VA Police Delete Photographs Taken by Muslim-American Journalism Student
Mariam Jukaku is a 24-year-old graduate student in journalism at Syracuse University.
After her photography class on September 6, she started to do her homework, which was to take pictures around campus. She’s a Muslim American, and was wearing brown pants, long sleeves, and a brown scarf.
As she walked on the sidewalk toward her car, she passed the VA hospital, so she tried out her camera, taking pictures of the VA entrance and the flags hanging above it.
“I was there for about five or ten minutes,” says Jukaku, “and I was turning away to leave and a woman in a blue uniform came up to me really fast, and said, ‘You can’t take pictures here,’ in an authoritative, demanding voice. Before I could even get another word in, she said, ‘Give me your camera.’
“I must have said something like, ‘What?’ Because I didn’t even process it, and she said, ‘Give me your camera now!’
“So I gave her my camera, and she was kind of looking at it, and she didn’t know how to work it, and so she said, ‘Set this up so I can look at it.’
“I showed her the playback camera, it’s a digital, and I showed her how to scroll them. She looked at all of them, and then said, ‘Delete these in front of me right now.’
“They were the pictures of the flags and the entrance. At that point, I didn’t think it was a big deal, so I deleted them.
“Then she was asking me why I was taking pictures, and I told her I was taking photographs for my class. So she asked me for my student ID, which I gave to her.”
At that point, says Jukaku, another VA police officer arrived, this one a male.
“He asked for my driver’s license, so I gave him my driver’s license,” she says. “Then they took me inside into a small little office, with a sign on it that said ‘police,’ and they questioned me about what I was doing there and why I was taking pictures.
They photocopied both my student ID and my driver’s license. Then the
male officer asked whether I was a U.S. citizen.”
Jukaku said yes. She was born in Michigan.
“The male officer was telling me it was illegal to photograph federal property, and he also said I couldn’t take pictures of veterans without permission,” says Jukaku, adding that they objected to the fact that there were people in the background of her photos.
“While I was in the office, the female officer deleted more of my pictures, and she didn’t tell me which ones,” Jukaku says.
After about 15 or 20 minutes, they gave her camera back to her and let her go.
“When she took my camera, I was kind of shocked,” Jukaku recalls. “And when they took me inside, I kind of got worried. Especially when they asked me if I was a U.S. citizen.”
After they let her go, Jukaku was distraught. A Newhouse fellow (essentially, an intern) with the Syracuse Post-Standard, she called the editors to tell them that she would be late for the meeting they were having. When she arrived and clued them in as to what happened, they told her to contact her journalism professor.
She did. “I called him, and I got really upset,” she says. “It was a traumatic incident.”
“She’s a very level-headed person, but at the end of the conversation, she was crying a little bit,” says adjunct professor Doug Wonders, who manages the photography department facilities. “It was really sad.” Wonders says the VA police had no right to delete her photos, and he calls it “extraordinary.” In the 12 years he’s been running the photo facilities, he’s never heard of anything like this.
“Knowing that she wears a headscarf, I had to shake my head and think whether or not this had any bearing on them approaching her,” he says.
In an e-mail to the South Asian Journalism Association forum, she wrote about that concern.
“When you’re a South-Asian Muslim woman wearing long sleeves and a headscarf on a 90-degree day in early September, the thought that security guards are overreacting solely based on your appearance tends to creep around in the back of your mind,” she wrote. “You tell yourself you’re just being paranoid. But then you get asked if you’re a U.S. citizen-and the creeping thought lands with a resounding thud.”
When the Syracuse Post-Standard first reported on this story on September 7, the VA backed off a bit. “Removing the images that she shot was inappropriate, so we apologize,” Gordon Sclar, the medical center’s public affairs officer, told the paper.
But then the medical center dug in.
“It is quite unfortunate that the actions of one SU student (i.e., taking unauthorized photographs while on VA property) who was not familiar with the longstanding policies/procedures became an issue (from the perspective of the student),” said James Cody, Syracuse VA medical center director, in a prepared statement e-mailed to me on September 17. “The verification of the student’s identification (a procedure which requires photocopying the forms of identification) established the innocence of the student’s intentions. The assessment of unauthorized photographs of patients’ faces elicited the request to delete these images from the camera’s memory card. The deletion of the remaining photographs was not requested, nor required. . . . The VA Medical Center’s police officers handled the matter according to accepted federal practices.”
The Syracuse Post-Standard saw things differently. “Note to VA: It’s Still a Free Country” was the headline on its September 9 editorial. “Hospital security overreacted throughout the incident,” the paper wrote, ‘curbing a journalist’s-or anyone’s-right to take pictures in a public place.” Calling their action “over the top,” the paper wrote: “The hospital needs to give its security guards a crash course on the rights of citizens in a free country.”
Don Cazentre, regional editor for the paper, says: “We don’t believe that the authorities have the right to dictate what someone standing on the sidewalk, as she was, does with a camera.”
Jukaku expressed her own beliefs in a column she wrote for the paper on September 16, entitled, “A question of guarding freedoms.”
“I am only asking to be treated like an American who lives in a country where we are free to practice our religion, free to speak, free to publish our ideas, and certainly free to take pictures in a public place,” she wrote. “This is the America I was raised in, the America I believe in, the America I challenge all of us to invest our hope in.”
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine.
© 2007 The Progressive
“Note to VA: It’s Still a Free Country”
No, it isn’t.
Our government declared us to be in a Global War on Terror.
Terror is a behavior. Everyone is capable of behavior. Everyone is a potential terrorist. Everyone is a suspect.
It’s going to get a whole lot worse because nobody is stopping this insanity.
Have you heard of downtown Silver Spring, Maryland? Where the development corporation has been asserting a ban on photography in the public forum of the main avenue through downtown?
White Americans will soon feel what brown Americans
have been feeling. Soon!, look what just happened in
Florida with Kerry, the taser incident.
We should all wear clean underwear.
Given the palpible danger of Islamic terrorism, these cops might have had a reasonable suspicion (a standard much lower than probable cause) to ask her a few questions or get her name and address, but they went way, way over the line. There can’t possibly be a law against photographing federal property or every terror…I mean tourist in Washington DC is in big trouble.
They all hope to make a big score and nab a terrorist.
I think she was brave just to wear a headscarf in public around there.
This is the fourth story in one day were someone rights have been violated.
The media needs to make a choice and make a choice now.
Show the American people and the world, what is happening to our rights immediately.
Don’t think for a second you will be spared when the Gov’t decides it’s time to lay down the iron fist.
And when you finally see that you can no long carry on with you daily routine because you TOO!!! Have lost your rights. It will be too late. For you and for us all.
The revolution is coming, choose your side.
~Future~
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Niemoller, Germany 1940’s
It’s lucky for her that she was cooperative and deleted the photo’s on demand. Had she stood her ground and insisted on her rights she would most likely have been tassed.
Excellent opportunity for a fun and annoying protest:
Students, don your headscarves, grab your cameras and get busy. There are lots and lots of federal buildings and monuments you’ll want to preserve in digital form for your children. Like the VA in Syracuse, for example. And picture-taking while wearing headscarves is way, way more fun in large groups.
Don’t forget to snap a couple of those hired to “protect and serve” the Constitution.
dcbetlway, Niemoller’s lament was the first thing that came to mind while reading this.
Every day they push a little further over the line, because they know that NO elected federal official, with the possibility of Dennis Kucinich and Barbara Lee and a few others, will use their political position to attempt to stop it. There are still judges, even Republican ones, who still try to maintain the Bill of Rights, but the simpering Harry Reid & Co in the Senate just crumpled again before the threat of a filibuster on the habeas corpus restoration. WHEN WILL THESE DUMBFUCHS REALIZE THAT THE ONLY WAY TO STOP BULLIES IS TO CALL THEIR BLUFFS????!!!???
Interesting that while citizens aren’t allowed to take photographs, the government (and others) have installed cameras in cities - virtually everywhere - so that, apparently, nobody has any right to privacy in a public space. Only private, personal photographs are suspect. Please.
I am a taxpayer, so I own that building. I say she may take pictures there.
Welcome to the 4th Reicht
Ridiculous,
I have worked as a physician in the Syracuse VA and it is full of residents and physicians from South Asia and from Moslem societies. This was a bizarre and arbitrary abuse of power and it is shameful to hear of a cover-up. There are literally thousands of Muslim physicians and residents caring for patients in the US - especially in the VA. The Syracuse VA has slapped in the face all the dedicated health care workers who respectfully care for American veterans - regardless of their color or religion.
It is so depressing to see the VA defend, rather than educate, the inappropriate actions of their security. I am surprised that they didn’t taser and arrest this young woman and claim national security. I think a number of veterans might be upset to see the erosion of our national freedoms and civility.
This sounds like the incident at U of Florida where they grabbed and tasered a student asking inconvenient questions of the speaker, Sen. John Kerry. In both cases the guards acted reflexly as the voice of authority, not to be challenged. How can we raise our kids to be thoughful citizens rather than authoritarian automatons? How can our institutions train employees to use intelligent discretion?
This incident is not at all like the Florida Tasering. I’ve been working for the VA as a medical photographer for over 20 years and their policy has been consistent. Even I get stopped. The VA is very serious about patient privacy. If I’m imaging anything with a veteran or even part of a veteran in it, it had better be for that veteran’s care and patient chart or for VA PR work (and then only with written permission from the veteran).
The VA police are instructed to treat all photos as suspect even those without apparent veterans present, as upon enlargement a veteran might be visible and identifiable.
Usually, a quick stop or call to the PIO, the Patient Privacy Officer, or the VA police office can get you an escort or at least permission to do what this photo student desired to do.
I see folks with cameras all the time wandering over from the adjoining med school and try to warn them, but I can’t catch them all. But that’s not my job, it’s that of the VA police. I’m not saying they might not have been “a bit brusque” with this student or in this situation, but this is the way it has been, is, and probably will be for some time to come.
eyefoto
Dichterfreund have to agree things are sliding more and more into fascism by the day. Its kinda like the story of the frog in the pot. You turn the heat up slowly and the frog doesn’t jump he just stews and doesn’t feel it. The American people we are the frogs in the Bush Administration’s pot and we are really starting to boil now.
dcbeltway___ You have stated our condition accurately in the essay of the Germans letting it all happen until too late and the example of the frog slowly boiling to death. Too bad that so many of our citizens seem to have the mentality of the frog as our constitution and bill of rights is trampled on and our freedoms are being taken away daily. Time to jump that pot, before Bush-Cheny turn up the heat again!!
eyefoto:
The “policy” of the VA police is not the law. There is no law preventing photographers from taking pictures of veterans.
This is a case of the police making and enforcing the rules - a hallmark of a police state. It is the antithesis of the rule of law.
This is exactly like the Florida tasering. Only someone who has been brainwashed to accept authoritarian police rule as legitimate would fail to see that.
“This is a case of the police making and enforcing the rules - a hallmark of a police state. It is the antithesis of the rule of law.”
Jeff Farias, host of the afternoon show on NovaM Phoenix, related a number of police tasreings; the thing is, you give certain people guns and they think they are the law & the right to instruct anyone without guns to do what they order them to do. For a brief few years, Americans were persuaded that they really possessed rights, and that police were subordinate to them; but three decades of cop films & cop shows where the good guys save us all from killers by ignoring those pesky little regulations that guarantee the rights of suspects & the accused have gradually drowned out reality. “I don’t need rights, I’ve don’t do anything wrong”, which establishes the police state, is itself even ultimately criminal — the agents of a police state have the right to do to you what they will ESPECIALLY WHEN you claim you’ve done nothing wrong.
Yes, there is a law that protects patient confidentiality, known by the acronym HIPPA. Check out: http://www.hipaaregulations101.com/?gclid=CMGE4cme0o4CFQ0qUAodG12–Q
This is a shameful display of FEAR. The fact that they have to be so fearful of a student, armed with a camera, of all things, shows that the American Ideal of “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” is over. Now we live by “be afraid. Be VERY afraid”. It’s not flattering at all to the soul of this country.
Faces can be blocked out of photos, and let’s get real, here, this is for a college project, it’s not like any of it is going to be printed for the public to see. This is pretty sad, as are the cases of the minister who was injured while being turned away at his congressman’s office, and the student tasered in Florida because the cops can’t stand to have someone raise their voice while asking a question. We are no longer seen as able to control ourselves, everyone needs a cop or two on top of them if they get even slightly loud. Sorry, but I think that makes things far worse, and it shows a complete lack of control by the cops if they have to act this way. They are terrified of their fellow citizen to the point of shoot first, don’t bother to ask later.
Face it. The woman was attacked, no other word for it, because of her appearance. Despite excuses about terrorism, there is no way any sane person capable of dressing themself without assistance would consider taking a picture of a hospital to be a terrorist activity. The bit about confidentiality is a rotten red herring because there is no way you can identify a person in a picture of a building. They are just too small and blowing up the image isn’t going to make it any clearer. They will still be smudges.
They might have had the right to question but not delete. When someone is taking pictures of the VAMC in my area, I believe the person is suppose to get permission, but that’s only if they are on the grounds. Depending on where she was “the sidewalk” it doesn’t really say it’s maintained by the VA or across the street, it sounds like she was just outside on VA maintained property. I also don’t like the fact that VA has armed security. Think of the people they deal with—If this person would have been a PTSD Veteran what would/could have happened, we were trained to disarm and repell enemies. And It has happened!!!
Dear Friends,
You all need to get a grip on this and realize that there a several issues here, at least two, and that they can’t be seperated. First and formost, I (and you) as a patient have rights by law that superseed any photographers right to photograph from anywhere they choose. If you photograph me in a hospital, from non-hospital property without my permission it is still a violation. This is no “rotten” red herring. I have worked in health care for both government and private hospitals. If you show up, unannounced with a camera, and start to photograph where patients can be identified you will have your equipment confiscated! It’s really that simple. As it should be!
And, her instructor should have included that information in the assignment. The Syracuse Post-Standard’s response is lame, and if they believe it, it’s naive and they should be ashamed of not knowing about patient rights.
Oh, the security guards were rude? Well, judging by what they pay and attract at my hospital, I’m not surprised.
And finally, can someone point out to me where in the original article it mentioned that the security was armed?
So look, I agree that the issues that you are talking about are real, but this is the wrong story to pick to make that case.
Yours, MedPhoto
Medphoto, HIPPA doesn’t apply to people on the street taking photos. HIPPA is for doctors and other people who have your medical records not to share those records or otherwise invade your privacy. If you are on a taxpayer-paid for street, you are supposed to be free to take photos. Now, all of a sudden, a camera has become a “terrorist” weapon. What a load of crap!! This is a police state where morons are given badges and guns and are “security” and think that they are the law. They are not. They didn’t want anybody filming the caskets of the slain service men coming home, so I guess they sure as hell don’t want anyone to accidentally photo a crippled veteran leaving a public building–or then again, this could be the case of some dip little guard who wants to assert his/her authority because they are just too friggin ignorant and power hungry to know the difference. If this is an institutional policy, well it still isn’t the law. Of course, George Bush has signed so many “executive directives” into law that it may well be. Americans are such assholes, I’m beginning to think we don’t deserve any of the freedoms they are taking from us.
dcbeltway, thanks for the quote. Maybe now I can finally quote it correctly! We are living in a country where the main focus is “me”. I don’t think there will be a revolution–I think America will fall without so much as a whimper.
medphoto sez: “If you show up, unannounced with a camera, and start to photograph where patients can be identified you will have your equipment confiscated! It’s really that simple. As it should be!”
What nonsense! As a photographer you should know better.
Hospital patients do not have any greater privacy rights than any other citizens.
There is no law authorizing the confiscation of a camera that is used to photograph identifiable people. At the very most, the photographer could be sued for violating the privacy rights of a subject, but it is not for the police to decide when and how a photographer can take pictures, or to censor them after the fact.
I do not believe that everyone should be considered a suspect. What happen to this woman is racism, which, despite what everyone thinks, is still alive in the United States today. If I, a white woman not in possession of a headscarf, had walked around taking pictures of governmental property, would I have been taken into questioning or been verbally abused? The answer, whether you want to believe it or not, is probably no. The notion that “everyone is a suspect” can only be applied if everyone is, in fact, equally suspected. However, the truth is, dark skinned Americans are more intensely watched, criticized and suspected than white skinned people, and the ones people who dress “the part” are even more highly suspected.
It is sad that a student cannot even complete a class assignment without being dragged into questioning about her intentions. I understand that the benefit of the doubt can’t be granted to everyone, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere. For that policewoman to delete more photos than necessary and to harass this woman is a gross abuse of power and for the second officer to be called was completely over the top. The prejudice against people of foreign looks is huge, and it needs to be stopped. But until stereotyping is stopped, innocent people like this woman will continue to be abused by the law.