What is it with this need to protect lawns and grass with riot police wielding batons, tasers, and pepper spray?
Oh, the horrors! The grass might get…bent.
I was a student at the University of Florida in the late 1980s/early 1990s. We had a quad – called the Plaza of the Americas – right next to the library and a place where the Hari Krishnas would serve a 25 cent lunch every day. There were HUGE lines. On the SIDEWALKS. EVERY damn day.
<gasp! Not the sidewalk? They were blocking the sidewalk?? Daily??>
Oh, yes, and it gets worse. Those very same students who were eating the commie, socialist scum vegetarian lunch for a quarter, would also SIT DOWN and eat it …. you guessed it…on the grass!
There were also students who would actually sleep on the grass between classes. I kid you not. Can you believe their insolence? That wasn’t the only lawn either. On the much larger lawn dividing the engineering school from the student union building, students would gather in GROUPS! On sunny days, you might see some female students sunning themselves in their bikinis (it was UF, after all).
It was total mayhem! Chaos! The lawns…oh, the horrors!
We, uh, I mean... those damn kids got away with it, every day.
So, what’s a lawn to do? What’s a sidewalk to do? Nonviolent protesters present such a threat to our way of life. I’m sure none of those protesters would actually be willing to move to let someone use the sidewalk if they needed to. I’m sure none of them would even consider being courteous if, say, the grass needed to be tended to. I’m sure none of them would offer to keep the place, you know, clean and tidy.
Clearly, two things need to happen here. First, we need immediate repression to ensure these protesters get the message – “Don’t Mess with the Grass!!” Second, we need another Supreme Court decision that upholds grass and sidewalks as persons, with rights.
Rights? Oh, wait….
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And yes, I do understand about reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on the First Amendment. I do understand that restricting access is not protected. The point of the diary is the extreme use of force on peaceful protesters.