Author Topic: What Terror Looks Like (Read 1661 times)

islander · « **on:** June 28, 2020, 04:03:50 AM »

What Terror Looks Like

Patricia Evangelista
June 6 at 3:27 PM

Iâ€™ll tell you what terror looks like.

Four years ago, I stood across a house where five men had been killed. The families crowded outside. There were many people in that narrow alley, mostly women. Please, they pleaded, tell us who the dead men are. The cops refused, yelled at one mother, shoved another daughter. Then it rained, hard and heavy. People ran. The cops laughed. See, said one cop. He pointed at the sky. See, God is listening to me.

Three years ago, I went door to door to speak to families whose sons had been killed. They named a police officer. They called the deaths executions. One father refused to put his name on the record. His wife told me to use hers. She said it was the least she could do for her dead son.

Two years ago, I sat across vigilantes who told me cops gave them orders to kill. I couldnâ€™t interview the cop they named, because the cop refused to comment. I couldnâ€™t find the families of the dead. They had gone into hiding.

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islander · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2020, 04:08:19 AM »

Isnâ€™t that strange, one vigilante asked me, that itâ€™s the families of the dead who have to run?

Last year, I spoke to a woman whose son had been shot by the police. Witnesses said he raised his arms. Please, he said, arrest me instead. The woman filed a case. The cops tried to settle. She refused, even as her own frightened family begged her to move on. On the day the courts decided in her favor, she went to her sonâ€™s grave with a copy of the resolution. She read him every word.

I donâ€™t live with terror every day. They do. They have for years. One wake was empty of mourners, because every neighbor was afraid to be seen paying respects. One teenager quit school to trail her mother, terrified Mama would be shot next. A woman who had already buried one son stood guard outside a police station until dawn. Another of her sons had been arrested, and she was afraid he wouldnâ€™t live through the night.

This government would like to tell us terror is a function of guilt. Do not be afraid of the new law, they say. Only terrorists have reason to be afraid. Trust the cops. Trust us to know who the enemy is. Trust us to define what public safety requires. The law is on your side.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=114241.0

islander · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2020, 04:08:39 AM »

Terror is a complicated word, but Iâ€™ll give you the other word for it, one less bound by politics and privilege. The word is fear. Fear makes you faint in a police office, in front of your sobbing son. Fear comes when youâ€™re kneeling on a linoleum floor mopping up your own boyâ€™s blood, saying sorry you canâ€™t fight back. Sometimes it makes you apologize to coffins and withdraw witness statements and refuse to testify. Sometimes it stops you from asking questions. Or writing Facebook posts. Or sharing the story of a boy who said, please, arrest me instead.

Isnâ€™t that strange, a killer once asked me, that itâ€™s the families of the dead who have to run?

The old laws didnâ€™t protect these families from terror. The new law, enforced by the same people under whose watch thousands were killed, will make everyone else who dissents a possible target. The government is correct that this new law is about terror, but it isnâ€™t one that will end it.

I write this as protest. I say no too.

https://medium.com/@kill.list.lit/what-terror-looks-like-ea1fda9a96d9

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Author Topic: What Terror Looks Like (Read 1661 times)

islander

What Terror Looks Like

islander

Re: What Terror Looks Like

islander

Re: What Terror Looks Like