“Papers, Please” was a common request of German citizens during World War II. Everyone had to have proper documentation at all times in order to function on a daily basis. In the United States, our government has transformed the simple request of identification for illegal aliens stopped by police and at the voting booth to be actually illegal.
As Day 4 of “Occupy Wall Street” is now in place with little coverage by the media, papers (identification) are required in order to even enter a public street in America. It would appear that “Papers, Please” depends on the situation: financial business is more important than national security, voting or community protection.
Is it possible that the people organizing “Occupy Wall Street” are correct in their assertion of the power of big banks in the United States? When the day comes that access to public streets is limited without any legal justification, we have a duty to oppose this abuse of power. Freedom does not apply to some of us: it applies to all of us.
Is the “right to protect” now a justification for another loss of freedom in the United States? Who are the police protecting if not the interests of the big banks that the so-called anarchists are protesting? The hypocrisy evident in our country concerning justice and the selective enforcement of laws is a sign of a government which has abandoned all pretext representing of “We the People”.
David DeGerolamo
Occupy Wall Street Protest: Five Arrested on Day Three
Five arrests were made on the third day of “Occupy Wall Street” protests in New York’s Financial District, according to officials.
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But on Monday, as Wall Street bustled in business and trading, police blockades requiring identification was disrupting the business day, causing anger and frustration among some workers and business owners.
At one blockade at Beaver and Broad Street, a delivery man waited outside a blockade with packages of raw hamburger meat and boxes of pastries and vegetables, trying to make a routine restaurant delivery. He didn’t have identification, however, and was being forced to wait outside with the products while trying to gain clearance.
A group of tourists wanted to approach the New York Stock Exchange but they weren’t being allowed past the police-manned blockade at the point
