Protect protesters

I do feel unsafe. Watching videos of my fellow citizens being gassed, shot, shoved, beaten, bound and left to bleed in the street by police officers, I feel unsafe.

I am grateful for the people now employing body and voice to protest police brutality. And I am appalled that their bodies and voices are being violently policed. I call on District Attorney Stephen Zappala to join Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance in declining to prosecute low-level charges against protesters.

American citizens have a constitutional responsibility to resist the abuse of power. And those in power must receive criticism with humility. An investigation of Pittsburgh’s police response is welcome but insufficient (June 4, “Peduto Calls for Probe of Monday’s East Liberty Clash”).

The heavily armored, highly defensive police presence at protests reflects an antagonistic policy towards any criticism of police, not a momentary lapse in judgment. When police fired “less-lethal” projectiles and tear gas at unprotected protesters in East Liberty, they were attacking the constitutional rights and duties of those protesters. We should question the rightness of the resulting arrests.

As for the “violence” ascribed to the protesters, broken windows and burned cars do not threaten public safety like the bodily harm done by the police does. The protesters were right to be there, even if some (whether outraged fellow protesters or outside agitators) turned their anger on property. Equating black lives with property is an act of white supremacy. Black lives matter more than any thing. In the interest of defending public safety, the protesters must be protected, not be prosecuted. CHRISTINE BENNER

DIXON Squirrel Hill