Problem with Authority?
Sun Mar 04, 2007 at 06:57:10 PM PDT
Last night I had a unique experience within the scope of 52 years on earth. My dh and I along with two other couples planned to attend our local high school NCS playoff boys basketall game which was hosted at Cal State Hayward.
We got our kids situated with rides on school sponsored buses enabling more students to attend the game. We then rode together to Hayward, ate dinner along the way, and proceed to the game.
It was clear as we got close to campus that there were dozens of other cars headed in the same direction. When we parked and got to the gym the line to buy tickets snaked for quite a distance from the building and up flights of stairs. We took our place in line and waited patiently. At some point as the time approached for the game to begin, a uniformed police officer came out of the building yelling for the crowd's attention saying that there were no seats left, the venue had been oversold and they were closing and locking the doors, accepting no more people into the building, even if a person held a ticket.
The line quickly disassembled and became a large mass of people rapidly asking questions and showing disbelief that this was happening. I felt a decided shift in the whole scene as the police took on a very militant air and insisted the people "MOVE OUT OF THEIR WAY" and "MOVE BACK" creating several dozen feet of space between the building, the police, and us. The crowd included a cross section of ages and races with one intent in mind and that was to spectate the night's event and cheer on their respective teams.
As time passed, lots decided to leave, assuming they were not going to gain entry. The crowd that was left numbered around sixty. All the while, the officers were on guard, highly tense, and combative to the crowd, regardless of age, race, or gender. When asked if several parents and grandparents who had gotten into the building could exchange their seats with students who were locked outside, the police said absolutely not -- no one was going to be allowed entry into the building. What?
I spoke several times to one officer whose face twitched with tension. I could see the level of stress and his readiness to fight ME, as it was clear he perceived me to be a threat. I asked him "why are you so combative?" He only made eye contact for a flash and then would look away. He said I was combative by approaching him and asking him anything at all. That I and the other people gathered were creating the perception of threat. He would not listen at all to my question or concern. Aren't police officers paid public servants? Their mission is the public good??? Isn't it?
All the while, people inside the venue were using their cell phones to alert the people locked outside that there were dozens and dozens of seats available in the gym --- rows of empty bleachers! Consequently, the crowd of parents, students and small children continued to wait to see if eventually we could be let inside. Most of us had travelled some distance and many of us had children attending the game who had come on the buses and were already inside.
I was AMAZED and APPAULED at the level of hostility from the police (not all, but most) at a group of people gathered to watch high school sports. I said to him "Are you kidding me? You are the one with the gun, you're younger and bigger than I am and you consider me a threat to you? I can't ask you a reasonable question so I understand when and if we will be allowed in the gym? We're in the United States of America..." He would hardly answer but when he uttered a few words, his lips were twitching and his facial muscles were jumping under his skin. I had the thought this could in a flash go from a very benign scene, to an officer pulling a gun because of the misperception of these officers. Wow.
Eventually as the quarters came and went, the fire marshall was summoned to assess the crowd numbers and venue capacity. He arrived as the third quarter was in play, and reviewed the scene promptly allowing the waiting crowd to buy tickets and take seats in the many available bleacher seats.
This was surrreal on so many levels to me. What do you think of this MTers? Have any of you ever experienced such a scene? My vote goes for loads more personality testing for young men, or women, who are armed and have authority to use deadly force.
I felt as if I was in a bad episode of "COPS." Wow. Today I fantasized about what the headlines would have been had I been arrested...I did get a good laugh about that. I must confess partly I wished I had been arrested to have seen what the fallout would have been at the absurdity of how the police handled such a situation. It was pathetic and not just a little scary.
It really makes me wonder, What is happening (has happened) to our country? What say you MTers? Does this sound like we've gone down the rabbit hole?
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