Live free or die...

Originally posted on my Facebook page on August 10, 2009…

So the chief emailed me back to explain why it is necessary that I provide my SSN and have my driver's license run even when I am doing nothing wrong. I responded with a kinder email than the one I originally sent, hoping to finally put this issue to bed. But I'm still irritated and need to vent one last time. What it seems to come down to, as far as I can tell, is that we are losing freedoms in small doses. I'll explain, using excerpts from the email he sent me:

I don’t think the officer ever said you were a suspect in the incident on campus. He was merely stating that we had an incident on campus and we were stepping up our efforts to monitor both foot and vehicle traffic on campus. We are required to do contact cards on people we come into contact with as a reference for our files. Case in point might be should you be attacked on campus during your late night walks through the campus and were unable to communicate with us we would have a past contact card on you which would give us information about you and where you were coming from and going to and the hours we met you. Important information don’t you think?

In my email back to the chief I admitted that the officers did not say I was a suspect. However, I informed him that neither myself nor any other grad students I know of who have been stopped by officers have ever had to give so much information about ourselves and have it verified before we were able to leave. That gave me the impression that they did not trust me.

However, I could state further that while this information might seem important, I'm not sure that it really is important information. If I am attacked and later found dead or otherwise unable to communicate, does it matter that I was going to my apartment? Please, before anyone tries to get me back to my apartment, by all means get me to a doctor first...or morgue as the case may be. Do the officers need my SSN in order to track down the attackers? I should think not. I firmly believe that too much information is being requested. Simply ask me to show my ID and ask me where I'm going. I'll be glad to comply. Having had someone break into my bank account in the past, I get a little nervous when someone asks for my SSN. Having a uniform on doesn't mean you are impervious to temptation.

I am willing to bet should you go walk around any metropolitan area at 2:30 in the morning you will be stopped by police and asked for ID and what your business is.

Don't forget phone number, address, SSN, asking where I'm from, driver's license, running the DL number...and this occurred at 12:30 in the morning, not 2:30. The 2:30 event went much more smoothly. But this quote in general makes me nervous. I don't want to live in an Orwellian world where I can't live free!

One last quote from the chief's email, and then some commentary...

...we are faced with living in a society bent on violence and disruption of everyone’s lives and as such we must take necessary precautions for your safety as well as the safety of every member of the campus community seriously.

It is certain that we are living in a society that has its negative elements. However, I have problems when the law abiding citizens are the ones who have to change their lives so that we can be safer...or more likely just have the illusion of safety.

It really does not put my mind at ease that they weren't considering me an unruly pedestrian, but Big Brother was merely holding my hand and guarding my safety. Frankly, I'm more uneasy about Big Brother than any thug on the street.

I can't really help that I have this love of liberty ingrained in me. It's part of who I am and where I come from. Six years ago, Senator Zell Miller of GA gave a speech on the Senate floor about folks from the Appalachian Mtns. A copy of his speech in full is on my facebook page here. I would like to point out one thing from that speech.

These mountaineers possessed the qualities that formed the fundamental elements of pioneer American character: love of liberty, personal courage, a capacity to withstand and overcome hardship, unstinted hospitality, intense family loyalty, innate humor, and trust in God.
It could be said that if they had one overriding characteristic, it would have to be independence. They developed as extreme, rugged individualists...

It's these qualities that make me want to be able to walk to my apartment at any hour of the day or night without being given the third degree...even if it is for my "safety". This is my expectation as long as America is a free land. I refuse to deny my love of liberty for a little perceived safety. As Aldo Leopold said, "…but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run." Being attacked while walking home is a risk I'm willing to take in order to have the freedom to walk home without having to have my background investigated.

You may think I'm going on and on about a non-issue. "It's just a small inconvenience. The end result is for everyone's safety!" I disagree. You know the old saying, "If a camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow." I would say the camel already has his front legs in the tent and most people are unaware.

Let's talk about the loss of real freedom.

I believe a human being has a right to live. I don't care how old the person is; if they are human beings then they have the right to life...even if they are fetuses. Yet, our government rejected an amendment earlier this year to prohibit the funding, with taxpayer money no less, of NGO's in Mexico that promote abortions as birth control. The taxes we pay can be used to end the lives of innocent humans. How does that make you feel? You are now paying to have children killed. Your taxes have become blood-money. How long before taxpayer funded abortions are widespread in America? The nose of the camel...

I wonder what our Founding Fathers would have thought about the prospect of law abiding citizens being questioned at such length for "safety", using taxes for abortions, the "public option" of healthcare, and so many other things going on in America today that take away our freedom? Let's see how they felt about liberty...in their own words. Most, but not all, of these quotes are from the Patriot Post Founders Quote Database with citations. All emphases are mine.

Ben Franklin:

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

John Adams:

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

Alexander Hamilton:

"No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave."

"[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties."

Patrick Henry:

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

"Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings - give us that precious jewel, and you may take every things else! Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel."

Thomas Jefferson:

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them."

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."

James Wilson:

"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression."

Joseph Warren:

"...we determine to die or be free..."

And last but not least, John Stark, whose words gave me the title of this note:

"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils."

Run-in with ASU-PD part II

Originally posted on my Facebook page on August 8, 2009…

So last night, being a grad student with no social life, I was back at my office until really late. Actually, I guess it was really early since the new day starts at mid-night and all.

Anyway, I left my office at around 2:30 am. No, I'm not an insomniac; I had a plan. My plan was to make myself so sleep-deprived that Saturday night I would want to go to bed really early and I would be well-rested for Sunday morning and I would get out of my recent habit of sleeping late. I've tried this plan before. It doesn't have a great success rate, but I'm no quitter.

So, as I was walking across campus at 2:30 am, I noticed someone walking in front of the business building. Now, there are only two types of people who can be found on that part of campus at 2:30 am: grad students with no social life, and... cops.

So I thought, "Here we go again." I starting thinking of the things I would say to him if I got harassed as bad as last time, but I decided my first option would be to act nonchalantly and keep on walking. As we starting getting closer to each other he said, "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," I responded as I kept walking.

Just as I'm almost past him he says, "Where are you headed?"

As tempting as it is to say, "I'm not doing anything suspicious, so it's none of your business," I decided I would just tell him where I was going and where I came from and maybe he would let me go since I was leaving campus. I said, "I'm headed back to my apartment. I just came from my office in the lab science building."

He said, "Are you a student?"

"A grad student," I said.

"Do you have a student ID."

I came real close to saying, "You want my driver's license, too? You might want to call in the number first, 'cause it takes them a while to run the license number." But I stopped because I realized he did not even ask my name and didn't have a pen and paper out to write down all my info, such as happened last time. Maybe this guy is not real big on giving the third degree.

I gave him my student ID. He looked at it and handed it back. "Just making sure you're a student," he said. "With everything that's gone on we just have to check."

Wow, that's it. He didn't need my address, phone number, SSN, driver's license number, or where I'm from. Works for me.

But the thing is, "everything that's gone on" means two black guys shot someone two weeks ago. I'm still a white guy; I certainly do not fit the description of the suspects. I guess from now on everyone walking across campus after dark will get stopped. Doesn't sound much like a free country, does it? I think I'll send an email to the chief of police.

Oh, and this cop was white...

White male harassed by black cop. Another 'teachable moment'?

Originally posted on my Facebook page on August 2, 2009…

It's a good thing we've had a recent 'teachable moment' about racial profiling. Otherwise I might not have had to deal with a recent hassle myself.

Friday night, since I am a poor grad student with no life, I decided to kill some time at my office. Finally around 12:30 a.m. I decided I would go home since I was starting to get sleepy. On my way out of the building I pass by a campus policeman. He begins to question me. No problem; people have stolen things from the science building and he doesn't know who I am or what I'm doing there that late. I respectfully answer his questions about who I am: I am a graduate student in the biology dept., I have keys to the building, I show him my university ID. That's reasonable. I comply.

I thought about the Henry Louis Gates/Sgt. Crowley ordeal and how this is similar, yet opposite. You see, I am white and the officer is black. I wondered how he might react if I acted like Gates acted and said something about his mama. I decided I didn't care to find out. He continues to question me: I give him my address, my phone number, my SSN, and tell him where I'm from. I tell him I'm from GA originally. I still can't stomach telling people I'm from TN. My driver's license is issued by the state of TN, but I'm a Georgia Boy. I tell him, though, that I moved to TN after leaving GA. He tells me he's from AL. I refrain from telling him any AL jokes. "Hey, did you hear they're going to build the world's largest zoo? Yeah, they're just going to put a fence around Alabama. Those animals!"

He asks to see my driver's license. Is this much questioning really necessary? I show him my driver's license. He calls dispatch and has them run my license number to make sure I am who I say I am. "This is strange," I thought. "Most cops let me leave whenever I tell them I'm a grad student. At most I have to show them my university ID or my set of keys." I figure if he decides to frisk me then I'll say something about it being because I'm a white man in America.

We have to wait for dispatch to run my license. Meanwhile the mosquitos are biting me and we make small talk to pass the time. He's nice enough and I'm respectful; I don't feel the need to say, "You don't know who you're messing with." He says as soon as we hear back about my license I can be on my way. Finally, after several minutes, dispatch reports back: "Jonathan Stanley. Henderson, TN."

He says I can go and tells me that they are being extra vigilant because of what happened on campus last week. For those unaware, the week prior there was a shooting at some apartments on campus at about the same time of morning. Someone was shot in the foot during a burglary. They haven't found the two suspects yet. "I understand," I tell him. He continues, "We're just checking everybody out until we find the suspects."

Again, I tell him I understand. As I'm walking away I thought to myself: "So he's questioning me that much because they haven't found the suspects yet? But it should be pretty obvious that I'm not one of them. I don't have a muscular build like one of them, and I don't have a tattoo on my neck like the skinny one...oh, yeah, and I'm not BLACK!" But at least the cops at ASU aren't engaging in racial profiling!

I wonder if I can be invited to the next Beer Summit at the White House. I'll have a Dr. Pepper, please.