rigorousintuition.ca

[professorpan]

Let me start at the beginning.

I worked the polls Tuesday, and it was a very exhilarating experience. Regardless of where you stand on Obama, I think everyone would appreciate the energy and enthusiasm of the many people who lined up for hours at my polling place -- many voting for the first time in their lives. One woman had flown from Sudan just to take part in what she saw as the most important election of her life. It was a day full of stories like that, and it made me proud of my city.

After a long, exhausting day, I went home and watched the results. After Obama's Chicago speech, I could hear people spontaneously gathering outside, cheering, and honking their horns. With a couple of friends, I went out and wandered around, and soon found a huge (probably 200-300 people) spontaneous celebration taking place near Johns Hopkins University.

It was loud and boisterous, but very civil. Students waved flags, cheered, danced, and waved at people driving by, most of whom honked their horns in response. It was completely unlike what you see after college football games when drunks go berserk. These kids (and many adults) were celebratory and their enthusiasm was infectious. The cops had gathered at the end of a street and were just watching, though occasionally a cop would ask someone to stay out of the street.

The I looked up to where the police had gathered and thought, "Oh, shit. Here it comes."

Around 2am, allegedly in response to neighbors complaining about noise, a phalanx of cops marched down the street towards the crowd. Within minutes, they started ordering people to leave and go home. Some of the students refused, but many did disperse. My brother ran up to me from a distance. "Some guy got tasered!" he said. At that point I could see the cops moving among the crowd and people fleeing.

A few minutes later, the cops were leading cuffed (flexicuffs) people into a waiting paddy wagon/van. I moved nearby, but stayed on the sidewalk because the cops had ordered people to stay off the streets. I started taking photos with my cell phone. My intention was to document my experiences the following day for one of my local papers.

One of the cops saw me and approached. I held my phone to the side and said, "I'm just taking photos. I'm a journalist."

He knocked the phone out of my hand into the street. "Then write a nice long story about this," he said, grabbing me and spinning me around. Another cop cuffed me, and within seconds they were pushing me into the van.

I spent over 8 hours in police custody, most of it in the infamous Baltimore City jail. I was fingerprinted, strip-searched, and allowed my one phone call. There were 16 of us arrested that night, including 2 Hopkins anthropology professors, a city school teacher, and students from area universities, including several young women. We were told we could be charged with "inciting a riot," or, if we were lucky, "hindering" the police. I would not recommend spending a night in the city jail to anyone -- it's dehumanizing and degrading and at times quite scary. No one would tell us when we would be charged, released, or what we were being held for.

The following morning we were released, and no charges were filed against any of us.

The stories were similar from everyone. No one had been doing anything wrong. The guy who had been tasered was returning into his apartment building, as instructed by the police, when they jabbed a hand-held taser against him. One of the anthropology professors was leaving, as requested, when he was grabbed and cuffed.

I also noticed that many of the arrestees were effeminate males -- seemed to me that the cops were targeting stereotypical "gay" men. Or maybe it just turned out that way, but it seemed odd.

We've spoken to the ACLU, but they already have litigation pending against the city cops for strip searches and unwarranted arrests, so I'm not sure we'll have anything new to add. But we're going to push forward anyway.

Of course the local tv news reports have been biased against the people at the rally, but the print media have been much more even-handed in their accounts. There are videos on YouTube and elsewhere, I'm told, but I haven't seen them yet. I'll post as I find them.

The situation could have been handled much better. A cop with a bullhorn could have calmly explained that they needed to disperse the rally and then waited for people to leave. Instead, they forced their way into a peaceful, celebratory crowd and started being belligerent and provocative before making random arrests (or maybe not so random if they targeted "queer" looking men).

I hear there was another similar incident in Brooklyn, NY -- anyone have info on that?

What a fucked up way to end such a remarkable day.

[NeonLX]

Well, I guess that magnetic yellow ribbon sentiment I see on vehicles is right: "Freedom isn't Free".

[nathan28]

ProfPan, i could hear what was going on from my apartment. Here's my interpretation: lots of folks making noise and celebrating, and apparently some people in Gowanus and Fort Greene were celebrating, and some West Indians had assembled in the Prospect Park and started drumming (i added the ethnic detail since i don't have much sympathy for dreadlocked white boys in drum circles). After some time I heard what I thought might have been police sirens turned on and off, and then, silence, quiet.

I have said this before, but the "crowd control" attitude towards policing in America simply has to go. It is easily on my top ten list of civil rights infingements. The fact that what you described happened, and that no one was even protesting anything, is absurd. Would they bust up a church gathering like that?

[Eldritch]

Maybe...

Many of these authoritarian-loving cops might have also also been McCain supporters.

Perhaps this was their big chance to take their McCain-stoked anger out on some of those who favored Obama—while they were committing the unpardonable "crime" of celebrating his victory.

[ninakat]

pan, thanks for this report. Totally outrageous. Really makes me angry, and I hope you and others can find some justice for what happened. Good luck to you, and let us know what develops.

[OP ED]

do you have a good attorney?

(i mean fuck the aclu, what good are they?)

[barracuda]

Welcome to America!
(At least, the one I'm familiar with.)
_________________
The most dangerous traps are the ones you set for yourself. - Phillip Marlowe

[8bitagent]

I am so sorry Pan. We were wondering where you were on chat that night:)

I don't get it, why would neighbors complain? Thats like complaining about noise on 4th of July, in every corner of America it seems like spontaneous jubilation was erupting, and *expected*. Definitely had to be Mccain supporters, ugh.

Anyone remember the news blackout on the cops arresting hundreds of people(even random onlookers) and beating up people outside the RNC this year?
_________________
"We should not be here. I'm scared, this is creepy. You know what I mean? This could go very deep, Carol. This could be like, you know, like with the Warren commission, or something. I don't like it."-Woody Allen, Manhattan Murder Mystery(1993)

[Code Unknown]

[nathan28]

[elfismiles]

[brekin]

Sorry to hear that. Really shitty.

Maybe someone has some footage, or a security camera caught something that would help your case?

[Username]

~

[AlicetheKurious]

Very creepy and ominous, especially in the context of an innocent, nonviolent, patriotic celebration.

[Iroquois]