That is not a riddle or a trick question. When the “watchers” – agents of the government including law enforcement – spy on citizens then make a “black list” of “protesters” and others, the result can be a lawsuit based on civil rights violations.
That was the outcome in Memphis this week when four persons sued in federal court after being named on a political list of 57 persons who must be “escorted” by police whenever they are in city hall. The list was assembled by the police, and four pages of that list were signed off in writing by Mayor Jim Strickland.
Black List or A-List?
While the media called it a “black list,” we are calling it an “A-List,” because the common bond with those 57 persons on the list is that they are activists trying to make things better in the city and the world.
In response, the A-Listers and their supporters held a rally outside City Hall on Feb. 21 -- an “A-List Weigh-in,” they called it, to challenge police spying and to spoof the mayor. They passed out scarlet “A’s;” made beauty contest-type sashes out of caution tape; drew wanted posters of themselves, and stepped on a set of scales to see if the police posting of their weight lined up with their actual weight.
Watchers Watching Citizens
Ironically and amazingly, right when police and the mayor were under fire for spying on citizens and thus setting up possible DOJ sanctions and lawsuits, police had several plainclothes officers in the plaza in front of City Hall and checking out what the A-Listers were doing.
Who Will Watch the Watchers? Film
The documentary feature Who Will Watch the Watchers? opens with Civil Rights hero and Freedom Rider Rip Patton pointing out the proliferation of citizen videos, surveillance cameras, in-car video and body-worn cameras and stating:
“It seems as though everybody….is watching anybody.”
One result of this has been the videos we have seen of police shooting unarmed men when the use of deadly force was uncalled for. Officer Michael Slager said he shot and killed Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C., in April 2015 in self-defense, fearing for his life. Only because a phone video recorded by Feiden Santana showed Slager firing seven shots at Scott’s back as Scott ran away, then Slager dropping his taser near Scott’s body, was Slager charged with murder.
First Amendment Right to Film Police
Police don’t like to be recorded, even though courts have consistently ruled it is a First Amendment right to film police. In Memphis and basically everywhere in the country, there are instances of police arresting people to stop them from filming. Typically those cases are promptly dismissed. But, the police in those cases have succeeded in stopping the recording, and the citizen has the trauma of being arrested and jailed at least overnight, the expense of attorney fees and missed time from work. Not to mention the likelihood of showing up on TV, the Internet and in print with his or her mug shot and being identified as a “suspect.”
While police stopping persons from taking their picture is one thing, it is quite another when police film citizens – or gather political intelligence – as the citizens are not breaking any laws and are practicing their First Amendment rights to speak out, assemble or disagree with government policies. This is where we have “the watchers watching us citizens.”
DOJ Consent Decree
Spying on citizens reached a breaking point in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, in the mid-1970s, and the result was a consent decree propounded upon the Memphis police department in 1978 by the Department of Justice. The DOJ order essentially said, do not abridge First Amendment rights of citizens.
In the context of the recent news, the press and the public have focused on the government compiling a political black list of citizens and how that violates the consent decree and MPD’s own policy and procedure. However, a reading of the order (linked below) more broadly speaks to First Amendment rights, including filming police.
‘Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?’
“Who Will Watch the Watchers?” and variations of that question are usually traced to Roman satirist Juvenal, who wrote in Latin: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Quite a kidder, that Juvenal, who was poking fun at the “rulers” who had guards watch their women to protect them from harm or seductions from other men. However, it’s a fair question, Who is protecting the women from the guards themselves?
Some have joked that they wished they had made the Memphis police A-List as something of a badge of honor.
“It’s not funny. There’s nothing good or fun about being on this list,” said one of the lawsuit plaintiffs.
Who Must Watch the Watchers?
Freedom Rider Patton concludes the documentary Who Will Watch the Watchers? with these words:
“It is each and every one of us who must watch the watchers.”
Who Will Watch the Watchers? Trailer:
Other links to stories and videos:
Who Will Watch the Watchers? film YouTube channel: www.WatchTheWatchersChannel.com
Who Will Watch the Watchers? website: www.WatchTheWatchersFilm.com
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/18/1635130/-Memphis-Mayor-Police-Publish-Political-Black-List-Even-Mother-of-a-Child-Killed-by-Police
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/20/1635807/-Memphis-City-Hall-Through-a-Looking-Glass-Did-Mayor-Lie-to-Police-about-Keeping-off-his-Grass
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=4+on+escort+list+file+lawsuit+against+city+of+memphis&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/23/1636740/--It-s-the-Paranoia-that-Worries-Me-the-Most-says-grandmother-minister-on-Memphis-police-black-list
Link to 1978 DOJ Consent Decree: cdn.fbsbx.com/...
Link to MPD Policy and Procedures Manual DR 138: fnolan.com/…
Link to the “A-List:” https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3468238-City-Hall-Escort-List.html
http://fox17.com/news/local/many-people-outraged-over-memphis-city-hall-blacklist
https://www.usnews.com/news/tennessee/articles/2017-02-22/chief-says-memphis-city-hall-list-not-based-on-politics
Link to story in The Commercial Appeal: www.commercialappeal.com/…
Link to story on WMC-TV: www.wmcactionnews5.com/…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/16/1634297/-Law-Enforcement-Provides-the-Only-Court-Drama-as-MLK-Day-Protest-Cases-are-Continued-in-Memphis
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/25/1624831/-Memphis-Cops-Bust-a-Journalist-Chase-Another-One-into-the-Bushes-during-MLK-Day-Pipeline-Protest