Ryan Vizzions' Standing Rock photo accompanies news release: "TigerSwan Spy Documents at Standing Rock are Public Records. Victims Appeal Lawsuit"

 

Via IndyBay

May 1, 2022

The Water Protectors of Standing Rock were the focus of two court actions this week. The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that 60,000 spy documents of TigerSwan are public records to be released. In a separate court action, Water Protectors injured by rubber bullets and projectiles fired by law enforcement filed an appeal of a class-action civil rights lawsuit. It was earlier thrown out by the court which sided with law enforcement.

Ryan Vizzions

Water protectors use their bodies to keep law enforcement vehicles from ascending on Last Child Camp, February 1, 2017

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Top photo by Ryan Vizzions

The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that TigerSwan's documents from Standing Rock are public records. Confirming the ruling of the district court, the high court's ruling means that The Intercept and other news media will be able to obtain the documents.

The high court ruled that a state regulatory committee must comb through the 60,000 documents and remove those associated with trade secrets and litigation.

The lawsuit is a victory for free press. Documents that have already been leaked reveal the names of many Water Protectors who were targeted by TigerSwan at Standing Rock. Those leaked documents also expose infiltrators in the camps who attempted to entrap Water Protectors and provoke crimes.

In a separate court action, Water Protectors who were injured by rubber bullets and other projectiles fired by law enforcement filed an appeal of a case that was thrown out by the courts.

"Water Protectors filed an appeal in the Dundon v. Kirchmeier civil rights case. Dundon v. Kirchmeier is a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit in which six named plaintiffs are seeking redress on behalf of hundreds of #NoDAPL Water Protectors who were injured by law enforcement on the night of November 20, 2016," attorneys for Water Protectors said.

"On December 29, 2021, the North Dakota District Court threw out the Water Protectors’ lawsuit, finding that law enforcement was justified in unleashing a ten-hour-long barrage of impact munitions, chemical weapons, explosive grenades and freezing water on unarmed, nonviolent water protectors. The court decision was deeply flawed and let law enforcement off the hook relying heavily on the doctrine of qualified immunity."

"Despite the disappointing loss, the Water Protector Legal Collective and Cooperating Attorneys on the legal team promised to keep fighting not just in this case, but generally, reaffirming the commitment to supporting the Earth and all those in the climate justice movement who work to defend and protect Her."

"The appeal brief references over 1,700 pages of evidence refuting Morton County’s claims that law enforcement was under attack and had to inflict mass violence to avoid being overrun," attorneys for Water Protectors said.

1968: It Was Fifty Years Ago Today

Art Shay: "Welcome Democrats", Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago, August, 1968

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present “1968: It Was Fifty Years Ago Today”, a major exhibition featuring more than 50 photographs from one of the most tumultuous years in United States history. The exhibition opens Friday, February 2 and will continue through April 15


The year 1968 marked many changes for the United States. It signaled the end of the Kennedy-Johnson presidencies, the pinnacle of the civil rights movement, the beginning of Women's rights and Gay rights, and the beginning of the end of the war in Vietnam. More than that, it meant a change in public attitudes and beliefs. Photojournalism had a dominating role in the shaping of public attitudes at the time. Now, the exhibition comes amid a time of heightened awareness from political, racial, and social tensions.

The year started with the Viet Cong opening the Tet Offensive by attacking major cities of South Vietnam, a move that triggered President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for peace negotiations. Johnny Cash recorded "Live at Folsom Prison", Eddie Adams photographs a Viet Cong officer as he is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. This photograph made headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war. On March 16, the Mai Lai massacre further shocks the nation, and on March 31st, President Lyndon B. Johnson surprised the nation by choosing not to run for reelection. On April 4th, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to riots in Washington, D.C. and other cities. In late April, student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university, only one of many college protests that would unfold across the county.

In June, Robert F. Kennedy, former U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator from New York, was assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination, and Bill Eppridge records a lone busboy trying to comfort Kennedy as he lays sprawled on the kitchen floor of the Ambassador Hotel. In August, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was marred by clashes between Vietnam War protesters and Mayor Daley's police force. At Mexico City's Summer Olympic Games, African American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze medals, then bowed their heads and raised clenched fists during the playing of the U.S. national anthem in protest of U.S. racism. And in November, as the Beatles' "White Album" is released Richard Nixon was elected President with running mate Spiro Agnew, making one of the most extraordinary political comebacks in U.S. history. Finally, in December, Elvis Presley's "1968 Comeback Special" airs on NBC television and Apollo 8 enters orbit around the moon.

In culture, Barbarella, Funny Girl, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Rosemary's Baby, and Yellow Submarine dominate the box office; the Fillmore East opens in New York, Hair opens on Broadway, and "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and "Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones top the music charts.

Gallery Photographer Ryan Vizzions' Receives 2 "Best Photographs of 2017" Mentions

Protesters face off with police in North Dakota by Ryan Vizzions

1 February, 2017. I went to Standing Rock because I felt there wasn’t much mainstream coverage of the Dakota Access pipeline protests taking place there. I saw that photograph coming and I waited for about 15 minutes to get it. I try to mix fine art with photojournalism – I’m really into symmetry and perspective. I was behind the police, looking up at the Native Americans – I think 75 people ended up getting arrested. Since photographing the protests, I’ve kind of been adopted by the Lakota people – they’re like family to me. I hope to help amplify indigenous voices.

Gallery Photographer Ryan Vizzions' photograph from the Standing Rock Protests has received two mentions on the "best" photographs of 2017 lists. The photograph is featured in the Gallery's current exhibit "Life In Winter", on view through January 21, 2018


The Guardian: The Best photographs of 2017 – by the people who shot them
(featuring Gallery Photographer Ryan Vizzions slide #15)


ABC News: Pictures of the Year 2017 (featuring Gallery Photographer Ryan Vizzions slide #16)

See our complete coverage of the International "Best" photographs of 2017 here.

THAT'S ME IN THE PICTURE

Stanley Forman: "The Soiling of Old Glory", 1976

That’s me in the picture: Ted Landsmark is assaulted in Boston, at an ‘anti-bussing’ protest, 5 April 1976 via The Guardian


View this photograph at the AIPAD Photography Show, Monroe gallery of Photography, Booth #119, April 15 - 19 2015

"38 years ago today I won my second Pulitzer. I recently found this clip (I have lots of clips but where they are nobody knows, including me). With the help of my friend Scott Ryder we copied a lot of stuff lately.

It was Marathon Day, April 18, 1977. The Marathon back then began at noon. I raced (by car) back to the finish line at the Prudential Building after covering the start in Hopkinton. The winners would start showing up around 2:10.

The Pulitzers were historically announced the first Monday in May so I had no clue why I was summoned back to the office immediately. It was a very exciting day."  --Stanley Forman

Photojournalist Whitney Curtis awarded First Place in 2014 Domestic News by NPPA

The National Press Photographers Association's Best Of Photojournalism 2015 awards were announced on Tuesday, March 31.

© Whitney Curtis

Rashaad Davis, 23, backs away slowly as St. Louis County police officers approach him with guns drawn and eventually arrest him on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, at the corner of Canfield Drive and West Flroissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. Members of the community took to the streets to protest the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.

In Domestic News,  first place was awarded to Whitney Curtis of The New York Times. Whitney Curtis is now represented by Monroe Gallery of Photography, and several of her momentous images from Ferguson, Missouri will be exhibited during the AIPAD Photography Show April 16 - 19 (Booth #119, Monroe Gallery of Photography). The Gallery will be exhibiting a specially curated collection of Civil Rights photographs from the 1965 Selma march to the present day.

Curtis' photographs will also be featured in the exhibition "Civil Rights from Sema to Ferguson" at Monroe Gallery of Photography July 3 - September 20, 2015.

About Whitney Curtis

Photos that raise awareness, reveal truth, and ask us to pause. Reflect. Photojournalism is how Whitney Curtis tells stories we might have never known otherwise.

As an editorial, corporate, and commercial photographer, Whitney’s goal is simple: show respect to the subject-matter by creating intimate, creative images that illustrate the story.

After graduating with a degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Whitney worked as a staff photojournalist at The Kansas City Star, northern Utah’s Standard-Examiner, and the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. As an editorial photojournalist, Whitney’s work has been honored by The Associated Press, NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, CPoY, and Women in Photojournalism.

Photo: Photojournalist Under Attack

©Thomson Reuters/Yannis Behrakis



Via Photo District News

A Sign of Restive Times: Policeman Punches Photojournalist

Although this image of a Greek police officer punching a news photographer at an Athens street protest was shot last fall, it didn’t come to our attention until yesterday. But the passage of several months makes it no less dramatic or shocking. And it remains timely for what it represents: the tensions between police and media all over the world, including the US, where Occupy protests show signs of stirring once again. In this image, shot by Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis, a police officer punches veteran photojournalist Tatiana Bolari, co-owner of the Greek photo agency Eurokinisi. The incident occurred at an anti-austerity protest on October 5 when police moved against a group of photographers and journalists covering the event, Behrakis told PDN.

Related: Freedon of the Press?

"You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

This is not a good story to start 2012 with: "The Rules on News Coverage Are Clear, but the Police Keep Pushing". See related with new update at end of scroll.

Via The New York Times:
January 2, 2012

In late November, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, ordered every precinct in his domain to read a statement. Officers, the commissioner said, must “respect the public’s right to know about these events and the media’s right of access to report.”

Any officer who “unreasonably interferes” with reporters or blocks photographers will be subject to disciplinary actions.

These are fine words. Of course, his words followed on the heels of a few days in mid-November when the police arrested, punched, kicked and used metal barriers to ram reporters and photographers covering the Occupy Wall Street protests.

And recent events suggest that the commissioner should speak more loudly. Ryan Devereaux, a reporter, serves as Exhibit 1A that all is not well.

On Dec. 17, Mr. Devereaux covered a demonstration at Duarte Square on Canal Street for “Democracy Now!,” a news program carried on 1,000 stations. Ragamuffin demonstrators surged and the police pushed back. A linebacker-size officer grabbed the collar of Mr. Devereaux, who wore an ID identifying him as a reporter. The cop jammed a fist into his throat, turning Mr. Devereaux into a de facto battering ram to push back protesters.

“I yelled, ‘I’m a journalist!’ and he kept shoving his fist and yelling to his men, ‘Push, boys!’ ”

Eventually, with curses and threats to arrest Mr. Devereaux, the officer relaxed his grip.

You don’t have to take his word. An Associated Press photograph shows this uniformed fellow grinding a meat-hook fist into the larynx of Mr. Devereaux, who is about 5 feet 5 inches. A video, easily found online, shows an officer blocking a photographer for The New York Times at the World Financial Center, jumping to put his face in front of the camera as demonstrators are arrested in the background.

And three nights ago, at a New Year’s Eve demonstration at Zuccotti Park, a captain began pushing Colin Moynihan, a reporter covering the protest for The Times. After the reporter asked the captain to stop, another officer threatened to yank away his police press pass. “That’s a boss; you do what a boss tells you,” the officer said, adding a little later, “You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

Reporting and policing can be high-adrenaline jobs. . But the decade-long trajectory in New York is toward expanded police power. Officers routinely infiltrate groups engaged in lawful dissent, spy on churches and mosques, and often toss demonstrators and reporters around with impunity.

When this is challenged, the police commissioner and the mayor often shrug it off and fight court orders. The mayor even argued that to let the press watch the police retake Zuccotti Park would be to violate the privacy of protesters. “It wouldn’t be fair,” he said.

As arguments go, this is perversely counterintuitive. But the mayor’s words reflect, as State Senator Eric Adams, the civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel and two others wrote in a recent letter to the commissioner, a misunderstanding of long-established patrol guide procedures. The regulations are clear:

“The media will be given access as close to the activity as possible, with a clear line of sight and within hearing range of the incident.”

Precisely the opposite occurred on Nov. 15, when police officers herded reporters into a pen out of sight and sound of Zuccotti Park.

The next day, the protesters moved north and briefly occupied a lot owned by Trinity Church. As the police closed in on demonstrators, they also handcuffed and arrested Associated Press and Daily News reporters. Mayoral press representatives stoutly insisted that the police acted properly. “It is impossible to say the reporters were not breaking the law,” a spokesman wrote to me.
Let me venture into the world of the impossible then. The police patrolmen’s guide is explicit. “Members of the media,” it states, “will not be arrested for criminal trespass unless an owner expressly indicates ... that the press is not to be permitted.”

I checked with the landlord, Trinity Church. They’d made no such call. Paul J. Browne, a deputy police commissioner, agreed. That is why, he noted in an e-mail, “The reporter arrests at Duarte were voided.”

Senator Adams retired as a police captain. He loved the blue and all it implied, and acknowledges he was not above cursing the laws that restrained him.

“Who wouldn’t like unlimited power?” he said.

That is precisely why the past decade worries him so. “If the police and the mayor won’t follow their own rules, whose rules will they follow?” he says. “And very few people ask any questions.”
New York, Mr. Adams says, “is leading the way in not wanting to know where it’s going.”

E-mail: powellm@nytimes.com
Twitter: @powellnyt

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