BrothaSpeak - Baltimore Firebombing!
On Friday, August 24, 2007, the brothers of BrothaSpeak and members of Young Clergy for Social Change went on location in an East Baltimore community where a firebomb attack occurred just days before. We went to the scene late in the evening (10PM - 12:30AM) to see for ourselves what was going on there and to establish relationships with the people that live there. Much to our surprise, a group of about 60 youth crowded the block and surrounded a group of young men who were preparing to fight. We converged on the scene along with police officers who were noticeably perturbed by our presence and filming of the situation.
(Eventually, the officer came over and asked us to turn off our cameras because it was illegal to film them in the midst of an investigation. We suspect that he made this “law” up, but we didn’t have the facts at the time. Next time, we will have our rebuttal ready. Does anybody have info on whether or not this is truly illegal?)
We will be going back to continue establishing relationships with members of that and other communities.
Enjoy this special edition of BrothaSpeak!
August 30th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I want to publicly thank my sister, Niambi for this link which explains what Maryland’s Code says about electronic recordation. It appears that the officer did lie to us.
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/maryland.html
We’ll have this information ready for the next time and oh yes - there will be a next time.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Give thanks Bro Heber,
Realize this most Officers i.e. street beat cops will not know the laws. They are just out there doing whatever comes to mind. Most people are not aware of strategies and tactics. There is a book at Everyone’s Place called Police Encounters, for African Americans. This is a good book. The other one is called “Beat the Heat” or something to that effect.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:42 pm
This was a very exciting and powerful night. I thank everybody that came out with me and the delegate. Ted and Cedrick have been great. Heber, you are always great. The problenm with the video is that I can’t hear Jill. But the video says a lot, especially at the begining.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:32 am
If you think you have problems now with cameras, if they hire Ramsey from DC, the problem will escalate. He was pushed out b/c he doesn’t fit the new administration’s ideal. But his brand of gestapo policing may hinder free speech.
You may want to consider more low key cameras…
September 6th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
quite interesting, Christina. I’ve been interested in hearing from more DC folk about Ramsey. He seems quite eager for the position here in Baltimore.