Heard in passing on MSNBC. According to D.C. Police, there was not one arrest in the District of Columbia Tuesday.
Two million people!
2 thoughts on “Wow!”
Comments are closed.
Heard in passing on MSNBC. According to D.C. Police, there was not one arrest in the District of Columbia Tuesday.
Two million people!
Comments are closed.
One reason for that may be the role that the Marines played in crowd control (a large one, according to folks I know who went).
Marines are permitted to take some actions in the United States, but “law enforcement” is not one of them. Thus, Marines may have used options other than arresting people and charging them with offenses to address crowd control concerns.
While the beefed up security may have helped keep people in check, I would like to think that the new spirit of hope and cooperation had something to do with it, too. After all, not everyone in D.C. was in the immediate area of the inauguration, yet there still were no arrests in the entire district–a district that traditionally suffers high crime rates. Yes, it’s true that law enforcement officials were pretty busy focusing on the inauguration crowds, but another issue to consider is that, for many residents of D.C., this is possibly the first time they’ve ever felt empowered, as opposed to disenfranchised and oppressed. The feeling of pride and possibilities for a better future were at least momentarily enchanting enough for the people to experience elevated feelings of hope over fear and community over baser self-serving motivations.