So, this incident sort of listens carefully to the days of, you know, segregation, almost? Even had Crooker used “harks back”, he’d still have to answer for his abuse of “almost” (I’d have gone with “not at all”).
He was humble, and said that indeed Portland is an interesting place to work; he said it is very hard and trying at times as he deals with murderers and gang members and drug addicts on a regular basis. People hear about the unfortunate police shootings, but rarely do they hear about the day in and day out reality of police putting their lives on the line and saving people.
As I was just starting to tell him how I agreed with him, and had a specific example – our friend who lived in North Portland, a 14 year old Sudan-refugee boy, who was shot at by gang members in North Portland and then called Portland Police who saved him – one of the owners of the cafe came over to us; I figured he was just going to say hello, but instead, what came out of his mouth shocked me.
“Where’s a Portland Police Officer to Get a Cup of Coffee?” by Cornelia Seigneur, corneliaseigneur.com 5-22-10
Seigneur’s in good company with victims of the electric chair and the folks Tasered to death since those (you know, less than lethal, almost) weapons bumped billy clubs for pride of place in police arsenals. There are so many funny things about Seigneur’s post, from her inconsistent capitalization (of “police”, in particular) to her closing paragraph, which implies she and her daughter found a place for police to get, not just coffee, but her and her daughter as well. (If this type of humor is to your taste, Seigneur keeps going and going and going.) Comments are pretty awesome too, especially one from this morning by JS, which begins, “Let it be known that the red and black cafe is a sanctuary for anarchists, conspiracy theorists, malcontents, losers and morons.”
We here at Pittsburgh Α to Ω have long labored to provide a safe space for the above groups, and salute the Red and Black for leaving us in the dust in this regard. Losers and morons of the world, itune untie unite! Anyhow, upshots of all the press appear to be, for the Red and Black, a big spike in biz, and, for some cops, a bunch of free coffee. At a press conference, Red and Black’s John Langley gave some reasons why the segregation comparison is so odious, but Roderick Long did so far more pithily in the comments thread of his own post (which initially tipped me off to this story). He writes, “A cop walking into an anarchist outfit is like someone walking into a black restaurant wearing a Klan outfit, or walking into a Jewish deli wearing a Nazi uniform,” and, “It’s not like droids wanting to be served in a cantina, it’s like slavecatchers wanting to be served in an abolitionist cafe.” Straight up.
Whatever his faults as an orator, Langley’s concern for patrons’ safety (or that of the merchandise/café itself) makes sense not only in light of “the day in and day out reality of police” (which naturally includes having it in for their most principled critics), but, specifically, in light of two recent instances of police blowing up food. And, while there’s no evidence Crooker had any intention of getting all Liberty Avenue on the Red and Black’s vegan pastries, it’s like Nate Harper said about the Pittsburgh Marathon ravioli detonation: “We rather err on the side of safety than err on the side of not taking anything serious … and have something terrible go on.”
Enjoy your coffee and cuídate.