The scenes of police turning fire hoses and dogs on peaceful demonstrators occurred before I was born. The same is true of the Kent State massacre where National Guard troops fired lethal rounds on unarmed college students, killing four and wounding nine others. I was too young to remember how peaceful protests helped to bring about the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Most of the violence perpetrated by police against unarmed civilians I have known during my adolescent and adult years involved racially motivated attacks and received little coverage by the corporate owned media. The Occupy Movement has changed that.

I remember watching video from countries in the Middle East where the "Arab Spring" was first emerging. It was so nice to see people taking to the streets to oppose the regimes that had been oppressing them. What was most striking was the contrast between the peaceful protestors and the violent response by police and assorted thugs hired to crack down on the protests. That these regimes would want to contain the protests and inhibit their spread made perfect sense to me. They were seeking to maintain their own illegitimate power, and they were scared of a real democratic uprising. That they would resort to such brutal tactics as assaulting unarmed civilians while the world was watching was troubling and brought widespread condemnation.

Until recently, I have been having trouble accepting the similarity between what I saw in these images and those I am now seeing emerge from the Occupy demonstrations. I was initially confused by the massive police presence at the Occupy Wall Street camp and at each of the peaceful actions organized by the group. I could not figure out why the police would be there in such force or why they would arrest so many people simply for exerting their Constitutional rights. I think I finally get it now. The regime oppressing the Occupy Movement is not that different from those in the Middle East.

As images and video continue to emerge showing American police officers using pepper spray, tear gas, and batons to assault unarmed civilians, I am confronted with the realization that the U.S. has become a police state. When I see lines of police officers clad in riot gear at Occupy demonstrations, I have had to come to terms with the possibility that they are not there simply to "keep the peace." Graphic images of police striking unarmed civilians with batons tell me that the American regime is beginning to feel threatened and are willing to upend democracy in order to protect the status quo.

We were so afraid after 9/11 that we allowed our police to militarize. We are now beginning to learn that this was a mistake. It is time to say enough is enough. This is America, and we will not tolerate violence by police against peaceful protestors.

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