Professor Arrested for Documenting Police Brutality

28 Views· 24/06/21

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Michael Allen, a professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, was arrested by police while documenting the unfolding violence against students and faculty at a peaceful encampment, where over 100 people were arrested despite complying with police orders.

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Transcript

[0:00]almost half of the people who were still present in the gement

[0:04]were arrested people who were complying with police orders including myself the

[0:08]last bit of my video they're saying to back up and I'm

[0:10]backing up and they just grabbed me I heard stories about people

[0:15]running down the sidewalk out of the University getting chased by the

[0:19][Music] police salamu alikum and welcome to another episode on the TMJ

[0:35]podcast today we have yet another exclusive interview this time with Professor

[0:39]Michael Allen a senior lecturer at Washington University in St Louis who

[0:43]was arrested at a student organized Pro Palestine protest simply for documenting

[0:49]police brutality against another professor who was being attacked by the police

[0:54]let's hear it from Professor Allen himself thank you again Professor Allen

[0:57]for being with me today I really appreciate you taking time out

[1:00]of your schedule to speak with us you uh basically went Nationwide

[1:05]on uh news talking about the experience you had documenting what was

[1:10]happening to Professor Steve tamari a 65-year-old Palestinian American history Professor can

[1:15]you tell us firsthand what were you witnessing at that time how

[1:19]did everything unfold yes I mean there had been sort of while

[1:24]leading up to the police assault on the encampment um the encampment

[1:29]had kind of reached a very peaceful um State very small number

[1:36]left the decision to attack at the moment was really quite stunning

[1:39]one of the reasons why myself and other faulty stayed because we

[1:43]thought well it looks like maybe maybe this is going to be

[1:47]allowed to happen um right it's kind of a foolish belief but

[1:50]once the police lined up they moved in very fast using um

[1:54]bicycles to start attacking um the demonstrators who had linked armed I'd

[2:01]never seen anything like that before and then Professor tamari was up

[2:08]front filming the assault um like I was but he got a

[2:10]little closer and one of the Washington University Police sort of commanders

[2:15]Brent F who's director of operations pointed at Dr tamari and then

[2:19]he was rushed by police officers who weren't just simply trying to

[2:24]put him into handcuffs but were trying to knock him to the

[2:27]ground which they succeeded in doing they knocked his glasses off his

[2:30]face one officer stepped on the glasses that's in my video and

[2:34]when he noticed that he just kicked the GL glasses across the

[2:37]grass like he didn't even try to do anything about that and

[2:40]then I sort of tracked Dr Tamor they dragged him back to

[2:45]the uh police detention van chest first and I believe that's when

[2:49]the nine ribs were broken so I got all that on tape

[2:54]thankfully it'll be very useful for him and his attorneys but um

[2:57]by doing that I got scooped up and was put in to

[3:01]handcuffs within 3 minutes I think it's like about the 3 minute

[3:04]mark on my video where I'm being arrested so wow my goal

[3:08]is to document a lot of the student arrests that have footage

[3:11]that would be useful for them but also to know who was

[3:16]being arrested so we could you know make sure friends loved ones

[3:18]family were called and knew about this I mean at the time

[3:22]we didn't know if we were going to be held for one

[3:23]hour or days um I mean I should have known documenting police

[3:28]brutality is usually actually the quick way to get arrested at a

[3:32]protest right and so essentially all you were doing uh which prior

[3:36]to your arrest was just documenting with your phone what was actually

[3:39]happening it's true um I was not in the encampment I was

[3:45]you know quite quite a way as outside of it as was

[3:47]Dr tamari we were on the sidelines we again we were really

[3:52]worried once we saw the line of police using the bicycles as

[3:55]battering rams we were really afraid of what could happen right so

[4:00]wanted to have it all in film right and and it's interesting

[4:05]um because that evening uh we read on online that over 100

[4:10]students faculty activists were arrested on that same campus um what was

[4:14]what was it like seeing all these arrests happen at once at

[4:17]a protest that is peaceful there's no violence happening on the part

[4:21]of students or faculty or anyone participating what was it like witnessing

[4:24]all of that well AB absolutely appalling absolutely proof that the content

[4:31]of the protest is the reason why this response was merited despite

[4:35]the you know denials by Washington University and other universities I've seen

[4:41]many protests broken up by police over the years um protests for

[4:44]racial Justice and against police violence here in St Louis going back

[4:48]to Ferguson in 2014 I've never seen a police response where they

[4:54]literally were trying to arrest everybody this was like they were just

[4:57]it was like catch they were catching students they were catch faculty

[5:00]almost half of the people who were still present in the gement

[5:03]were arrested I mean it's just egregious and people who were complying

[5:11]with police orders including myself the last bit of my video they're

[5:14]saying to back up and I'm backing up and I just grab

[5:17]me it's like people people I heard stories about people running down

[5:20]the sidewalk out of the University getting chased by the police it's

[5:24]just such a Draconian response that I think is squarely aimed at

[5:28]you know the message that Palestinian Liberation should be important and that

[5:33]our University should divest from the barriers to that Liberation right and

[5:37]what do you think you know you said it's clear that this

[5:40]is all happening because of the contents of these protests what do

[5:43]you think about the content it is that is making the response

[5:48]from police so different so brutal compared to other instances of students

[5:53]protesting on campuses well I I think that the content is popular

[5:57]and reasonable I think that's what makes it's so um such a

[6:03]threat right now is that actually the protests are mostly peaceful uh

[6:08]protesters are very well organized they're not generally choosing to disrupt campus

[6:12]business um people can still study and move about their day and

[6:18]the message is spot on I mean they're clear lists of Demands

[6:21]which unfortunately have gotten lost in the kind of the the coverage

[6:27]of the the police response and the protests and and the supposed

[6:30]you know threat of student activism the actual demands that the students

[6:34]have are really kind of crystal clear and in many cases very

[6:37]very very practical like our students calling for divestment from Boeing and

[6:42]an analysis of our University's portfolio to see what other complicit ways

[6:47]we might be um participating in um the aparte in Israel and

[6:54]Palestine uh one of the demands was to create an indigenous studies

[6:57]program at the University I mean it's hardly Molotov cocktail throwing that

[7:03]is like hey let's create a program to study these kinds of

[7:06]issues in the United States where they abound but also all over

[7:09]the world and bring in Scholars including Palestinian Scholars come to our

[7:13]University I I don't understand again I think the the very reasonableness

[7:19]of this is why they have to use tactics to make the

[7:25]uh demands look unreasonable 100% And all the labeling and the uh

[7:28]you know we're hearing labels like terrorist sympathizers terrorists anti-Semitism these are

[7:34]all kind of being thrown out there about essentially protests that are

[7:38]anything but one other question I had is what has University kind

[7:44]of leadership response been I know one thing that we've seen with

[7:47]other universities is that unfortunately University leadership is not doing a very

[7:50]good job of standing behind its students and its professors especially professors

[7:54]who have been teaching at their schools for decades um have you

[7:58]had support from the University uh with everything that's been going on

[8:03]I know you've had uh overwhelming uh student support lots of students

[8:06]have called for your return to the university which we'll also get

[8:09]to but what about leadership have you received any support from them

[8:13]no um nothing I mean from the top levels um I can't

[8:18]even get an answer from the Provost on what this investigation that's

[8:23]part of my suspension would even consist of it it's been two

[8:27]weeks since I wrote to Provost Beverly w and ask for just

[8:32]a basic explanation or a zoom call walk me through what's happening

[8:37]next no response my Dean at the um art and architecture school

[8:41]has been extremely distant Kurt with with email language obviously prohibiting me

[8:47]from finishing the final reviews that I had to do it's really

[8:50]really pretty sad to go from you know being part of this

[8:55]community and then quickly it's just you're you're hanging out to dry

[8:58]and I think they're all just waiting for the University's General Council

[9:01]the lawyers tell them what they can and can't do and so

[9:06]all this idea that you know Academia runs on Civility and collaboration

[9:08]is thrown out the window in this moment you know I'm kind

[9:11]of in this this space in the system where you have no

[9:16]rights but you're still in the under the control of the of

[9:18]the system and its ways so it's been yeah pretty devastating way

[9:23]to end a semester and you know the allegation again for my

[9:27]suspension in the letter is completely false I'm alleged to have helped

[9:31]assist creating the encampment I mean simply being part of the demonstration

[9:35]does that make everyone who attended part of the encampment I mean

[9:39]I had no idea an encampment was even going to be built

[9:42]of course I stood stood around and I stood in solidarity right

[9:45]but many people stood in solidarity who weren't even present are we

[9:49]all then guilty of a crime right and it's interesting that you

[9:54]say that because I'm yet to hear a university that has stood

[9:57]behind its faculty and its students especially faculty because you would assume

[10:02]that universities which are kind of championed as places of free intellectual

[10:06]thought and uh free speech and all of those things that professors

[10:09]are teaching in their classes uh should probably be the first ones

[10:15]defending those rights in the first place and unfortunately we're seeing that

[10:18]right when these sensitive times come they're they're failing their teachers their

[10:21]faculty their students even right and they're continuing to conduct defamation of

[10:27]those of us who were arrested um while they can't comment on

[10:34]specific cases using names thank goodness um right their narratives which the

[10:39]Provost and the chancellor um and other leadership presented at The Faculty

[10:41]Senate meeting several two weeks ago uh and statements to the media

[10:48]contined to insist that we were creating active harm against other students

[10:53]and faculty which is a terrible allegation that is not true that

[10:57]you know that we were chanting violent slogans supposedly and that the

[11:02]biggest one is a f just a complete factual lie that can

[11:06]be disproven with with video and photographic evidence that we surrounded the

[11:12]University library and wouldn't let students leave the in there was an

[11:16]encampment originally outside of the library surrounded by the demonstration in a

[11:19]circle that left clear access to the front door and the back

[11:25]door of the library so that is total fabrication on top of

[11:30]these character assassination attempts to continue to insinuate that that we are

[11:36]harmful violent people um right you know which again betrays the idea

[11:40]that they're neutrally investigating each of our suspensions no they're trying to

[11:46]create a public narrative but it's faltering and the hardening thing is

[11:51]beyond the administration it's very clear from The Faculty Senate meeting and

[11:55]from what's ensued that most faculty members don't buy the lies and

[11:58]don't buy this Nar narrative and it's harder and harder for the

[12:01]University then to hold it together and of course the student body

[12:06]including students who you know would self-identifies Zionist or Zionist supporters have

[12:10]also condemned what happened the university still will not water down or

[12:15]backtrack it is Full Throttle same narrative we're just wanting to see

[12:20]what happens next nobody's nobody has been charged with criminal charges yet

[12:25]they continue to insist the conduct Rose to a criminal level but

[12:29]for some reason they can't actually bring that to anything a prosecutor

[12:32]would take to court 100% And I think a lot of this

[12:37]is also contributing to the overall media narrative we see media rhetoric

[12:41]right now surrounding the um Nationwide protests and encampments essentially labeling them

[12:45]as threatening to Jewish students that's something that we're seeing a lot

[12:49]of that Jewish students and this kind of blanket statement that Jewish

[12:52]students are feeling unsafe on campus they're feeling threatened they feel like

[12:56]it's a hostile environment they equated to anti-Semitism all these kind of

[13:00]things are being thrown out at a time when a lot of

[13:03]Jewish students and Jewish professors are actually participating in these protests and

[13:06]supporting students who are doing that what do what do you see

[13:11]about with that the kind of media landscape um and would you

[13:13]say maybe that is also influencing the ways that universities are responding

[13:17]yeah I mean I think it's a very um perverted sort of

[13:23]narrative it is definitely uh rightly called by many to be the

[13:26]new McCarthyism or a new Red Scare this kind of language is

[13:30]coming from a parade usually of Gentile media commentators politicians and University

[13:37]administrators rarely in any of this uh mainstream media footage they actually

[13:42]interview Jewish students or Jewish faculty members and they never interview Jewish

[13:46]faculty members and students who are part of the protest exactly um

[13:50]and so this this narrative is in one way seems designed to

[13:56]obviously smear a whole segment of the population who is fighting uh

[14:00]for Palestinian Liberation on the other hand it seems to also be

[14:03]designed to condition um Jewish people and feeling that they should be

[14:08]afraid which is not the case that I've I've seen I know

[14:13]plenty of Jewish people who are who are not on my side

[14:16]on this issue um but are still friends of mine and don't

[14:18]know any of them who really strongly feel like the protests are

[14:23]any threat I mean most of the threat Jewish people have faced

[14:26]in this country has come from escalating right-wing n atives like the

[14:30]great replacement theory that are extremely racist and hideous it's a really

[14:34]sort of sinister tangle of people whose goal I don't think has

[14:39]anything to do with Jewish safety or Jewish people um but about

[14:43]conditioning Society in a way in which people don't feel like they

[14:45]have the right to protest or speak out in the face of

[14:49]uh the state and Powerful actors aligned with the state 100% And

[14:52]to kind of close where do you see all of these protests

[14:55]and the kind of this historic movement that has started again on

[14:58]college campus is where do you see this going in the future

[15:03]well I think that um the repression only makes the cause more

[15:06]popular there's still encampments you know graduation passed in M universities and

[15:11]people are still on lawns um demonstrating I think this is a

[15:15]really watershed moment for a whole generation it's really building off of

[15:20]past protest waves like Ferguson and and um George Floyd protests in

[15:27]2020 uh but it's really focused on specific ction um and to

[15:31]people who think all this is just vague or idealistic they should

[15:34]read the demands these are very specific demands about institutions these are

[15:39]people who are you know participants in these universities and colleges who

[15:43]are making demands for specific actions so I find it you know

[15:46]sort of wonderful that um his movements often spiral into vagueness and

[15:53]this is laser focus this is really sharp stuff and really inspiring

[15:57]and I think the Palestinian C worldwide has never had this level

[16:02]of support in the west um and I think it I don't

[16:06]think it's dampening I think it's going to keep growing I think

[16:08]most people are seeing the uh Crackdown on protest for what it

[16:15]is authoritarian reactionary and anti-American I mean if we actually believe in

[16:19]what's in our own Constitution this is really antithetical to the tradition

[16:24]that we say we have in this country absolutely well thank you

[16:27]so much Professor Allen for your time and thank you so much

[16:31]for speaking the truth at a time when unfortunately it's becoming increasingly

[16:34]difficult um and threatening to do so I appreciate it glad to

[16:39]be on thank you [Music] [Music]

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