Synopsis | 1st amendment
This speech recaps the events surrounding the confiscation of unpublished negatives by the East Lansing Police Department. It was delivered at the National Press Photographers Association annual convention in Denver, Colo. in gratitude of their emotional and legal support.
When I first came to Michigan State University in the fall of 1996, there were a number of things I never thought would happen...
I never thought I'd get to see a couch burn.
I never thought it could become such a cliché.
I never thought I'd get exposed to tear gas.
I never thought I'd adjust to it so quickly.
I never thought I'd spend my twenty-first birthday getting detained
by the police.
I never thought they would seize negatives of mine.
Most importantly, I never thought I would receive such an outpouring of support from the National Press Photographers Association, the Michigan Press Photographers Association, and its members.
The evening of March 27th started relatively sedate for me. I had a pre-birthday dinner with my family back home in west Michigan. Following the meal, I watched the Michigan State versus Duke basketball game at a bar with a friend. Afterwards, I drove back to school.
Home for me is two hours from East Lansing and therefore outside the reach of campus radio. When I finally tuned it in, I learned that a car had been rolled and ignited. I arrived on campus and loaded my camera just in time to capture a dozen students flipping a police cruiser.
Students were burning anything they could... branches, furniture, vehicles... even housing insulation. Sixty fires were set that night. Even as I strolled from one fire to the next, it didn't register until afterwards how serious things were. This was the fourth riot I had attended during my academic career at MSU; our second in a week. A year ago, I took riot negatives to Meijer's and got reprints without incident. This time was different.
I felt deeply helpless as I stood around at Meijer's, being detained by officers who claimed to have a search warrant. I handed them my boss' business card from the Associated Press and pleaded with them not to take my pictures. I showed them my driver's license and begged not to spend the remainder of my 21st birthday waiting for them. Hours later when they served me, they rushed me out of the store.
There are a number of people I have to thank for helping turn things around. Photojournalism Professor Darcy Green at Michigan State was a one of a handful of people I told what happened. Soon afterwards, the Michigan Press Photographers Association heard about it. They in turn, contacted the National Press Photographers Association. A couple days later, I got a phone call from New York. David Handschuh introduced himself and offered the NPPA's full support. In our conversations, he wouldn't even let me pay for the long distance charges. He rallied the NPPA-L behind me and I received dozens of e-mails of support from Tokyo to South Dakota. He has benevolently shared his time here so I can thank the NPPA formally.
Mr. Handschuh volunteered the resources of the NPPA's legal defense fund and referred me to Covington and Burling. I am grateful to be able to retain the counsel of such a large law firm and to do so pro bono. Kurt Wimmer and Ed Walters, of my legal team, have been great to work with. With a big grin, I can point to the City of East Lansing building and say that MY law firm is bigger than THEIRS.
Lastly, I'd like to thank Jim Gordon and his staff at News Photographer Magazine for interviewing me and using my pictures on the cover. Inside that issue, there were photographers who had saved other people's lives and who had been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Nonetheless, I'm thankful for the space I've gotten within the magazine.
In summary, I can't thank the National Press Photographer's Association enough for its support. This support came unconditionally and before I was a member. As my lawyers will attest, the battle is not over. However, all this support has filled me with optimism.
Thank you very much.
