Where is my America?

Via HuffPostHill Yfrog

When I was in school my teachers told me that America was a great Democracy. That we had personal freedoms other countries dreamed of. This was a country to be proud of simply because we had free speech, free assembly, and free press. We could speak out if we saw wrongs and injustices in our government. The press could write about these injustices. We could picket, protest, speak out. We, as citizens, were part of the whole process.

Reporters in other countries would fear for their lives if they got caught up in a situation of dissent from the government. They would fear for their livelihoods. The media was often controlled by the government in order to control everything that was said. People would be jailed or run over by tanks if they expressed frustration with the government. The police would beat them mercilessly. But America, this was a country to be proud of. This was a country where the people could speak and be heard.

And yet, there have been thousands of protestors with the Occupy Wall Street movement jailed, all across the country. Many charged with "being on the scene of a riot." Police have been throwing tear gas and flash grenades at large groups of peaceful protestors. Some have brutally beaten college students and other peaceful protestors. Dozens of reporters have been jailed, regardless of their press badges. The governments in many cities have told news organizations not to film during raids. They have forced news trucks and helicopters out of the areas during raids. Many reporters were fired just for standing with the protestors.

Maybe it's not the government who's pulling the strings. Maybe it's the banks and the corporations. Either way, this is not the nation I learned about in school. This is not the proud nation of personal freedoms my teachers boasted about. I don't know where that nation has gone to, but I do hope we can find it again. Because if this is what America is, I don't want to live here anymore.