BradSpangler.com

As reported by Ian Morgan:

Greetings all,

I have some unfortunate news. Yesterday, February 15th, while passing out flyers (containing important questions to consider before enlisting in the military) in front of an Army recruiting table at the Western Washington University Career Fair, our good friend Karim Ahmath was arrested by the WWU campus police. They charged him with disorderly conduct, citing his argument with one of the Army recruiters as the reason for the arrest.

However, I witnessed the whole thing, and although there was definitely a heated argument, I and others feel the arrest was unjust. At no time did anyone in charge of the Career Fair ask Karim or any of us passing out flyers to leave the event. At no time did Karim engage in physical contact with the recruiters or the police (except when the police put his arm behind his back, forced him out of the building, and later handcuffed him). In addition, I feel that Karim, who is Asian American, was racially profiled. Specifically, I feel he was profiled by the military recruiters, as they are the ones who requested the police remove Karim. My reasoning for this claim is that at least 5 or 6 other students were engaged in handing out the same flyers in front of the Army and Navy recruiting tables. Some of us were also engaged in verbal disagreements with the recruiters. One of us was even engaged in a shouting match with one of the Navy recruiters. But, the recruiters did not request police intervention for any of the rest of us. As you may have guessed, everyone of us, except Karim, is white.

Karim was brought to the campus police station for processing, where they tried to intimidate him by telling him he would have spend the whole weekend in the county jail. At one point, they also told me that they would not be releasing him, but rather booking him in the jail. After about an hour though, he was released with a citation and a court date (Feb. 23rd). For anyone who has been arrested, especially if it was for unclear reasons, I’m sure you know that Karim was feeling pretty traumatized and angry about the whole situation. He requested that I send out an announcement about it to various groups, professors, and friends in the area.

So, attached is my official witness statement detailing the events as I saw them. This was turned into the campus police earlier today. A more polished editorial on the events will be sent to area media sources soon. Perhaps, in the near future, there will be a chance for folks to voice their displeasure with the unfair treatment of a fellow WWU student and political dissident. Stay tuned…

-Ian

Follow the link above to also read Ian’s witness statement.

Tags: Politics //