Written by Ellen Reynard   

Last Friday, I watched the videos of the brutal pepper spraying of students at UC Davis with shocked disbelief. Even as a woman cried, “They’re just children,” and the students chanted “Don’t shoot students,” then “Shame on You!” those so-called public servants shook their cans of pepper spray like trick-or-treaters about to douse a car with shaving cream, then sprayed the noxious orange liquid point blank into the eyes and mouths of a row of young people whose only crime was to sit with arms linked, obstructing a public roadway.

A few hours later, after the videos of this atrocity hit the world-wide-web and the fury of the campus and the entire world mounted, Davis’ Chancellor Linda Katehi expressed concern for her personal safety, afraid to leave her office to go home. One of the students who had been assaulted, throat raw and eyes still smarting, called for everyone to sit peacefully and in complete silence on either side of the roadway so she could walk safely to her chauffeured car. And they did.

At the same time as we shudder at the images of the sadistic behavior of the authorities—the so-called “grown ups”—in their violent reaction to the non-violent protest of these young people, we must recognize the courage, respect, and maturity with which those same young people responded.

Mainstream press, as directed by the monied interests that are committed to maintaining the status quo, would have us believe that the protestors who have risen to their feet in response to the call from OWS are unhygienic, disorganized, violent, riffraff. The videos on You Tube tell a different story.

It is said that the images of the pepper spraying went viral on the Internet. This other picture of silent commitment to non-violent protest deserves the same global audience.