By Kara Callaway
Within the first few minutes of entering the CODEPINK house, I began to realize how much action this organization creates. By my fourth hour in the house, I was camping out in front of the Smithsonian's Native American museum to secure a spot for CODEPINK at the Live Earth concert put on by Al Gore. I camped out for 11 hours with two other CODEPINK activists to ensure that the organization was loud and present at this event. What I didn't realize, and found very interesting/outrageous was the animosity towards CODEPINK from the police. Not only did they corral us into a corner on the side of the crowd so we wouldn't be seen on camera, but they continued to push us back until we were so cramped together that we were stepping on each other and our neighbors! With plenty of room in front of us, the police pushed us into an inhumanely compact space! The discrimination and abuse of power was overtly obvious and it made me sick. We were in line longer than anyone and our message was positive and 100% pro-Gore; the only reason for hiding us from the camera was to anger us. This incident showed me first-hand how corrupt police can be and why so many CODEPINK activists are willing to go to jail to fight the system.
Within the first few minutes of entering the CODEPINK house, I began to realize how much action this organization creates. By my fourth hour in the house, I was camping out in front of the Smithsonian's Native American museum to secure a spot for CODEPINK at the Live Earth concert put on by Al Gore. I camped out for 11 hours with two other CODEPINK activists to ensure that the organization was loud and present at this event. What I didn't realize, and found very interesting/outrageous was the animosity towards CODEPINK from the police. Not only did they corral us into a corner on the side of the crowd so we wouldn't be seen on camera, but they continued to push us back until we were so cramped together that we were stepping on each other and our neighbors! With plenty of room in front of us, the police pushed us into an inhumanely compact space! The discrimination and abuse of power was overtly obvious and it made me sick. We were in line longer than anyone and our message was positive and 100% pro-Gore; the only reason for hiding us from the camera was to anger us. This incident showed me first-hand how corrupt police can be and why so many CODEPINK activists are willing to go to jail to fight the system.
