Must read: Photo student harassed in a post 9/11 paranoid America

[Julius Civitatus]

Incredible, mind-bending, puzzling, infuriating story about a photography student that was repeatedly harassed by police and security guards alike for simply taking pictures.... at a public park.

The reason? Just guess the color of his skin.

Nightmarish:

http://69.93.170.43/

(make sure you click through all the pages --5 in total)

[eternalburn]

1. Happens everywhere unfortunately.....

http://www.nbc5.com/news/4662728/detail.html

Wheaton Man Claims Rough Treatment At Canadian Border

~snip~

Akif Rahman said he was detained at the border crossing at the Detroit Windsor Tunnel on May 8, NBC5's Sharon Wright. Rahman and his family were visiting relatives in Canada when he was handcuffed and detained for six hours.

"Putting me up against the wall, and searching me and kicking my feet apart and holding me for six hours, and then handcuffed me for three hours are all, I believe, excessive," Rahman said. The family is joined on the lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The lawsuit aims to change policies and procedures.

Rahman, a businessman born in the United States, said it was the fourth time in 15 months that he had been detained. Three times before, Rahman said he has been detained at airports in Montreal, Los Angeles and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

~click above link for more~

[ET Awful]

2. Yipes.

Ain't life in Oceania grand?

[donco6]

3. Great, but appalling, story.

At least the SS thugs went away empty handed. Glad the guy knew his rights enough to know what he could do.

[lady lib]

4. This is an important story of gov't paranoia and abuse of power,

and it needs to be shared with everyone we know.

Nominated.

[ISUGRADIA]

5. Thanks for posting this...What a crock!

[Julius Civitatus]

6. It's another case of PWB

Code for "Photographing While Brown." Easiest way to get you arrested these days. Similar to DWB, or "Driving While Black."

Paranoia is out of control.

[progressoid]

7. The United States of Dumbfuckistan

Wow.

Just, wow.

[meganmonkey]

8. Oh, man...

This is what we are fighting against. THis bull-headed BS Homeland Security shit.

:cry:

[grace0418]

9. I remember reading about the first incident this guy had to endure

It was all over the news. And they STILL harrassed him after that? Unfuckingbelievable. What the fuck is wrong here? I just can't wrap my mind around what has happened to this country.

[Julius Civitatus]

12. What I still find puzzling is that...

the guy is a native of Seattle, doesn't have a fgoreign accent, and has an "anglo" name, Ian Spears. He is part African American and happens to look "ayrab" to the redneck cops. He is a full American citizens, no "buts" about it.

I can only think of what would happen if his name was arabic and he happened to be either muslim or have an accent, or be an immigrant. How many are in Gitmo or detained and arrested simply for the way teh look?

What a nightmare!!!

:scared:

[grace0418]

13. I know.

It's absolutely terrifying to me that someone could be harassed like that for absolutely no reason. Yes, I know police harassment of minorities has been going on for probably as long as there has been a police force. But this takes on an especially sinister tone when you think about how someone can just be disappeared to Gitmo or some ship somewhere and no one would ever have any idea where they were or if they were even alive.

[Richard Steele]

10. Nominated for greatest.

[Bravo411]

11. Nominated and kicked...

Well worth reading. A paraniod world is a scary place to live in.

[lakemonster11]

14. I've been taking photography classes for a year,

and just about every one of my classmates (including me) have been harrassed at some point for taking pictures. It's a real problem, even for innocuous white American women like me. I've basically given up on taking pictures anywhere even vaguely suspicious. I can't imagine the frustration of photographers with accents or a "suspicious" skin color.

So many of the great photographs of history would never have been taken if the photographers of the past were subject to this kind of harrassment.