New Forms of Non Violence and Leadership Emerging

Something remarkable has been going on out there - especially at UC Davis. I have a hard time figuring out how to articulate it. I haven't yet seen anyone talk about quite what I'm seeing, so I'll give it a try.

 After the pepper spray instance, this happened:

After a period of confused anger and upset, protesters chant "Who do you serve? Who do you protect?" (since many police departments have "serve" and "protect" in their mottos). Then they chant "Shame, shame!" then "Shame on you!!" The tension between the police and crowd grows palpable. The police become nervous, raising their pepperball guns protectively and threateningly. Things are about to get very ugly. And then suddenly - at 6 minutes 13 seconds into the video - someone in the crowd yells "MIC CHECK!" and the crowd yells back "Mic Check!" They say it again. The scene goes into a surreal suspended animation as the unknown initiator calls out a wisdom that the crowd had not possessed moments before, but now recognizes and follows:

Wonderful article, well worth a read, puts a different perspective on things.