San Francisco, CA – The Palm Center issued the following statement in response to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley’s appearance, in uniform, in the streets of Washington DC:

“The military and civilian leaders who acquiesced in the deployment of uniformed personnel in an American city and who strode the streets of Washington as if it were the scene of a battle, and not a place where fellow citizens were peacefully exercising their legal right to assemble, bear a heavy responsibility.

The US military is not a crowd control instrument. Nor is it a tool for settling political differences, or an extension of a campaign. Its purpose is to defend the nation, a mission that requires the broadest possible public support.

In instances when US law enforcement has followed best practices with respect to equal application of the law to all, protests have remained largely peaceful and disorder has been contained.  We urge uniformed and civilian leaders to show wisdom and refrain from deploying the active-duty Force in American cities. Anything else risks a place of shame in the history books.”