The windshield, again
Over the past 10 years, I have put 250,000 miles on my truck traveling across and around this country, carrying anti-war, pro-peace, pro-womyn, pro-radical, anti-racist, anti-misogynist change messages.
In this land of the free, where "free speech" means "if your speech is the same as my speech".
My tires have been slashed a few times, several white men in trucks - many smaller then mine - have attempted to run me off the road, I've been egged, graffitied - twice with penises, one spitting bullets, sketched across the back of my truck - threatened, nasty notes left, ticketed unjustly, police called, businesses attempting to refuse me service.
But only in Berkeley, on the street where I live, has anyone taken heavy objects and smashed my windshield. Not once, but now three times.
It happened last night yet again. This time, the front windshield was smashed and the driver's side window had evidence of their attempt to smash it too, including the side view mirror.
This time, these two white men were thwarted by a neighbor who witnessed their violence and yelled down out the window at them. I eventually found out, three of my neighbors witnessed their attempt to vandalize my truck at 1:40 in the morning.
All three neighbors were unaware that these men were actually successful in smashing my window. My one neighbor only witnessed them running away, underneath her bedroom window.
My other neighbor rushed to his window when he heard a loud noise. He saw them attempting to smash my driver's side window and yelled out to them "the police are coming". He didn't realize they had actually broken the windshield until the next morning.
When he yelled at them, one headed west down one street, the other took off south down another street. The one heading west shouted "Alex, Alex" to the other one, who turned around and joined him running west.
So I know these two men are white, between 20 and 30 years old, one is blond, one dark haired; they both are strongly built, were in black t-shirts and pants; and one is named Alex.
These guys had to be strong as they used roundish 3" thick cement stepping stones at least 12" in diameter, that they must have dug up out of their or someone else's yard, to stand in the 2 foot space between my truck and the car in front of me, lift the cement over their heads and hit the windshield with enough force to break the thick safety glass.
My third neighbor also heard the ruckus, altho he was sleeping at the time so by the time he looked out the window, the guys were heading down the street together.
I'm bummed. Not just because I have been attacked in this way, my truck vandalized, but because I do not have the funds to replace my windshield yet again. And if I do get it together to replace the windshield, what will prevent these white men from attacking me again?
In this land of the free, where "free speech" means "if your speech is the same as my speech".
My tires have been slashed a few times, several white men in trucks - many smaller then mine - have attempted to run me off the road, I've been egged, graffitied - twice with penises, one spitting bullets, sketched across the back of my truck - threatened, nasty notes left, ticketed unjustly, police called, businesses attempting to refuse me service.
But only in Berkeley, on the street where I live, has anyone taken heavy objects and smashed my windshield. Not once, but now three times.
It happened last night yet again. This time, the front windshield was smashed and the driver's side window had evidence of their attempt to smash it too, including the side view mirror.
This time, these two white men were thwarted by a neighbor who witnessed their violence and yelled down out the window at them. I eventually found out, three of my neighbors witnessed their attempt to vandalize my truck at 1:40 in the morning.
All three neighbors were unaware that these men were actually successful in smashing my window. My one neighbor only witnessed them running away, underneath her bedroom window.
My other neighbor rushed to his window when he heard a loud noise. He saw them attempting to smash my driver's side window and yelled out to them "the police are coming". He didn't realize they had actually broken the windshield until the next morning.
When he yelled at them, one headed west down one street, the other took off south down another street. The one heading west shouted "Alex, Alex" to the other one, who turned around and joined him running west.
So I know these two men are white, between 20 and 30 years old, one is blond, one dark haired; they both are strongly built, were in black t-shirts and pants; and one is named Alex.
These guys had to be strong as they used roundish 3" thick cement stepping stones at least 12" in diameter, that they must have dug up out of their or someone else's yard, to stand in the 2 foot space between my truck and the car in front of me, lift the cement over their heads and hit the windshield with enough force to break the thick safety glass.
My third neighbor also heard the ruckus, altho he was sleeping at the time so by the time he looked out the window, the guys were heading down the street together.
I'm bummed. Not just because I have been attacked in this way, my truck vandalized, but because I do not have the funds to replace my windshield yet again. And if I do get it together to replace the windshield, what will prevent these white men from attacking me again?
posted by Xan @ 1:13 PM
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