To: Minnesota Public Radio News
From: Mitch Berg, Uppity Peasant
Re: Food For Thought
MPR,
Isn’t it annoying – to say the least – to have to subject your constitutional freedoms to theatrical, unproductive and degrading scrutiny by bureaucrats, to no useful end?
A few minutes after 8 o’clock Monday morning, [MPR Reporter] Mukhtar Ibrahim started filing through the security line at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.
It was a big day for Ibrahim, and figured to be a long one: Day one of a high-profile trial for three local men accused of plotting to join ISIS fighters in Syria.Ibrahim and a reporter for the Star Tribune approached the security screening and offered their bags for clearance by a security officer. The other reporter, who is white, passed right through and headed for the elevator. Ibrahim was stopped, and told he couldn’t go in yet. He would have to wait for the time when the court opened to the public.
If it saves even one life…!
Ibrahim protested, pulling out a press badge showing he works for Minnesota Public Radio. Not good enough, the officer said. Go wait with the rest of the public.
Ibrahim didn’t argue and instead just collected his wallet, keys, and bag, and went to wait with public spectators. The way Ibrahim figures, he shouldn’t have even needed to flash the badge. He’s been covering cases there for a year and a half: These guys should recognize him by now.
People with a long, proven record of not abusing free speech are almost never a danger!
On Monday, once Ibrahim and the rest of the non-journalists observers there for the trial were let in, he simply walked across the courtroom to the area sectioned-off for members of the media and sat down. But the episode continued to eat at him.
“It messed up my mood the whole day,” Ibrahim said. “I was just really frustrated. I didn’t expect this.”
It is frustrating, isn’t it? Trying to go about your business, doing something you have a Constitutional right to do, and getting badgered by petty bureaucrats?
“I like to stick to the facts,” Ibrahim said, “so I’ll let people make their own conclusions of this.”
The obvious answer; force all reporters to take a background check.
That’ll fix it.
That is all.
Of course, the guy that “breezed right through” security, had white privilege going for him.
Ibrahim and a reporter for the Star Tribune approached the security screening and offered their bags for clearance by a security officer. The other reporter, who is white, passed right through and headed for the elevator.
Why is this “other reporter” not named?
I am calling bullshit.
In each report posted by Mr Ibrahim it is apparently a grave concern to him that in a state that is 86% white the jury selected is white. He always pointedly fails to mention that Judge Michael Davis is black. Talk about overt racism in the reporting MPR takes the prize today.
this quote is representative:
“Sixteen people — all of whom appear to be white — have been selected as the jury for the case of three Minnesota men accused of trying to join ISIS.”
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/05/09/isis-trial-minnesota-updates
Silly guy! Ibrahim simply forgot to file the form that allowed the government to check that MPR could transfer their First Amendment rights to him 48 hours before he planned on using them. He was illegally trying to use those rights because he didn’t complete the background check in time, and he certainly never paid the fee required by the check.
Those horrible, bigoted people at the federal courthouse. If only someone could rein in the federal government so these bigots wouldn’t have free rein.
Seriously, one would figure that people who understand the seriousness of the situation–Ibrahim is of Somali descent and was going to the terrorism trial of Somali-Americans–might contemplate the notion that in such a trial, one might actually welcome a bit of extra scrutiny.
When members of motorcycle clubs are being tried, anyone looking “biker” gets frisked thoroughly, and anyone appearing in colors is refused entry all together.
This guy is a muzzy Somali covering the story of a prosecution of muzzy Somali terrorists for MPR…does anyone think MPR looked into his background? Even if they did, and found he was pals with ISIS, does anyone believe being a muzzy terrorist would be enough to qualify for dismissal from MPR?
He should be glad he’s not stripped and cavity searched every time.
Just because muslims are on trial you have to send a muslim reporter? Exactly why?
DMA, I can see a Somali reporter because he’d pick up on what the accused and his supporters were saying under their breath. He knows the language. What I can’t see is getting all worked up that reporters are checked the same way everybody else is. This is a terrorism trial, after all.
Whenever there is a story with a minority interest (black, hispanic, female, muslim), they always default to sending a reporter of the same minority, if one is available. I guess they don’t believe a white male could give the same quality of reporting as a Muslim male. They have to show how diverse they are.
Or something.
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Mark Steyn says that the root cause of global warming is islamophobia.
I hate to see a journalist have his day “messed up” by something unexpected or unwarranted. It never happens to the rest of us.
They have to show how diverse they are.
No. Because a white person could never understand why such law-abiding, outstanding elements of society would want to join a murderous sect. Only one of their own could and be able to write a sympathetic article. And they are right.
JPA, I hate to take you to task, but having lived in Boulder for nearly a decade, I can assure you that white people can be totally, utterly clueless about the nature of just about any threat to their society, including Islamic terrorism. I once sent a letter to the editor asking why a million Cubans had fled the island since Castro came to power, risking their boats being torn apart by machine gun fire, and they still didn’t clue in.
Mr. Ulyanov and his minions spoke of “useful idiots” for a reason, no?
Yes, but some are more useful than others. It is all about perceived credibility.