“There is no honor in this, you’re here to protect them, protect us.”
This is incredible:
Decorated war hero, Marine Sergeant Shamar Thomas voiced his objection to the New York Police Department’s treatment of Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Sergent Thomas’s impassioned speech to the officers was caught on video by various protesters who were being moved on by police officers who were allegedly threatening protesters if they did not move along.
Shamar pointed out to the mob of police officers who were intimidating the protesters that there was “No honour” in their actions and said “It takes a coward to harm an unarmed civilian” he went on to say “This is not a war zone, these are unarmed people, it does not make you tough to hurt these people.”
“If you want to go fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan, Leave these people alone, they are US citizens, why are you doing this to our people?” said Seargent Thomas who then asked where in their (The NYPD officers present) contract does it justify hurting US citizens.
“I’ve been to Iraq 14 months for my people and you come here to hurt them, they don’t have guns, it doesn’t make any sense, how do you sleep at night? there is no honour in this, you’re here to protect them, protect us.”
“You’re all walking around in riot gear like this is a war, these people don’t have guns.”
Sergeant Shamar Thomas is now an American hero not just for his service to his country but for his service to his country in defending civilians at home.
[video after the jump]
Thank you, Sergeant Thomas.
[via The Economic Voice]
[cross-posted at Balloon Juice]
Loud, sustained applause.
That is what courage looks like. I’m joining in on this applause. Wow.
I’m probably in the minority, but I’m just so “meh” on this. I saw the clip on The Last Word, but all I could think about was what would have happened to him if the protesters were predominantly black.
This man is actually a fake. An imposter. But good job at helping him spread his 15 min of fame.
You have clear, irrefutable evidence for this, of course…
Charlie
You need to get with the program. Here or there we are SEMPER FI!!!
Although I’m not fully in support of OWS, this veteran makes a very good point. The protesters are exercising their rights. And unless they are harming others – why be so tough on them?
I am sure that there are a bunch vets marching at occupy here and there; my husband is a Vietnam vet (USMC-for Obama needles to say.) and we went to Occupy Philly a couple of weeks ago.
I guess I don’t really understand why this guy has become such an Internet phenomenon. When cops act like thugs, they should absolutely be held responsible (they usually aren’t). But most of the cops moving the protesters along are simply following orders–whether they want to or not–just like that guy was following orders in Iraq. And: “If you want to hurt or kill people, go to Iraq.” Wow. That is deeply sad to me. (100s of thousands of unarmed Iraqi citizens have been killed in the war. Is there honor in that?) I sympathize with his intentions but he didn’t win me over.