see ya, rnc

i'll admit i was excited about the convention,
and not because i'm a republican (i'm not)
but because i thought having my city in the national
spotlight would be exciting.

many riots, peaceful protests and
(hundreds) of arrests later, i'm glad it's over.
the national news hasn't had much to say about the
conflict between st. paul police and the protestors
and press but it's been significant.

not having been over there myself
i tried to believe that the police were being reasonable
and that those who were being tear-gassed, tazed, beat,
detained and arrested were being altogether
unreasonable and dangerous.
i honestly knew better but i wanted to believe
that only those who were being a threat were
themselves being threatened.

and then wednesday afternoon my boyfriend, scott,
rode his bike through downtown minneapolis
to pick up a textbook he'd ordered
that was waiting for him at the post office.
he biked along a road he takes often
as it has a bike lane.
during the ride he saw a small barricade in the road,
nothing too significant
and there were no signs to indicate
that he couldn't continue on through-
no construction or anything that might explain it.
(we now suppose that someone of significance was in the area).
he noticed some officers on the corner but they were
just standing around and so scott road along,
thinking nothing of it.

halfway down the block the officers saw him and one of them
yelled, "hey! get out of here! you can't be here!"
scott immediately obeyed,
turned around and went back out the way he came
and was going to find another way
to get to the other side of downtown.
but for some reason the police weren't gonna have that
and about six officers started to chase him.
one of the officers yelled to the others,
"anyone can grab him!"

scott was aware of the aggressive behavior
the police in st. paul have been exhibiting all week
and was very afraid
so he pedaled with all his might
until he was safely away from the officers.

i got so upset when he told me the story later.
it's a good thing the officers didn't lay a hand on him because
i.would.have.come.unglued.

good-bye national spotlight.
wasn't really worth it.

-nicole