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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'It dawned on me when I was in the ER... my government did this to me.'
Emily Rutter Hebbron
23h ·
Professor Maureen Healy is the chair of the history department at Lewis and Clark College. She teaches Modern European History, with a specialization in the history of Germany and Eastern Europe (and the rise of fascism). She was shot in the head by federal agents on Monday night and is recovering from the injury and the concussion, but shared a statement of her experience, and gave permission to share this.
--
Statement by Maureen Healy, July 22, 2020
For Immediate Release
Since June, I have been attending peaceful protests in Portland neighborhoods in support of Black Lives Matter. I have gone with family and friends.
I am a 52-year-old mother. I am a history professor.
I went downtown yesterday to express my opinion as a citizen of the United States, and as a resident of Portland. Of Oregon. This is my home. I was protesting peacefully. So why did federal troops shoot me in the head Monday night?
I was in a large crowd of ordinary folks. Adults, teens, students. Moms and dads. It looked to me like a cross-section of the City. Black Lives Matter voices led the crowd on a peaceful march from the Justice Center past the murals at the Apple store. The marchers were singing songs. We were chanting. We were saying names of Black people that have been killed by police. We observed a moment of silence in front of the George Floyd mural.
I wanted to, and will continue to, exercise my First Amendment right to speak. Federal troops have been sent to my city to extinguish these peaceful protests. I was not damaging federal property. I was in a crowd with at least a thousand other ordinary people. I was standing in a public space.
In addition to being a Portland resident, I am also a historian. My field is Modern European History, with specialization in the history of Germany and Eastern Europe. I teach my students about the rise of fascism in Europe.
By professional training and long years of teaching, I am knowledgeable about the historical slide by which seemingly vibrant democracies succumbed to authoritarian rule. Militarized federal troops are shooting indiscriminately into crowds of ordinary people in our country. We are on that slide.
It dawned on me when I was in the ER, and had a chance to catch my breath (post tear gas): my government did this to me. My own government. I was not shot by a random person in the street. A federal law enforcement officer pulled a trigger that sent an impact munition into my head.
After being hit I was assisted greatly by several volunteer medics. At least one of them was with Rosehip Medic Collective. To take shelter from the teargas I was hustled into a nearby van. Inside they bandaged my head and drove me several blocks away. From there my family took me to the ER. I am grateful for the assistance, skill, and incredibly kind care of these volunteer medics.
We must take this back to Black Lives Matter. Police brutality against Black people is the real subject of these peaceful protests that have been happening in my city and across the country. What happened to me is nothing. It is nothing compared to what happens to Black citizens at the hands of law enforcement, mostly local police, every day. And that is why we have been marching. That is why I will continue to march.
https://www.facebook.com/emhebbron/posts/10103762062364030
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Because this doesn't appear to be restoring whatever greatness you think America has lost. Take your goon squad and fuck off.
young_at_heart
(3,774 posts)If they take off the blinders or have someone deprogram them from the cult, they may find the horror that we all live in every day!
Pachamama
(16,887 posts)Its absolutely sickening and terrifying what he is doing to our Nation - allowing Hundreds and Thosuands to die unnecessarily from a pandemic that other Nations have been able to slow and protect their populations, and now gassing and beating Americans with his private paramilitary police.
pandr32
(11,637 posts)So true and terrifying.
magicarpet
(14,202 posts)... has assumed the mantles of Fascism and Authoritarianism with open arms.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Right in front of everyone so the world can see it while it happens.
Pretty ballsy.
jaxexpat
(6,866 posts)of WWII. Given our slavery history, civil war denial, Jim Crow lawlessness and anti-alien nature he could easily have been right. He was not terribly wrong, only about 80 years or so. FDR and his cadre of forward thinkers deserve a lot of credit for our ascendancy into "super-power-hood". However, it was plain even then, to the intellectual elite of that time and now, that it was only a pause in the march toward "the mantles of Fascism and Authoritarianism" to which material wealth and spiritual stagnation is drawn.
I have no copywrite to "superpowerhood" at this time. N. Webster and I meet so rarely these days.
erronis
(15,428 posts)America join them. There were a lot of strong links between the capitalists/industrialists such as Ford and Krupp and Koch.
Response to jaxexpat (Reply #11)
Name removed Message auto-removed
dlk
(11,597 posts)And further, the Republican voters and non-voters did this to you.
soldierant
(6,945 posts)I tend to blame Democrats who stayed home or voted third party more than other voters ... because they are the ones who should have known better.
burrowowl
(17,654 posts)Warpy
(111,417 posts)or at close range. This is totally unacceptable in any organized society.
For the historian in the OP: wear a helmet. Even a bicycle helmet will afford some protection and you'll fit right in. It can make the difference between a mild concussion and a skull fracture--or worse.
Response to Warpy (Reply #9)
geralmar This message was self-deleted by its author.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,112 posts)peaceful protesters. This is a criminal activity perpetrated by criminals.
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,342 posts)Link to tweet
?s=20
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,342 posts)Delmette2.0
(4,176 posts)But if and when this comes to my small city I will be out with the protesters.!
Fuck the fascist and their mercenaries.
byronius
(7,407 posts)You can't send in militia to beat residents. You can't. And I don't care if there were orders issued. Whoever followed those orders is gulity of an American crime.
Justice. Endless, grinding justice. In the end I trust they will be running and hiding, but we should dig them out and make them face the bar of justice before sentencing them to prison terms.
That's what you do with Nazis. That's how you solve it. Never stop. Ever. Grinding. Endless. Justice.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,112 posts)this is about saving the Constitution and what is left of Democracy as we know it.
Hekate
(90,978 posts)crickets
(25,989 posts)questionseverything
(9,665 posts)while poc definitely get the worst of things, the fight is really between the 99% and the 1%
we must stand together or hang separately
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)This is a fight for ALL of our lives now.
SunSeeker
(51,787 posts)BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)What would put an end to it from Trumps perspective? What would cause protesters to disperse other than the exit of Feds? Theres no stated goal or accomplishment that would bring it to a conclusion. The courts take forever.
tblue37
(65,524 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Right now the protests have given trump''s handlers the excuse to impose a national police force.
Nothing less than that is the goal.
When they do not need protestors for legitimacy, people are gonna get seriously hurt.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)They violated your constitutional rights , and criminally assaulted you , so file charges , then bring a civil suit against them . You are on the right side , and will win. That's all trump knows what will stop him from continuing to do this to others, and make them , and the one who shot you pay in court for this.
PatrickforO
(14,602 posts)Racism, white supremacy, police brutality, force.
VOTE.
THEM.
ALL.
OUT.
titanicdave
(429 posts)...THE...VAST...MAJORITY...OF...REPUBLICANS...THE...HELL...OUT...OF...OFFICE !!!