Reply #24: Congratulations! Carlos.

[gvstn]

I'm really glad that Carlos posted over here at DU about the contest. It got me looking at his blog and hence recommending it.

His work is so important even if you don't care about photography. It is bad enough that legislatures are eroding our rights by passing actual laws to curtail our freedom of motion, but when police officers start creating problems by lying to citizens about which rights they still have and get away with it then we've gone over the edge.

Carlos actually takes the time and makes the effort to stand up for his rights when it would be so much easier to walk away and comply with an unlawful order. In fighting back he spends time and money and of course he gets an unwarranted police record (despite eventually being vindicated). His thanks? He gets ridiculed as a troublemaker.

Thank you Carlos for sweating the medium stuff and challenging the police and the courts to actually read the law and uphold it. If not for you defending photography and challenging authority when you know they are overstepping their role, police abuses in Miami would be allowed to escalate without anyone being made aware or eventual slap-downs being administered. I appreciate your efforts.

Kudos on your win and thanks for your blog that helps keep people informed of incidents that are not widely publicized. :)