United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY went toe to toe with the New York Police Department. An activist in the Occupy Wall Street movement, Thomas voiced his opinions of the NYPD police brutality that had and has been plaguing the #OWS movement.
Thomas comes from a long line of people who sacrifice for their country: Mother, Army Veteran (Iraq), Step father, Army, active duty (Afghanistan), Grand father, Air Force veteran (Vietnam), Great Grand Father Navy veteran (World War II).
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I feel about this video. I can definitely sense the underlining frustration Thomas feels behind his words and considering his long family history of serving the military, I'd say his anger is quite justified. The accounts of police brutality in New York are very much real and startling to say the least. Lawrence O'Donnell did a segment on the police brutality that transpired during the Occupy Wall Streets movement which I highly recommend anyone to see here. Both O'Donnel and Thomas seem to question the morality and integrity of the police force today. The question is whether the police are really here to serve/protect the people or comply only to wealthy, including corporate bigwigs of Wall Street. Although their messages are presented with great vigor and I would full heartily agree with them, I know the police force must have their own perspective on the matter that I'm not hearing despite their silence in the video.
I'm glad that the Occupy Wall Street is receiving the social media attention it deserves. Hopefully, as long as protesters remain peaceful and resilient, these police brutality cases will only strengthen the movement. Perhaps the crimes of the police will also be brought to the public's attention, crimes nonetheless committed against the American people they're sworn to protect.
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