A short review of riot gear issues.

RantWoman needs to maintain her RantWoman cred.

Plus RantWoman is just feeling linguistically challenged on account of all the infuriating news streams she is permitting to pass by her brain.

With that, RantWoman wants to offer some, uh, unconventional commentary on the protests sweeping the nation's campuses. RantWoman will be critiquing the approaches of the many police departments on display.  Please hold RantWoman's blurting out in the Light.

NYPD: 

--full riot gear for peaceful protestors marching calmly out of Hind Hall in their zip ties?

--Big giant super scary looking ladder thingie: doesn't the fire department have ladder trucks? How many ladder trucks could the city buy for the price of one extra scary monster thingie?

Police at UNC-Chapel Hill

--No riot gear whatsoever. Let's hope they DON'T get riot gear envy and go spend a whole lot of public money.

Whoever is beating up nonviolent protestors at UT in Austin

Gees: whatever all police stood around for hours at Uvalde sure did not hold back when it came to beating up nonviolent people protesting mayhem in #Gaza.

UCLA

Whoever let the rabid pro-Israeli faction beat up on the peace demonstration for over an hour before stepping in: Seriously????

University of MI

Forbes clip of U of MI commencement

RantWoman remembers wearing a red armband and carrying a black ballon at her college graduation. RantWoman remembers Dr. Seuss being awarded an honorary degree, because of his role in helping people of a certain age learn to read, not because of very explicitly racist views which became widely known later.

RantWoman's point: RantWoman appreciates that police without riot gear removed protestors at U of MI  RantWoman thinks it could have possible to have an effective visible protest at graduation without inviting state police to the party. RantWoman and a beloved longtime family friend came to RantWoma's college tgaduation,. A finals week sit-in and ensuing disciplinary hearing were plenty for RantWoman. On the other hand, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa did not involve two million civilians facing immediate famine brought on with help from US tax payers. So RantWoman is in a then and now space with question marks.