The following is a written copy of what is said in the video:
My name's Mark Angelo Cummings and I live in the state of florida and I have long known that there has
been an issue with the police officers in our state.
I'm a transexual man and I've heard too many horror stories from my transexual brothers and sisters
having been wrongly treated by the police officers that are lacking sensitivity training.
These police officers are taught to use a gun and use a taser, but they're not taught to use their
brain and learn how to diffuse a situation.
The officials in the campus who were having their little protest were actually addressing the crowd
they were having to protest quickly brushed it off with bureautic red tape.
They're trying to appease the crowd and that is all that they're doing. It's gonna take more than
that and luckily Andrew had a camera on him when this happened.
But how many people are confronted by our officers, day in day out, that don't have the luxury of
having a camera in front of them and get beaten and abused by these so called men and women who wear
uniforms to protect us.
I am apalled... that we live in a country that's supposed to be the land of the free, home of the
brave. Yet we're being abused by these so-called officials who get paid pittance to protect us, but
they're on a power-hungry trip and they use their power extremely. They have a right to protect and
serve, but they also need to treat us with dignity. Just because you have a badge doesn't make you
above the law.
Learn to use words and communication instead of your guns and your tasers. There was no need for
the kind of force used upon Andrew. Like there's no need to use force upon some people that use force.
Red tape and lies. Something needs to be done.
All you young men and women out there need to unite to create a change, because this country is no
better than all the other countries that we're trying to defend and trying to bring democracy to.
Remember mr. and mrs. officer, we pay your salary. We deserve to be treated with respect. And that
is all that we're asking, is respect.
Our government is failing and the puppets beneath it, which are officers, are a prime example. They
need psychological and sensitivity training.
I lived in england. The bobbies, which is the name of the cops in england, had no weapons. They had
a baton; a stick. They learned to diffuse a situation with their words, not actions. And that's the
problem that we have in our country, because our own president of the united states is so war-hungry
that it's trickling down.
Violence is everywhere. We need to stop the violence. We need to use words and the gift that we have
which is communicate. That's what differentiates us from the animals.
So let's talk and let's not fight. Let's use our brains and not our weapons. Shame on you. Shame on
all of the you that think Andrew deserved what he got.
No one deserves to be hit or hurt. Communication is the key. Good day.
Piece-by-Piece Evaluation
The following is a series of quotes and responses to the points mentioned in the selected quotes.
I live in the state of florida and I have long known that there has
been an issue with the police officers in our state.
If it's such an issue and been around for a long time, why hasn't anybody done anything to change it?
What have you done, besides accuse them of being "bad" or "wrong?"
I'm a transexual man and I've heard too many horror stories from my transexual brothers and sisters having been wrongly treated by the police officers...
This is hearsay, third-party, evidence that has no backing suggested. If you have actual proof or evidence of such things, then bring it
to them, or a lawyer. However, I'm guessing there isn't any actual evidence of such events. You can't convict someone
based on hearsay, because it's not actual proof. As such, this statement might as well be ignored.
These police officers are taught to use a gun and use a taser, but they're not taught to use their brain and learn how to diffuse a situation.
They are taught to diffuse a situation. Sometimes, situations require a gun or taser. You don't know the extent of their
training anyway, so don't accuse them of being ill-trained when you don't even know everything that they go through to become a police officer.
If you go through their training programs, then you can make claims about it. Until then, you have no right to slander it.
The officials in the campus who were having their little protest were actually addressing the crowd
they were having to protest quickly brushed it off with bureautic red tape.
As this is a confusing, poorly formed, statement, I will tell you what I think he means.
I think he means the police officers and other officials who were present for the protests (which you can find a 3-part video of)
ignored everything that the protesters wanted.
If that is what this statement means, then I'd like to see some kind of evidence to suggest that.
The officials involved mentioned bringing in an external investigation and involve students and faculty on a panel
to determine how the situation should have been handled and what to do from there.
It is possible that they ignored the protesters, but you would never be able to tell whether they did or not, especially with their
"bureautic red tape" in effect (and I believe the word he meant was: "bureaucratic" since "bureautic" isn't a word).
They're trying to appease the crowd and that is all that they're doing.
That protest took place the day after the event. At which time, that is all they can do. They can't just suddenly
make hastey decisions all the time. At first, all they could possibly do is appease the protesters. If there is some evidence of the results
of the investigation that was meant to take place, then you could address that. Without it, nobody knows what the result was and has
no right to accuse it of anything.
It's gonna take more than that...
That's why the court case occured. If you want more than a protest and a court case, then I'm afraid there isn't much else
people can do. If you have a suggestion, go for it.
...luckily Andrew had a camera on him when this happened.
But how many people are confronted by our officers, day in day out, that don't have the luxury of having a camera in front of them and get beaten and abused by these so called men and women who wear uniforms to protect us.
I am apalled... that we live in a country that's supposed to be the land of the free, home of the brave. Yet we're being abused by these so-called officials...
That's a good question. How many people are unjustifiably abused by police officers? I don't know. Maybe you should do
an investigation of that instead of just jumping to the conclusion that it's a common occurence.
...these so-called officials who get paid pittance to protect us...
This is irrelevant to everything. Police officers' salaries has no impact on anything involved here.
...they're on a power-hungry trip and they use their power extremely.
A power trip? Use their power extremely? I'm only going to take this as regarding the Andrew Meyer event.
If you watch that video again (http://youtube.com/watch?v=JI0pbT_Z5F4) you'll notice
that the cops asked him to get to his question several times before cutting the mic. And when they did cut his mic, all they initially did was
go to escort him away, but he resisted, so eventually they had to arrest him. For more on this, see my take on the event further down on this page.
They have a right to protect and serve, but they also need to treat us with dignity.
Remember mr. and mrs. officer, we pay your salary. We deserve to be treated with respect.
They do treat us with dignity and respect. They arrested someone causing a disturbance, which shows respect to every other person
at that event. Again, see my take on the event further down for more explanation.
Just because you have a badge doesn't make you above the law.
What exactly is it that police do that suggests they think they're above the law? They do whatever they think is necessary to
diffuse a potentially harmful situation. Again, I will address this only in regards to the Andrew Meyer incident, which you can see more
about further down.
Learn to use words and communication instead of your guns and your tasers.
They tried and were ignored. After that, they moved on to other methods.
There was no need for the kind of force used upon Andrew.
They asked him to get to his question and when it got out of hand, they went to escort him away from the mic. When he resisted
they physically forced him under arrest.
Like there's no need to use force upon some people that use force.
This is another confusing, poorly formed, statement. I think he's suggesting that there isn't a need to use force in some situations
where force was used. In which case, unless you know exactly what happened in the event and the protocols that were followed, you don't have
the right to determine whether or not it was excessive.
Red tape and lies. Something needs to be done.
Thanks. Would you like to start?
All you young men and women out there need to unite to create a change, because this country is no better than all the other countries that we're trying to defend and trying to bring democracy to.
First of all, there needs to be a specific problem for people to change / fix it. I'm guessing "the other countries
that we're trying to defend and trying to bring democracy to" refers to Iraq and whatever other countries are being invaded by the US. In which
case, the only thing that's implied as being wrong, is the idea of police brutality. If you think police brutality is worse in the US, consider
places where police are widely known for taking bribes and such, just to prevent them from hurting people.
Our government is failing...
Really? What's it failing at? Do you have a suggestion on how to resolve that failure? Are you a government official with
any idea what you're talking about and know what would really be considered a failure in regards to the government as a whole? That's a pretty
bold statement to say straight up that the "government is failing" without specifying a single thing with actual evidence.
They need psychological and sensitivity training.
Have you been through their training? Do you actually know everything that they're trained in? Maybe they are trained specifically
in "psychology and sensitivity." Nevermind, I'm sure a random 44-year-old knows more about police work than the police training professionals do.
I lived in england. The bobbies, which is the name of the cops in england, had no weapons. They had a baton; a stick.
Here's a picture of a British Police Officer that defies this statement:
Some police officals have guns and some don't. It doesn't matter what country you're in.
...our own president of the united states is so war-hungry that it's trickling down.
This is just speculation. Means nothing. Nothing else to comment here.
Violence is everywhere. We need to stop the violence. We need to use words...
In regards to the Andrew Meyer incident, The police tried using words and it didn't work. They only resorted to violence (IE taser)
as a last resort. They clearly tried using other methods and they didn't work.
My Take on the Andrew Meyer Incident
Since you're reading this, it's a safe assumption that you have already seen the video of Andrew Meyer at the event with John Kerry.
Nonetheless, the videos I address mostly for this situation can be found at these URLs:
1. The first issue I find with what happened, is Andrew never gives John Kerry a chance to respond to anything he says.
He claimed to have questions, he wanted to inform everyone, then ask his questions. However, the entire time that he is at the mic, he
doesn't even stop once to listen to Kerry's response.
Essentially, the problem I see with that, is these kind of events don't happen so that random people come in and preach to a
gathering of people. The people are there to hear from, in this case, John Kerry.
As you can see, the people ask their questions and listen to the response, which isn't at all what Andrew Meyer did. If he really
wanted to preach, or inform the public, he could hold his own kind of seminar. If it was directed towards John Kerry, then he could try to get
a personal interview. A university Q&A forum is not the place to preach your beliefs to the public.
2. Andrew's speach or "question" began getting out of hand when he started talking about impeaching
Bush, Clinton being impeached for a blowjob, and Bush and Kerry belonging to a secret society. These aren't questions or statements that belong
in this kind of event.
3. The police asked Andrew to get to his question several times. His rant / speach / question / whatever
you want to call it was taking longer than necessary and the officers asked him to get to the point. At the point where it was decided he had been
going on for too long, his mic was cut and the officers went to escort him out of the hall.
It's quite possible that they would've just escorted him out of the building and told him to leave for disrupting the event.
However, he resisted. He refused to cooperate, so they had to force him out.
4. The police had no other option than the taser to subdue the problem, which was Andrew Meyer.
Since the event, there have been protests / complaints in attempt to ban tasers. However, there wasn't a better solution. The police tried asking
him several times to stop or get to the point.
At that point, what would have been a better solution? Pepper spray? A baton? A gun? None of those would've worked any better.
5. Andrew later mentioned that he agreed (per se) with the police officers' actions. Here is a link
to a video showing this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZepUKdBAN9Q
He was, in a sense, the victim of the incident, and he has since apologized for what happened and recognized that he was out of line
at the forum. Clearly, Andrew Meyer has a better-informed opinion of what happened at the incident and afterwards than anybody else. In which case,
for him to publicly acknowledge the fact that he broke the rules in place, there should be no one to try to convince him or anyone else that
the police over-reacted.
Those police officers were at the forum in the event of something happening like with Andrew Meyer, or potentially worse. They did
exactly what they were there to do. They were there to prevent any problems from arrising, and that's exactly what they did.
Summary
To summarize my point of all this, and my response to Mark Angelo's video, he makes several ungrounded statements. If you look through
the piece-by-piece evaluation, you'll see that his statements and claims have little to no evidence or grounds to state them by. There's more
useless speculation than anything else.
This video tries to convince people that the actions of the police were unjustified. There are clearly a number of other people
who feel the same way, and I hope that you read this and realize that just because a random person thinks that something wrong happened, doesn't
mean that there's a need for a protest. The situation was handled by officials who are much better informed and experienced than the general
public in these kind of situations. As such, trying to overrule their decisions and judgement, is hardly more than arrogance.
As this is a confusing, poorly formed, statement, I will tell you what I think he means.
