Unusually Good Media Coverage of Police Response to Wall St. Protests

In the last decade or so, police reactions to political protests in this country, including completely peaceful protests, have become increasingly brutal and indefensible. MSNBC has unusually good coverage of the last such incidents, noting that there were some civilized officers who handled these protesters with respect, but also giving appropriate exposure to the police who went overboard, using pepper spray and slamming people’s heads into cars without provocation. As Lawrence O’Donnell points out, this has become the norm in America. “There’s a Rodney King every day in this country,” and most such incidents are never caught on camera.

Indeed, the law enforcement system in this country has increasingly become one of little or no accountability, where police and other officials are virtually never held liable for their wrongdoing. Of all the threats to liberty and the American dream, this problem is near the top of the list.