Glocke is a graduate student in Afro-American studies.
By Aimee Glocke
I had a simple plan for Tuesday night: get some food and a
couple of movies at Blockbuster Video. Little did I know how
difficult this would be. I studied all day and decided not to
partake in any Halloween festivities, instead opting to pick up a
few videos and chill in my apartment. I knew that Al Gore was
speaking in Westwood earlier in the evening, but thought it would
have been over by the time I went out. I did not realize to what
magnitude my life would have to be altered in order to accomplish
these two very simple tasks.
I found myself on Le Conte and wanted to specifically walk
around the area where Gore was speaking to get to the video store.
I was stopped by police who would not allow me to cross the street.
I asked them why and was told that they could not answer. I had
heard that the Gore rally had started at 4:30pm, so three hours
later I thought that all the excitement would have winded down.
A student next to me mentioned that Gore had not even arrived
yet. Obviously his motorcade must have been on its way and that was
why the street was being blocked off and I was not allowed to cross
the street.
By this time, another fellow student was denied permission to
cross to the other side of the street, so we ended up going all the
way around to Rite Aid in order to cut back onto Westwood Boulevard
to go where we needed to go.
I had turned on Weyburn to go to Blockbuster when I noticed that
there were police officers who had both the street and sidewalk
blocked off with yellow police tape.
Illustration by CLEMENT LAM/Daily Bruin I asked if I could pass
to get to the store (which was 10 feet away). The officers told me
that the only way I could go through was to see the lady standing
next to them. She told me to open my bag and open my arms so she
could use the handheld metal detector on me. All this for a
movie.
Most people would have given up or gone somewhere else, but for
me this was more than just a movie now; this was violation of my
rights. As a citizen of the United States, I have personal
liberties to be able to live my life and move about society as I
wish (as long as I am not hurting anyone else). I also have the
right to privacy.
I agree that when people attend rallies or concerts, they waive
their rights to privacy and should be aware of the fact that they
may have to go through a metal detector or have their personal
belongings searched before they go in. Naturally, this is for the
personal safety of the performer.
However, I did not agree to attend the rally and I did not even
agree to having Gore speak in Westwood. Furthermore, I did not
agree to have my personal belongings searched or to get patted down
to rent a video. Westwood is my home. It is where I rent movies,
eat dinner and get groceries.
I did not want to see Gore speak that night. Whether or not I
like him politically is irrelevant. It really does not matter who
was speaking; the issue is that my human rights of freedom and
privacy were violated that night. I understand that as the vice
president, Gore has to have security. But if that were such an
issue, then why have the rally in the middle of Westwood? Why not
have it at Pauley Pavilion, where security is easier to
maintain?
Inconvenience is one thing, but having to go through such
extreme measures to do things that I do everyday is ridiculous.
Gore came into my home and I am the one who has to prove that I am
of no threat to patronize businesses that I go to regularly.
Politicians are always talking about personal freedom and how
they will fight to ensure that our rights are never infringed
upon.
But what about my rights Tuesday night? Am I to give up my
personal rights to privacy because the vice president is in town?
It is hypocritical for a politician to say that they will fight for
your rights, but when he or she comes to town, you will have to
suspend all of your personal liberties to ensure their rights.
Why are the vice president’s rights to freedom and liberty
more important than mine? Am I not the one who has power and
control over whether or not he even gets into office? Whose
violation of safety was I endangering by going to rent a movie?
Our entire political system is based on freedom and privacy and
our forefathers and foremothers died to give us these freedoms. But
that night, my freedoms were treated as if they were nothing. Some
might think that this is not a big deal and may urge me to get over
it.
But how far is too far? If this becomes acceptable, than what
else can be taken away from us without our permission? If a person
like Gore can suspend all personal and privacy rights for all those
who live in Westwood, do we really have any control over our
rights? Are they given to us only when they do not inconvenience
those in power?
That night a rally that was supposed to represent freedom and
democracy did exactly the opposite for me. The entire situation
demonstrated that my rights are relative. It demonstrated that my
rights are expendable. It demonstrated that my rights can be easily
taken away by the same politicians who gave them to me.
It is sad to say that we pride ourselves on being “the
land of the free and the home of the brave,” yet we have
freedom that can be easily stripped away by those in power.
What kind of democracy is that? What kind of life is that? What
kind of America is that? America is viewed by other countries to be
the epitome of a nation where freedom, liberty and democracy are
cherished. This is not the America that I experienced Tuesday.
This is the type of America that my ancestors fought against.
They fought for my freedom so incidents like this would no longer
occur. I wonder what they would say now when they realized that
they died in vain, that they died for nothing. It makes you just
want to yell, “God bless America.”