Brown = Terrorism

http://brownequalsterrorist.com/artiststatement/

"I suppose a little background would help. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are a bit of a sore subject with me. I’d been over at the Locks earlier in the quarter, back at the beginning of April, taking photos of the picturesque landscape surrounding this prominent local landmark. I’d even left my subject and returned with more film just to try to get the right shot. Being new to photography, I made careful notes of my camera’s settings.

Within a half an hour of my returning home I found myself confronted by two uniformed Seattle Police officers, both of which had their hands casually resting on their sidearms. (This is definitely not something you want to see at the door of your home.) I was sincerely surprised and alarmed to learn they were looking for me!

They asked if I was taking photos of the train bridge, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I quickly pulled my notebook from my back pocket and explained that I was a new photography student over at Shoreline Community College, and showed them all of my notes — a list of exposures, subjects, f-stops, and shutter speeds. I think I talked to them for about five minutes, setting things straight and giving them all of the background information I could. They clarified that I hadn’t done anything wrong. I thought we were done.

“Can I see some ID?” one of the cops asked. I was really confused by this request. I’d already provided all the information I’d felt I’d needed to. If I hadn’t done anything wrong then why did they need to see my ID?"



Terrible...

wow it's really fearfull ans incredible

Does this case sound usual in the USA ? I don't know all the background...

Homeland Security scares me. Lets make a police force that can strip you of your human rights on their own free will ... *and yes it targets brown people* hmmm sounds good.

Having a wife who is brown, travelling thru the states gets her real edgy.

That is a great article Deker. I am glad you posted it. Also being I am from that area it's even nice to hear from a local. I wish these kinds of incidents were published more. But alas media would rather headline the demise of the coke addict Olsen twin, than the problems incured by Bushes campaign to squash terrorism and feed the pockets of their buddies.

You know I really see his case here. But, in reality people should be watching out for odd behavior. Brown, white, yellow, I don't care. I know if I saw a white guy doing something out of the ordinary I would be suspicious.

I am an inspector for the state and I've been alerted that on 4 occasions middle eastern men have been taking pictures, and scoping out LP (propane) businesses (in my area). One of them even went in and said he would work for free if they would teach him how the trucks and operations worked. I'm sorry and I am not racist but that would get my attention, brown or white. Bottom line is I think right now we are at a time that we should weigh on the side of caution. Maybe because I hear some of the actual things that are going on I get a little bit different perspective. But we have to watch out, especially with this being an election year.

And please understand that I don’t' care what color you are. If something seems out of place it should be noted. I think the patriot act is out of whack and I am the last person to give up any freedoms. But if I were taking pictures of potential targets and was questioned I would not have an issue. Although it does seem the police in this case went a bit too far.

And for all those people who think terrorists are only middle eastern, remember Timothy McVeigh, and the unibomber...

Yeah... my dad is a Russian businessman. He flies around the world. A lot. It's not blatantly obvious; he has a black beard (short) and is kinda bald... about 6'3" and ~300lbs. He gets searched (once even cavity searched :eek: ) for pretty much no reason. Once, he asked one of the airport people why him, why him all the time - the black security person answered "well, you're from Russia, you know, they have bad things there".

The funny part is that they always search all of his stuff... but never the one place where you can actually smuggle money/drugs/chemicals - his laptop. The battery compartaments are HUGE... you can fit a lot of stuff in there... they never check.

So it's not brown people only... it's people from Russia too... yeah...

I don't get it.
Maybe it's because of cultural differences....and political too. Aren't you guys obligated by law to show an ID to the police if they ask for it? How do you prove you are who you say you are? I mean... I dunno about the brown thing. I assumed from the article that "brown" means "arabian-like" or something like that right? but the brown thing aside...isn't that why it's called an "ID?" - doesn't the term come from "identity?" It's the one thing that proves you are who you say you are...why should anyone feel violated in his rights because he is asked to decline his identity in a legal and provable way?
Why I ask is because in my country the police ask for your ID first and then ask you stuff. No matter what you did or didn't do. And nobody gets mad...it's their business to verify stuff. That's why you pay them right? State taxes and all that? the second part of the article - I agree - the police or whatever "guards" they were - they got a little rough. But I dunno -to me it seems they were within their rights - I mean here if you don't have an ID on you and fail to provide one you pay a hefty fine and may even go to jail....and we're all white ...well - with very few exceptions. What's the deal with the humiliation? Why was he humiliated because someone asked for his ID. I mean nobody seems to mind that you get ID'd at bars and discos by a bouncer or spirits seller...but you get upset when you get ID'd by the police? I won't pretent to know what nice arabian people must go through with the recent events considered... but wouldn't they want to get it over with faster? Just - show the police your ID and if you're a nice guy they let you be. My personal oppinion (which has very little to do with skin color since racism is a thing almost unknown in Romania. I think if you asked on the streets what racism is most people would tell you it's something about horses) - so - my personal oppinion is that the guy is a a future journalist - and saw an opportunity to get a "human reaction" - a thing they learn about in school I think - by proffiting from the fact that he's arabian. He knew they couldn't do anything and forced a reaction. Especially since he mentioned that he took pics of the policemen's car and of the other guy with the dog...and the fact that he said he was in public.... He just played it dumb to get a reaction. Very journalistic I would say. On the other hand I may very well be terribly wrong and I do not wish to be misunderstood. I am not a racist. I saw maybe 3 black people in my entire life (up close not on TV) and about the same number of real arabians..maybe more since we do get a lot of arabian students here (or so I hear). I never saw an indian ..uhh - native american I think it's the term - the closest I was to a real indian was when I read Winnetou So please don't judge me in terms of your culture and knowledge...I'm honestly baffled.

Mihai – if you ever get a chance to come over here to the States you’ll be amazed as to how anal retentive people are about playing the minority card. It’ll blow your mind. It’s just part of our culture. We’re one big mass of mistrust.

I don’t know what this particular person went through because I wasn’t there and I’ve only read his side of the story, but if his story was somewhat exaggerated it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

This guy is an absolute and utter MORON, meaning the hose-bag who's wasting bandwidth on his whiny arsed self-righteous sense of 'violation'. I couldn't even finish reading the article. Is there anything meaningful in the second half that I need to go back and read? While his intentions with his pursuit of photographic art may have been honorable--he was participating in an activity that is the same thing a terrorist would do. He believes because he took a few notes about f-stops that he is excluded from further scrutiny? Just because he's a student? All the of the terrorists from 9-11 were aviation STUDENTS in Florida. FURTHERMORE, when asked to explain himself and provide ID, he become uncooperative, defensive, and basically a jerk

OK, I’ll admit it: I’d really had enough at that point. I was tired of confrontations with small people with authority complexes. I was tired of feeling scared. I knew that I’d done absolutely nothing wrong, and that I’d presented clear evidence that I was not a threat.

He didn't get what he deserved. They should have detained his hide for a week and put him under hot lights and deprived him of basic human needs until he peed his pants.

I'm sick of people crying about 'profiling'. How many suicidal, radical Muslims are middle class white males? Profiling is just being intelligent about statistics. Be proud of whatever you ethinic heritage, and if it means you get to be intimate with more security people and airport personnel than other people; just allow more time for travel. Think of all the humorous stories you'll have to tell your grandchildren someday.