When my daughter started getting involved with the student protest movement around the war and most recently, the insane fee hikes at San Fransisco State, I fretted quietly to myself, this is a phase. She’s away from home, she’s pushing boundaries, she’s learning about herself and the world. This was a girl who got nearly straight ‘A’s, helped out in the office and was involved in dance nearly every day of the week during her high school years.
Once in college, she really started opening up and learning about the world. She came to the conviction that the Iraq and Afghan wars were wrong and started leading protests against them. At first I thought she was looking for the spotlight after all, she’d been a superstar dancer and very popular in high school. Besides, it’s fun to thumb your nose at authority, at least until someone gets hurt. But I always believed if the going got really tough she’d fade to the side lines.
Then came last night. It started as a protest against heightened fees. The protesters have a point. For example, the school administration is building a $92MM recreation center while cutting about a third of the classes. They refuse to meet with, or discuss anything that’s going on, with the students. Some students, like my daughter who is a senior, are severely impacted and may be forced into many more semesters of school just to get the required classes. On top of that, the classes are much more expensive. So they have a right to be pissed.
I’ve always taught her to be up front. If you don’t like something, say something. Don’t suffer in silence. I never actually thought she’d listened to me. These two photos here are her getting arrested. Now granted, she didn’t get tazed or beaten down, but she was handled pretty rough. There’s no parent on the face of the planet that wants to see their child handled in that way.
Still, at the same time, I’m incredibly proud of her. She is doing what almost no one will do these days: Take a stand. Shout at unjust authority. Speak truth to power. I also realize that she has demonstrated that she’s willing to pay a price for her convictions. That her beliefs are not a fad or a fashion but they are core to her sense of integrity. She had to block that door last night, or she wouldn’t be who she is.
She called me on the phone to relate her tale, the arrest, the deep conversation with other protesters as they awaited transport to jail so calm and collected she could have been talking about a class. She said she was scared, but she didn’t sound like it. She sounded like she’s found herself.
See video of Tayler’s takedown, starting at about the 1:20 mark.
Dispatches From The Front 