Marines furious over police attack on "brother" at Occupy Oakland
Published: 27 October, 2011, 21:38
Edited: 28 October, 2011, 05:38
TAGS: Crime, Health, Military, Protest, Law, Internet, History, Iraq, USA, Media, Photography, Culture
A six-year veteran of the United States Marines has posted a powerful photo of himself on the Internet in which he shows his dissatisfaction with the police raid in Oakland, California that put a fellow vet in critical condition.
A late-Tuesday crack-down on the Occupy Oakland encampment left Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Marine that served two tours of Iraq, in the hospital in critical condition after a blunt object made contact with his head, fracturing his skull and leading to swelling of the brain. The projectile is believed to be a non-lethal canister fired by the local police as hundreds of cops swarmed on the Bay Area hub of the Occupy Wall Street movement to attempt to thwart protesters.
One marine, Jay C Gentile, posted a photograph of himself on the popular online site Reddit.com holding an image of his fallen fellow Marine in one hand and a sign in his other reading, “You did this to my brother.”
In the first 13 hours that the post, titled “How I feel, as a United States Marine, about what occurred in Oakland” has been on Reddit, it has garnered over 1,200 comments and has accumulated exponentially more views.
Since the post has gone viral online, the user has added to the site that he is located in South Jersey and has been so moved by response on the Web that he now says he plans to attend Occupy movements across America in the coming days.
“I'm very much for the movement and encourage everybody I know to get involved,” the author published as an addendum to the original posting.
“I see this young man and I picture the men and women that stood beside me during my time in, and the men and women that stand in those places today,” he adds. “I know what he went through to become a Marine, what he ate for breakfast most days and how long he was able to talk to his parents with his $10 phone card in a shack in Iraq. He is my brother and, unfortunately, I cannot put the reasoning into words.”
Following Tuesday’s assault on Olsen, Occupy Oakland protesters held a General Assembly on Wednesday and came to an overwhelming consensus to launch a general strike throughout the Bay Area city next week on November 2. Even after multiple raids by the police, thousands of demonstrators continue to wage protests, met with support from other Occupy Wall Street-offshoots worldwide.
Only a day after Sgt. Gentile posted his photo online, he joined RT on Thursday to discuss what brought him to take to the Web to voice his opposition to what was happening all the way in Oakland.
“I wish I had the vocabulary to describe the plethora of emotions I felt,” Sgt. Gentile told RT. Like Olsen, Gentile also served two tours in Iraq. Regardless of where and when he served, however, he said that the sentiments he had would surely be shared with all members of the US Military.
“I knew that I wasn’t the only person that felt that way,” he said. “There are just honestly no words to express the bond that Marines feel for each other. This goes across the service, but it’s very specific for the Marines,” whom he added think of each other “as brothers and sisters — and we mean it.”
Even though he never met his injured comrade, Sgt. Gentile said he thought of him as siblings. “I wouldn’t expect less from any other American, military . . . veteran or not,” he said. “I would expect people to feel this bond. We are all here on the planet together and, like it or not, we are all in this together. I’m thankful an proud to be associated with the people in New York and cities all across this country that share this bond that I share with Corporal Olsen,” he said.
27.10.2011, 21:34
9 comments
Occupy Oakland prepares for city-wide strikeFollowing an intense week for Oakland, California’s Occupy movement that saw dozens of arrests, brutal police raids and one US vet suffering a skull fracture thanks to the local police, protesters are organizing a general strike for November 2. Occupy Wall Street |
27.10.2011, 22:53
1 comment
Americans stay put in record numbersA downtrodden economy eliminating hopes of heading out of the homestead has yielded a startling statistic from just released figures from the US Census Bureau. As of 2010, Americans are moving into new homes at the lowest figure since World War II. |
When in doubt, blame the government. No, don't bother to see if there is any reason behind it, if the government does it, it is evil. The government isn't going to waste time and money to annoy you for no reason. You're not that special. What happened to the marine isn't good, but it's not like the police planned to attack him, walked up to him, and beat him almost to death. He was hit by a canister, and it seems like he was the only person injured- not exactly the communism-esque roit smashing techniques people seem to think the Oakland PD was using. This isn't dozens of people getting shot as they run for cover, this is one guy unlucky enough to get hit by a (tear gas?) canister. Every news discussion I have seen to do with government actions, people talk of the government as if it is Sauron or some other fantasy villian, totally evil with no reasoning behind its actions. Trashing the government doesn't make you seem more independant, it just makes you look like sheep of a different shepard- one who, if they ever succeed in their goal, would rip themselves and the country to pieces. Step back and look at everything, look for the reasoning as well as the action. I am not a government stooge, I have not been paid, nor do I work for the government. I am a person who has thought of every part of an action, from catalyst to result. Anyway, most posts, including mine, seem to have gone a bit off topic. Debate about the government on a dedicated website, not on the comment board for an injured marine.
It's about time everyone woke up and realized that 'the people' of the USA mean nothing to their government. Like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, was all about humanitarian and it was fed to the public that way and the public believed it. The USA used depleted-uranium in their weapons. Genocide. Generations will suffer with birth defects, cancer and illness. If the USA is capable of that, then do you really think they would hesitate to not use this on their own people? You've been warned about martial law. It's coming. The police of the USA should follow 'veterans against war' and side with the protestors if they are true Americans. They are working for corruption and nothing more. How do you sleep at night knowing you've bashed your neighbor for what? Because he disagrees with Obama? Because he's lost his job and has a family to feed but there aren't any? It's all too sick. The military and the police need to help the protestors instead of drawing blood on them. They are protesting the lack of basic needs to survive while the government plans their next illegal war. Hopefully it won't be US citizens.






I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.Thomas Jefferson
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)