Why is it that so many lefty protesters are so intolerant of differing viewpoints, even to the extent of assaulting a man over a simple non-obscene t-shirt? Well Michael Graham is the latest victim of these so-called "liberals" -- he was assualted for wearing an "INS" shirt at a pro-illegal-immigration rally in Maryland, similar to how I was assaulted in 2003 for disrupting an anti-war protest at UCLA. Mr. Graham was apparently detained by the police just for standing outside Richard Montgomery High School, while the thugs who accosted him smiled and laughed. He even has pictures of his assailants. The really ironic part is that the excuse the criminals used to exclude him from the rally was his lack of protest-authorized identification.
Around 3:20pm, I approached the gate in my "INS" t-shirt and was stopped immediately. A man who refused to identify himself, surrounded by several large, tattoooed people, told me that the public rally—which I learned about from the pages of the Washington Post—was an "invitation-only event." I showed him my ABC Radio ID and asked again to be admitted. He and his pals--none of whom had displayed any badges or ID--blocked my way and still refused to let me enter. They continued to examine my ABC Radio ID. The apparent leader did have some type of ID badge on, but whenever I tried to look at it, he covered it with his hands. He clearly wanted me to believe he was in the security business.I kept pressing: "With whom am I speaking? Who are you?" One of the thuggish looking men replied, "Do YOU have any ID."
"Sure," I replied, and showed my ABC Radio ID again.
"Other than that?" he asked.
"Are you saying you’re not going to accept my ID? Are you saying you need tighter IDS at this event?"
His final note on the police reminds me of what the UCLA campus police told me after I survived my encounter with peaceful anti-war protesters.
After several phone calls and conversations, the police official in charge made a very disturbing comment: "Look, we can’t stop you from going in there in that shirt," he said. "But if you do, I can’t guarantee your safety. And when people in there attack you, I’ve got to send my officers in to get you out and that puts them in danger."In other words, he was confident that the people at the rally would kick my a…er, would react with violence. And because they were violent, I and my t-shirt were the problem. Great.
And women shouldn't travel alone if they don't want to get raped.
(HT: The Babaganoosh and Michelle Malkin, who was also on the scene.)
