But now we are living in an era where the people are able to express their opinions to cut through the institutional spin. And we are able to capture the truth on video to allow people to judge for themselves as I lay out in my book,The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook.
And in the case of police, who have long controlled the narrative, we no longer have to depend on the old, "he said, she said," narrative.
We can see for ourselves that it's not just a few bad apples, that these are not isolated incidents, but an ingrained culture of control, dominance and abuse where even the so-called "good cops" must remain silent or face retaliation.
Knowing that police are unwilling or unable to police themselves, it is up to us to hold them accountable by recording every interaction with police because many officers, unfortunately, have a habit of lying, even if they do not even realizing they are lying. It's like they view the world through their filtered eyes, which many times, is completely different from reality.
So while they have the power to arrest us and the right to kill us, we can never forget we have the right to record them.
JB: As the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said: "Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." Today, citizen videos effectively make it impossible to keep a lid on what's going on across the country. And that's a good thing. Thanks so much for talking with me, Carlos. And keep up the good work!
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PINAC - Be The Media website: Photography is Not a Crime
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