Choosing Sides

Who do you support? Which side are you on?

To try my hand at documentary photo taking, I attended both the pro Israel and pro Palestinian/Hamas rallies at the Federal building in Westwood, California over the weekend.

It was interesting to observe and compare both events but I wasn't expecting I'd have to declare which side I was on.

And yet, on Sunday a couple of hours before the Israeli rally was to begin and organizers were setting up, a lady approached me as I walked toward the Jewish encampment and asked,
"Which side are you on"?

Taken aback, I stated, "I'm on the side of photography and am here to take pictures having attended the pro Palestinian rally yesterday." What I really wanted to tell her was that in the United States, one has freedom of choice and freedom of staying neutral and freedom of speech and...well, you get the idea of all those Constitutional guarantees.

Upon hearing I was at the Palestinian rally, the nice lady said, "We might have problems today and we're being asked to determine sides". Interesting mission I thought. And seeing she didn't have time for a discussion, I provided logistical observations that might be helpful before she walked off to talk to the police who were finishing donuts, soda, coffee, chips and sandwiches before the action started in an hour.

It was obvious to me that the Los Angeles Police Department learned a lot from the Pro-Palestinian protest on Saturday. They adapted their tactics. One of the main strategies centered on keeping the two different factions separated on Sunday. I had thought that the pro Palestinian rally had been held the day before and Sunday was to be pretty much the exclusive time for the Jewish side to rally. I was wrong. I didn't know that the pro Palestinian folks had been given a permit to hold another rally side by side the pro Israeli rally.

Well, maybe the LAPD didn't learn all that much.

The PP folks had been a volatile, confrontational bunch and a few arrests were made. 50 cops on bikes, hundreds others, 16 mounted horse units, helicopters circling, streets shut down, LA Sheriff deputies engaged, etc. But they were pretty much alone with only about 20 Jewish folks mounting a small counter protest which the police easily contained.

At Sunday's Israeli/Palestinian combo rally, the LAPD kept the peace by creating a no-go-zone of about 50 feet between the groups with no way of getting to the opposition other than through the many police officers that were stationed in the NGZ behind yellow tape.

And, they started guiding people at the street corners and parking lots based on people's side.
It usually wasn't hard to tell who was whom. The flags and scarves are very different. But, what about those folks who fell into the not easily profiled category?

On a philosophical and good ole' American civil protections scale, the question was very disturbing and off the scale.

Of course, keeping the peace (which was the LAPD's main objective for the safety of all) was paramount. But, as a tall white guy with white hair and camera in hand and carrying no politically identifying items like a flag, who wanted to be on the side of photo journalism, how should I answer?

I didn't. I freely wandered between both sides walking way around the barricades to 'change sides' without being challenged.

And so we get into the controversial practice of racial, cultural, religious profiling in broader terms. But this practice made me stop and think.

Should I have told the authorities, if questioned, that I am an American with Scottish, Jewish roots who was born 4 miles away from the Federal building and that our country has something called the Constitution and Bill of Rights and that people have died to protect me and everyone from having to submit to being profiled in such a manner?

Of course, I had no real objection since the practical reality in dealing with the masses, both sides of whom are passionate and can be militant about their beliefs, was to keep the peace and separating people by compromising a civil right was the most effective way to accomplish their goal and keep everyone safe.

I'm all for keeping the peace. Sometimes.