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- Dear Officer Carnell,
- 18 May, 2012
- A friend of mine showed me the January/
- February issue of the Pax Centurion and I was
- horrified, disgusted, and utterly confused with
- the things you had to say about Occupy Boston.
- I don’t see how you could say what you said
- if you spent any time at Dewey Square. I spoke
- with officers regularly and I got a lot of support.
- Most of them understood why we were there,
- even if they didn’t agree with our tactics.
- If you were there, you would have seen us
- struggle with building a fair, working society,
- while dealing with people who were... “less than
- politically motivated.”
- You would have seen me, personally, sitting
- there while drunken, distraught fathers of dead
- soldiers screamed at me that I was a fascist pig
- because I would not let them pour out their grief
- when they wanted to, but they had to wait their
- turn like everybody else.
- You would have seen us standing in the rain,
- listening to people who didn’t always make the
- most sense, because we believe that Democracy
- is more important than our own comfort.
- And you’re a union! I saw your protests on
- YouTube. You’re fighting for the same things
- we’re fighting for! OB exists because the system
- has become egregiously unfair to the vast
- majority of citizens. You’re getting squeezed by
- the 1% just as much as we are.
- As a small businessman a few years ago, I
- paid a 45% marginal tax rate on about $80,000
- (31% Federal, 12% SSI, 2.13% Medicare).
- Mitt Romney reported paying 11% on $27
- million. Warren Buffett reported paying 16%
- on $100 million. If they paid the same tax rates
- you and I pay, there would be no deficit. You
- know that’s wrong.
- We cut school budgets to supply a $400 billion
- tax cut for the wealthy.
- You know that’s wrong.
- Like many of my peers, I took an oath to
- “uphold and defend the constitution of the
- United States against all enemies, foreign and
- domestic.” I believe you took the same oath. So
- why aren’t you living up to it? It is your sacred
- duty to protect the rights of all citizens, even
- those of us who are being irritating and noisy
- and uncooperative.
- As a teacher, I don’t get to choose my students,
- but I have to do my best for them, even
- the ones I don’t like.
- I cannot believe that a Boston Police Officer
- could actually so discount the constitution, so
- disrespect his fellow citizens, and so blindly
- worship authority. So I assume that we pissed
- you off real bad and we triggered a bunch of
- long-seated, irrational prejudices and you said
- a bunch of stupid stuff.
- Therefore I would like to come down and
- talk to you. I believe that Supt. Evans will vouch
- for my integrity.
- Sincerely,
- Bil Lewis,
- Citizen of the Commonwealth
- of Massachusetts
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