Riot

The cops got out of the car. One of them with a billy club said, "Get in the house!" One of the porch dwellers answered, "This is our house and it is a free country and we don't have to." Whap ! he got clubbed on the leg. "Get in the house!" Another protested and he got hit. I kept walking through the clutch of cops there and nobody bothered me. I think the porch people went into the house. So much for rights. And I thought thereafter rights are what given in the instance.

So the line of cops got closer and closer until they were at the door of the little shop I was in. It was a straight line of a dark uniformed wall, face shields and clubs. They were very disciplined and just stood and stood - stepping forward when called on. Hadn't seen them hit anyone. The door was thrown open. "Everybody out!" The first night - looking at all those clubs, of which I would have to pass within a few feet, there was a certain hesitation. But out we went. I and some others went down the street about thirty yards. As the line moved forward we moved backward holding are distance and watching the proceedings until I got tired of it all and went home.

Maybe one night I continued down Haight Street to Stanyan where there was a coffee shop with a parking lot, unusual in this neighborhood. I went in and saw at the counter an old man with long gray hair and beard and earrings. He looked to me like a guru of some kind and there was a seat at the counter open next to him. It was crowded. I sat down. Took me awhile to get up the nerve.

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