, or teabaggers. nt

[Fuzz]

15. I'm going to channel Limbaugh should that happen: Here we go again, another 'the police acted

stupidly' moment. What business is it of Obama's to get his nose into a local police issue. He should be running the country, instead he's harrassing hard working police officers doing their job. I'm sure he and the black leadership /cough socialists will say it's racism, white man keeping down this honorable ivy league professor. Beer summit? Your right Snerdly. They're going to have a beer summit again. What a fraud he is.


I think I read too many mediamatters transcripts.

[EC]

18. No.

Many of these arrests are purposeful, meant to happen. It's called civil disobediance.

Obama should stay out of it to keep it a people's movement.

[lunatica]

33. No it's not.

That was a stupid statement.

[Empowerer]

34. Why should he say anything? The police are doing their jobs.

The protesters are breaking the law and the police are arresting them for it.

It's called civil disobedience. And, unlike some forms of civil disobedience - in which the law itself is being protested as unjust - the protesters are not protesting the law but trying to bring attention to something unrelated to the law that they are breaking.

The very essence of civil disobedience is that the people arrested take their punishment without objection. Insisting that the most powerful man on earth step in and castigate the police for doing their jobs totally misses the point of the civil disobedience efforts at work here.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. where did you get the pic from?

google- news shows nothing.

[Modern_Matthew]

14. @OccupyWallSt retweeted it from someone at the scene. nt

[Coexist]

21. from gothamist

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/16/cornel_west_hundreds_of_others_arre.php

[fasttense]

45. Notice he didn't get his head bashed into the pavement.

The cops seem to be treating him very gently.

What a contrast to how they treat the rest of us.

But good on Dr. West. He is right even if the cops and their overlords, the corporations, treat him more gently.

[rug]

20. Maybe Obama can invite West and Roberts to have a beer and talk it out.

[dlance]

32. Ha!

That's it. Just "ha!" Obama sets down a cold six pack on the table. Roberts takes five beers, hands the sixth to Obama and says to Cornel - "Look! The president took your beer."

[rug]

35. Good image.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Mimosa]

22. God bless him. And all OWS.

West has chosen the side of the 99%. :D

[sarcasmo]

24. My favorite guest on Bill Maher.

[chill_wind]

26. HuffPo- he was among 19 arrested

BEN NUCKOLS | October 16, 2011 06:54

WASHINGTON — Author, commentator, civil rights activist and Princeton University professor Cornel West has been arrested while protesting on the steps of the Supreme Court about corporate influence in politics.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman says 19 people were arrested Sunday afternoon after they refused to leave the grounds of the court.

Ann Wilcox, an attorney and legal adviser to the protesters, says West was among those arrested. West attended the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall before joining the October 2011 Stop the Machine protest in Washington's Freedom Plaza.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20111016/us-capital-protest-arrests/

More here:

The October2011.org Movement that is occupying Freedom Plaza, led an impromptu march of 250 people up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S.Supreme Court where Dr. Cornel West climbed on the steps of the Supreme Court and denounced court decisions that have produced money-based elections that empower corporations. Dr. West was holding a sign that said "Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All." He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.

Dr. West spoke to more than 500 people on Freedom Plaza where he said that "if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be on Freedom Plaza." West described how the struggle against, poverty, war and injustice continues and confidence that the people will succeed. He applauded the occupation as "an inclusive social revolution for all of us" and a "leaderless-leader-filled movement" where people are "finding their own political voices rather than echoing others."

Read more: http://globalgrind.com/news/cornell-west-arrested-photos#ixzz1azP8oSBW

[PuraVidaDreamin]

31. Free Country, My ASS!

"Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All." He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.

This absolutely where holding political signs should be.

[chill_wind]

37. Yep. Which I'm sure as a smart man he knew

and he was choosing to practice civil disobedience to make several points, all of which I applaud.

[Enthusiast]

44. "This absolutely where holding political signs should be."

This corrupt supreme court has made it so.

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. Dr. West was holding a sign that said “Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All.”

He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2131150

THAT is a "political" sign????????

[Enthusiast]

47. As we have seen from recent Supreme Court

decisions, they could rule in any way, so long as it benefits the corporations.

I agree, Dr. West's sign is not so political as it is philosophical. But TPTB will decide who gets arrested. This isn't the country I grew up in.

[Aerows]

28. Well *that's* a way to diminish the influence of the OWS protests

Let's arrest everyone that speaks up, including public figures like Dr. West. This is clearly going to end with people going home and closing their mouths.

:sarcasm:

[Iris]

41. lol. yeah. right? n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

29. The Supreme Court is EXACTLY where protesting needs to be!

[BeHereNow]

38. SO true FWWM!

The corruption in the SCOTUS is used to benefit the 1%
and screw the rest of us.
They need to go.
Far away.
Now.
BHN

[Pacifist Patriot]

48. I'd like to see a million people massed around the SC in solidarity against Citizens United.

[chill_wind]

39. kos diarist describes the events

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/16/1027099/-Dr-Cornel-West-arrested-at-Supreme-Court-in-Washington-DC?detail=hide

[Robb]

40. OK, West gets major points from me on this.

I criticize him a lot, but you get a salute for this one, sir. Well done. :patriot:

To all the other "household names" who came to any of the protests to be photographed: this is how you leverage your fame to help a movement.

[Enthusiast]

43. Cornel West is my hero! kr

Way to go!