The word on our friend’s situation is spreading rapidly. While there have been other media (most notably fark and facebook) which helped get ideas and information out quickly, the eagerness to help by our friends in the press has been invaluable as we start this fight.
While the Fourth Estate arguably includes amateur bloggers, a special thanks must be given to the professional journalists who have exposed their considerable readership to our friend’s predicament. It has been increasingly apparent, to me and others, that journalists have become exceptionally important in rectifying injustices of all scopes around the world.
Lawyers, while quite beneficial, at times can only do so much. Often hampered by overwhelming caseloads of indigent clients, public defenders are heavily incentivized to plea bargain their clients, whether guilty or not. Our friend is fortunate to have educated and passionate people around her who are willing to aid her. Many people–e.g., the poor and minorities–do not have such luxuries and thus are helplessly thrust into a system that is fully weighted against them.
The fact that this happened should not surprise anyone. The fact that it does surprise people speaks directly to the reason we’re doing this — and why the journalists are essential to breaking more stories like these.
Thank you so much!
While the Park Police probably overreacted, the girl who was arrested should *not* have continued her activity after being asked to leave. That’s a guaranteed arrest, as it’s going to be seen (as it was) as a provocative act, and frankly, unnecessarily so. The Park Police truly are not interested in having a debate on individual rights, and are just trying to do their job. The voice on the YouTube videos, or rather, the words said, were clearly annoying to the officer (and frankly, to this listener). The above post is so pompous and self-important over what should have been people acknowledging that they were asked to leave, perhaps when they should not have been, and then done so. Of course, it seems this crowd was primed to lash back with impromptu speechifying and post-incident blogging and writing. There’s a rather large “give me a break” factor here, with some of these pieces sounding like we’re one step away from marching on Selma all over again.
Give it up-occasionally police or security will overreact, but so what? Does it *really* hurt to leave the public area? Not everything is an egregious violation of civil rights, and whether the actions of the Park Police or the pomposity of the YouTube speaker is more laughable is a toss-up.
By: Andrew on April 15, 2008
at 12:36 am