Dear Dirty America

Anthony Bologna — the NYPD Captain who mace-blasted a few female protesters trapped behind a fence — has become famous almost overnight. If the Supreme had created Bologna for this purpose alone, I wouldn’t be surprised. His stream of mace has given strength to many. His gratuitous act of violence might serve as the necessary impetus for young people to stop being apathetic and to start getting angry.

David Shankbone

I followed the story (here) on Twitter when Bologna was first identified, and soon delighted in the thousands of tweets and retweets calling him a pig, calling for justice, and even calling the NYPD Bloomberg’s thugs. I’d been hopped up on coffee and cane sugar. I didn’t indulge in Adderall, though. The night was too tense as it was, and that was mostly fueled by my Twitter feed. For twenty hours now, I’ve seen constant loathing sent in Bologna’s direction. It hasn’t stopped.

It seemed Bologna might have released one of the most important streams of mace in our recent history. The outrage was unbelievable and inspiring. For many of us who were less than enthusiastic about joining Occupy Wall Street, or Occupy L.A. / Chicago / Madrid / Etc., this was the call to action we needed.

The call to action for what? For the trillions of tax payer dollars given to multinational corporations, to foreign banks, and to wealthy individuals. For Troy Davis. For letting Wall Street sit on hoards of government cash while the rest of America suffers from an unpayable debt and the coming austerity measures. For Wall Street having five quarters of record breaking profit. For America invading six countries on our behalf and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, Libyan, Yemeni, and Somalian citizens. For Washington to allow a real unemployment rate of 16-20 percent in the U.S. For spying on America. For the Feds accusing those with questions about foreign policy as being unpatriotic and possible domestic threats.

So don’t disparage the Occupy Wall Street movement for not having a simple slogan and motivation. I know what the nice lady from the New York Times said about the OWS rallies having faulty aim. But the aim is huge, the aim is still being defined, and it will get sharper. As for the moment, I’m fully satisfied to see the nation gripped in conversation, and the mainstream media wasn’t even willing to hijack it. The movement is still gaining steam. Which is where Bologna fits in.

I had no mercy for him. He used a ‘last resort’ police weapon to take down people who were not threatening anyone around them. Watch the videos here. When the hactivist collective Anonymous leaked Bologna’s information, I was overjoyed. Make that bastard’s life miserable, I prayed. Please.

At around 2.41am I awoke and thought of the possible fear Cap’n Bologna might be suffering. A lot of people, after all, hated him with a seriousness reserved only for church and ugly couples kissing in public (or scooping creamy yogurt from a mutual tub with the same spoon). This is 2011, and we aren’t playing games any longer. I had a rare pang of sympathy. Poor guy, I thought, he must be terrified. One hundred thousand people opening saying they’d savor jamming their fist into his groin.

But then I thought of those female protesters again. I recalled that orange fence police held around a few of the Occupy Wall Streeters, and how that jaunty NYPD supervisor in the distinguished white uniform top almost skipped over, let off a few toxic sprays into the eyes of the girls, and then cavorted away like he just fulfilled God’s own crazy thoughtless mission. Like he was a tool of Fate, and he had no choice but to enjoy his violent action.

That action is what told me we are at war in this country. I knew it all along, but I have never felt it in my gut like I did when watching that video. The police defend the wealthiest Americans first. The media shelters Wall Street with a media blackout. But this country loves the underdog, and the NYPD’s brutality, along with the silence from the six major media networks shows us like never before who is in charge, and who really has nothing to lose.

By 2.32am, my sympathy for Bologna slipped away. Twitter users were threatening his family, but that is nonsense. We have no proof of cocksuckers in the Bologna family, other than our dear pal Anthony. He’s the one we’ve got on video, the one our society has identified, and he’s the one who should be held accountable. Not his family.

Bologna isn’t the only officer guilty of pissing in the milk of humanity. Everywhere in America police too often strap themselves into their black riot armor and then pummel old ladies or adventurous angry youngsters trying to have a good protest. Remember the G20? Whose country is this, that we should fear gathering in public, waving signs, and calling for action? The name of the American game is to be heard.

So let Anthony Bologna be damned. Whatever that means. Bloomberg is playing Two-Face by at once promoting the right of young people to be frustrated that their future has been ruined by the greed and cash-hoarding entities on Wall Street, but then he sends in his goons to throw those same young people to the dirty pavement.

I can still hear the screams of those maced girls. They were shrieking. Scratching at their eyes. Getting maced is very painful, and I can’t imagine the claustrophobia they would be feeling as they were herded and surrounded by other NYPD officers staring on like lobotomized fools and holding up that orange fence.

Hopefully this doesn’t become a virtual revolution. Hopefully it will spill over into the physical world in as equally a powerful way. If every activist Tweeter (including me) stopped walking tomorrow afternoon, wherever they’re at, and shouted a concise, less-than-140 character statement about the ideas surrounding Occupy Wall Street, I’d dare say society would be stirred. Or maybe nothing would happen. Either way, people are pissed. Mace will no longer stop them from gathering and protesting, permit or not.

So shout: Punishment for Anthony Bologna & Bloomberg’s Thugs! Occupy Wall Street! Shit like that. It’s time to bring the Twitter conversation to our shopping malls, our schools, our churches, and even our NFL games. Let Anthony Bologna be the man who officially kicked off the revolution. Let him take credit. Let his shot of mace burn eyeballs across the world. I’m convinced that’s the sole reason he was placed on earth.