Active Nonviolence at D2KLA.

• Author: Brister, Bob
• Position: Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, August 2000 - Brief Article

Madera County Greens organizers Bob Brister and Whitney Zack participated in the Democratic National Convention protests in Los Angeles, August 13-17. Downtown Los Angeles had been transformed by the presence of massive numbers of police officers into a police state, and tensions between the violence-prone Los Angeles Police Department and the demonstrators were high.

A significant number of the protesters were "Black Bloc" anarchist youth. Recognizing the high potential for violence between the Black Bloc and the LAPD, Whitney quickly assumed a role of mediator between the opposing sides and advisor for the youth on the front line. She did this by interposing herself between the police line and the protesters, at considerable risk to her physical safety. Whitney was able to assume this role for several reasons.

* She was in her 50s and was clearly not a part of the Black Bloc (in her Green Party t-shirt), but was part of the protest demonstrators

* She was a petite middle aged woman who was clearly not a physical threat to the police

* She believed in the power of nonviolence and was fearless

* She has experience in nonviolent protests dating back to the 1960s

Part of her method was to walk down the police line, smiling, greeting, waving two-finger peace signs, and making eye contact with each police officer. This served to humanize the situation by giving her a human face in the eyes of the police and showing that she was not a threat to them.

On Tuesday evening, an emergency meeting was called at Pershing Square to decide how to support the protesters that were being held in jail.

Whitney spoke to the organizers about the importance of holding a march to the jail before dark and of getting a strong commitment to nonviolence from the participants. This was especially important because it was a non-permitted march and we knew it was likely to draw a strong police reaction.

The group decided to walk two-by-two down the sidewalk toward the jail to keep it strictly legal. None the less, the LAPD stopped the walkers after they had gone several blocks. The police presence, which had been very heavy all day, responded in mass to the walkers, with circling helicopters, troop-carrying trucks, squad cars, motorcycle cops, and police on foot. By the time the police stopped us, it was getting dark. Whitney served as an intermediary to safely get one of the youth organizers to the police officer in charge for negotiations.

In another incident, Whitney...