Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Richmond, Va photographer, Ian Graham, must be wondering where he was this past Monday as he was arrested by local police for trespassing on a city street. Graham, who was photographing police arresting demonstrators in the Occupy Richmond protest, was told by police he was trespassing as he politely stood near a public crosswalk recording the goings on with his camera. Police claim they told Graham he could take photos but only in the designated “media area,” which was, of course, far from the scene of the arrests.
Graham was detained for the apparent “crime” of walking and photographing police from a public street. It’s more likely he was arrested in retaliation for questioning police about why he was unable to traverse the street and perform an obviously legal action. He was held at the Public Safety Building for about thirty minutes and then released on a summons.
Eight other people were arrested during the 1:00 a.m raid of the Occupy Richmond encampment. Camping out in solidary with the Occupy Wall Street movement since October 15th, the demonstrators were told they were now trespassing in violation of a city ordinance prohibiting them from being present in the public park after dark. Boy, that took almost three weeks for police to figure out.
The Virginia ACLU is defending Graham who is part owner of RVA Magazine which publishes weekly and is distributed free of charge — or at least at no cost. For his part Graham is nonplussed by the misdemeanor charges. “The freedom of the press is not constrained to a box or some zone that the police inhabit,” he said. He added, “We as the press have the right and responsibility to cover the police during whatever they are doing on public property.”
The arrest occurred at Kanawha Plaza in the heart of Richmond’s financial district. That’s not particularly important until you remember that just a few blocks away down Broad Street is venerable St. John’s Church. There in March of 1775, another Virginian expressed much the same sentiment as Graham’s. I ‘m a little fuzzy on the name — Henry sounds right for the last name — but I’m in good company with the guardians of the peace here in Richmond. They don’t remember him at all.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
pete:
“of all the laws that have been violated the only ones that police are concerned about are people sleeping in public parks.”
*********************
In 27 years of practice I’ve never seen that charge proscuted here in Richmond unless the police had an alterior motive. We’ve got enough real crime to worry about. See?
http://spotcrime.com/va/richmond
of all the laws that have been violated the only ones that police are concerned about are people sleeping in public parks.
Gene 7 shano:
Don’t pay too much attention to Paul Hammond. He’s a conservative gadfly here in Richmond who used to work for the uber-conservative Media General syndicate. His foolish rantings aside, I must say he’s got himself pegged correctly. On his twitpic account page, he describes himself as a “Social misfit and politically insensitive curmudgeon.” No argument here, Paul!
Paul,
Have you been asleep during the OWS movement? Have you missed the Marine bing seriously injured? Have you missed the rubber bullets and pepper spray? Wow. Every courtesy?
So I take that the reason for the OWS and related protests don’t concern you at all, Paul?
Or doesn’t the deliberate and widespread fraud knowing perpetrated by the banking industry’s biggest players and aided and abetted by the corrupt campaign finance system that allowed said bankers to buy off legislation and laws that previously existed as safeguards against said crimes such as the Glass-Steagall Act and also avoid prosecution for their misdeed bother you at all? Misdeeds that harmed millions of citizens from fraudulent transactions that banks later managed to pass along to the taxpayers in general and thus harming us all?
Or is that all good because it was done in the name of profits?
You should learn the definition of the term “paranoia”. Because righteous anger at blatant injustice is not paranoia. It’s the natural reaction of those done wrong. Either you don’t see the wrong, don’t care about the wrong or are have a vested interest in the wrong doing itself. I’ll leave you to your myopia, apathy and/or sympathy to large scale crime.
Paul, hahahha, you are so funny.
I suppose the NYC police directing every drunk, homeless and mentally ill person they encounter on the street to “take it down to Zuccotti Park” is just a courtesy.
And then when the occupados call 911 to deal with these people the operator hangs up on them. So courteous.
Our drone ‘war’ is a great example of real oppression by the US government.
(and yes, it was a bit of exaggeration to say TSA is oppression, but it does grind on you over time)
I hope you are getting treatment for your PTSD, but this has nothing to do with OWS which has been extended every courtesy by the police, here and elsewhere. Occupy Richmond has no special right to violate the law. You can protest all day and all night. Just don’t camp in a city park.
You may be a wounded vet, but your compatriots are a bunch of whiny crybabies.
Since you all are of like minds, I’ll leave you to feed each other’s paranoia.
Bye Paul,
Smug sanctity is unattractive, as is macho posturing.
OS,
Excellent point about micro and macro oppression. The one thing I would add is that the differences in scale tend to play off of each other, eventually becoming a vicious circle.
I might also add that oppression occurs at both the macro and micro level. Just because an incident happens to one person at one snapshot in time does not mean it is not oppression. Extreme examples of oppression at the micro level are the sad cases of Emmett Till or Matthew Shepard. Macro example are found in oppressive regimes all around the world, ranging from our own deep south to the Sudan and the middle east.
The police response at some of the OWS sites has moved from micro to the early stages of macro level. When it is systematic, such as by TSA, it also is moving in the direction of macro oppression. When people start becoming afraid of their own government, it is a major social and economic problem.
Paul, you know nothing about me, where I come from, what I have experienced or what I know. Stuff it where the light doesn’t shine. Or better yet, go some of the places I have been and see some of the places I have seen. I did not acquire PTSD from sitting watching the TV. How many people have you seen die? How many times have you picked up a body, only to have it come apart in your hands? Shove it.
It’s sad you are so uninformed about the world around you and have no real conception of what real oppression is like. I hope you never get to experience it.
You are oppressed by the TSA? Get real. When’s the last time your plane was hijacked? Maybe never, right. Guess why? You guys are a bunch of spoiled kids.
Be careful OS. I always set the alarms off when I get searched. I think I have some metal in my head that my Mom never told me about!
Yeah, Paul—I feel oppressed. So much so that I no longer fly commercial. I would rather drive a thousand miles than take a commercial flight and deal with TSA. I was roughed up by TSA agents in New Orleans because I forgot to take my cell phone out of my shirt pocket and put it on the conveyor belt. The agent grabbed me from behind and shoved me into an area to one side where I was patted down very ungently. I did not miss my flight, but they pored over my computer and carry-on to such an extent that I almost missed my flight. I think that was their intent, but I was early enough in line they could not manage to delay me any longer. Next time I go do NOLA it will be either be by automobile or I will fly myself.
I don’t feel oppressed, do you? -Paul
Like shano, I feel pretty oppressed these days, as well. (If you’re lucky Paul, you’ll be okay, but don’t count on it.)
Actually Paul, I do feel oppressed. I have to fly all the time for work. Homeland Security has stolen things out of my checked bag, has made me miss flights, and because of the nature of my work I get thoroughly screened (I sometimes carry precious metals) every single time.
I ask them politely NOT to damage my goods, to handle them in a certain way, and sometimes they just smirk and leave a freakin’ mess for me to sort out later since I have to catch a flight. Try putting up with this every single month. It gets old.
I take it the photographer is at “liberty” now and did not have to trade life for it. I also understand that he will get his day in court and be well represented.
Did he argue with the cops? Did he disobey a direct order? I don’t know. I wasn’t there. He lives in a country where he is presumed innocent. I assume that he is unless proved otherwise in a court of law..
I don’t feel oppressed, do you?
LK,
Its rough being be sometimes….lol
I agree shano.
Need to sue Richmond, VA for big bucks: only way to get the Mayor’s office to control this order freaks.