Well, I'll just throw out my Kent State experiences. I was the "rector" of the Radical Student Union at Vigniia Commonwealth University. Well, being "rector" only meant that the one who had permission of the group to yell "Chill Out " at another member when needed in order that the meetings would not break down. Well, the first meeting after the Kent State shootings was real interesting to say the least. But what I remember very vividly were two guys whose hair wasn't qutie as long and who I did not know.
Well, these two guys are both talking about torching the President of the colleges house. And I could see that they had a few folks half way believin' that this would be a good idea. Well, being "rector" I went a little beyong the "Chill out" duty to the "Get the F**k Out" duty and after some argument they left and afterward I asked if anyone knew these two guys and no one did, nor did we ever see them again on campus. Hmmmmmmmm?
And that, sadly, is a true story.
As non-violent activists we are going to have to be ready to step in and not let folks who do not share our agenda to change it. I know in my heart that should someone in a group try to initiate something that is just going to give the cops a reason to bust folks, that we're gonna have to do the bare minimum to stop them, even if it means two or three folks just grabbing em'. But more importrantly, we need to get the message out that violence is totally *unacceptable*.