The news of the first fatality of the Occupy Movement passed today in relative silence. The deceased was not a homeless druggie who had overdosed or a a suicide, where those lives were taken by their own hands. Surely if it had been another one of those, then it would have been shouted across the nation in every paper and on every news channel and website. Not this death, no. This death is still relatively obscure in news reports. This first fatality was an unborn child.
The baby's mother was a 19 year old homeless woman, three months pregnant when she arrived at Occupy Seattle. Probably like many other homeless drawn to Occupies around the nation, she, too, came in search of food, shelter, and support. When the riot police began to arrive to evict Occupy Seattle, she tried to leave the area, telling the police that she was pregnant and needed to get out of there as any reasonable mother would feel with the threat of imminent danger. Instead of letting her pass safely through, she was instead hit with batons and kicked in the stomach as she screamed that she was pregnant and finally pepper sprayed full in the face. An ambulance took her to the hospital where things seemed like it would be okay. Five days later, she began to have sharp abdominal pains and felt sick. Like any pregnant mother would, she went to the hospital and there, the doctors performed yet another ultrasound. I know what it is like to see that bright star of a heartbeat disappear. I cannot imagine what she felt when she saw her own baby's heartbeat now gone. A victim of involuntary abortion by the hands of the Seattle Police.
People question what possessed her, yet not in such kind terms, as to why she was at the protest in the first place. A protest is no place for a pregnant woman. Indeed, after watching what had been happening at the Occupy protests nationwide at night, I would agree. However, they are forgetting that this girl was homeless. Occupy Seattle with its food and shelter was probably like a beacon of hope for her and her baby. Far safer than being a 19 year old girl living on the streets where, if raped or beaten, the odds of someone coming to help were slim. Occupy Seattle, from this girl's perspective, was the safest place she could be. At the Occupy, she was taken in with open arms something that, based on her homelessness, not even her family bothered to do. A peaceful protest will always be far safer than being homeless. Those who cannot grasp that haven't spent enough time observing and talking to the homeless themselves.
The question that I would ask is why should a pregnant woman be at risk for losing her baby simply for using her voice? Our First Amendment promotes the use of peaceful, free speech by our people. There is no where in the First Amendment that says that these protesters will be beaten with batons or pepper sprayed in exchange for the right to speak. What kind of country is it that we live in where we equate the expression of free speech as something dangerous? What kind of country is that that we live in where we make the expression of free speech dangerous? If this same young girl had been jumped in the streets and had the same thing happen to her, we'd probably not even hear about it. If we had, then what kind of outpouring of sympathy would we offer her collectively? A young homeless girl lost her baby. Is that not terrible enough on its own or must we vilify her because of her circumstance to bore in hatred to mix with her grief?
How did she even come to be in such a situation? Homeless, alone, pregnant--from my perspective, hardly more than a child herself. Where were the services that should have come to her rescue? Where were her family, friends, or even community when she needed help the most? With probably not a thought in her head, this young woman and her unborn baby have become an almost perfect yet abominable symbol of all that is wrong with our nation. In the effort to create a change, a more equitable and assured environment for our children, both born and unborn, a baby has died in an act of brutality. As we bicker about who should pay more taxes, parks and the price of gas, a young girl, pregnant and alone, was wandering the cold streets, looking for food and shelter. And when she finds it, in an almost horrific form of destiny, she is beaten by police and sprayed in the face with a chemical known to cause spontaneous abortions. How can this girl and her unborn child's death not make our hearts hurt? Or have we become so callous and stripped of our humanity that we no longer feel pity, empathy or even share the pain of a loss of life taken so needlessly?
Where has our humanity gone that we let this slip by so silently? A fatality occurred today for our nation. An unborn child's life was snuffed out like it was nothing in an attack by a few police officers, who should carry the weight of their actions with them for the rest of their lives. If there is anyone to blame for this, it is not the baby's mother and though it was police batons, boot and spray that did the deed, it's not the police either. It's our own fault for letting our country become this way in the first place. It's our own fault that we have allowed our voice to be drowned out as the number of homeless and impoverished grows. It's our own fault that we, while we are so busy with our nothing activities, let our nation's strength and humanity slip away. Who created the culture of fear and hate? We all did.
Update: Seattle Police are investigating. Personally, am hoping that she wasn't pregnant because of how grotesque losing a baby in such a way would be. However, the fact that the girl was screaming that she was pregnant while police were assaulting her did occur and that it did not give them pause is bad enough as it is.
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