Buddy's Place
Kids Should Talk to Strangers?
RECEIVED Thu., Aug. 11, 2005
Dear Editor,
I have just filed a formal complaint with the APD Internal Affairs office against three Austin cops for violation of my First and 14th Amendment free speech rights. Responding to an invitation posted at my front door, I attended a local "National Night Out" neighborhood meeting a block from my house and was outraged to see the APD-sanctioned "Stranger Danger" brochure on offer along with some others. I objected vociferously to its message that recommended that kids avoid all contact and conversation with strangers, and I noted that most kids are abused by parents and folks they know, like priests, not strangers. The lynch mob of paranoid parents demanded that I leave, to which I refused, finding myself in a public forum and standing on a public street. A uniformed EMS officer who was present called the cops, who arrived without delay, started in to interrogate me and then threatened to put me in handcuffs and arrest me. I had foolishly expected the APD cops to protect me from the lynch mob and to read them my rights to free speech. I challenged the cops and managed to make it home without getting shot.
And you wonder why they hate us and need to use bombs to get their point across?
I have just filed a formal complaint with the APD Internal Affairs office against three Austin cops for violation of my First and 14th Amendment free speech rights. Responding to an invitation posted at my front door, I attended a local "National Night Out" neighborhood meeting a block from my house and was outraged to see the APD-sanctioned "Stranger Danger" brochure on offer along with some others. I objected vociferously to its message that recommended that kids avoid all contact and conversation with strangers, and I noted that most kids are abused by parents and folks they know, like priests, not strangers. The lynch mob of paranoid parents demanded that I leave, to which I refused, finding myself in a public forum and standing on a public street. A uniformed EMS officer who was present called the cops, who arrived without delay, started in to interrogate me and then threatened to put me in handcuffs and arrest me. I had foolishly expected the APD cops to protect me from the lynch mob and to read them my rights to free speech. I challenged the cops and managed to make it home without getting shot.
And you wonder why they hate us and need to use bombs to get their point across?
Jim Kirby
Barton Oaks Neighborhood
Barton Oaks Neighborhood