Guilty of taking pictures while brown

The Artist’s Statement

If the story in question is factual, then I’m ashamed for our Police force. Sadly, recent supreme court rulings have made it illegal to refuse to offer ID when asked by a police officer in a move reminiscent of East Germany in the 1970’s. (’Papers please!”)

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Comments (4)

  1. John Doe wrote:

    Iranians assigned to the UN were recently caught video taping monuments, tunnels, bridges and at least one jewish elementary school. Yeah the cops are just racist….

    Thursday, July 8, 2004 at 23:19:23 #
  2. Kevin Schofield wrote:

    Actually, that’s not quite what they said. In the supreme court case, the police did not ask for ID, they asked for the person’s name. The supremes argued mightily about whether just requiring you to give your name is an invasion of privacy. They were split, with the majority saying it was ok. All of the justices realized that the case was NOT about asking for ID or any other information other than your name. All they can do is rule on the case in front of them, and this case was not about “papers please.” In fact, even several of the judges who said that asking for your name is ok expressed their doubts that asking for anything more would be ok.

    Thursday, July 8, 2004 at 23:30:24 #
  3. Scott wrote:

    John, So at what point is it OK for someone to photograph something in the US? There were lots of other people taking pictures there that day and on other days, were any of them stopped? Is it just the brown people we have to watch? At what point does a brown person become safe again? The mans name isn’t Muhammed Mofasa, it’s Ian Spiers. Hardly even an Arabic sounding name. I took some pictures of the ferries downtown, was I within my rights?

    Kevin, Good point. It’s not about actual ID, just identification. Which is OK because no one would lie about their name right?

    Friday, July 9, 2004 at 00:04:06 #
  4. Tom Boucher wrote:

    Yuk. My role of voting the bastards out is going into full force come November, if they don’t stop us from having elections.

    Friday, July 9, 2004 at 07:26:30 #

Trackbacks/Pingbacks (2)

  1. Random Access 2.0 on Friday, July 9, 2004 at 07:24:56

    Patriot Act: Pure Evil
    The fact that they didn’t detain anyone else there and dared to suggest he was breaking the law by photographing a public landmark that has tours designed to let people photograph it is amazing.

  2. What the heck is he thinking » Take a picture of the Ballard locks for equality on Thursday, July 15, 2004 at 02:09:59

    […] #8221; for taking pictures of a public place. Seattle times article Seattle PI article My previous post C […]