(photo ripped off Fernandez Lab's website)

Arun Wiita was photographing the NYC subway rails for his 10-day summer project. While on 207th St and 10th Ave, an NYPD officer stopped and asked him what he was doing. Listening to Wiita's explanation, the officers then asked to see the photos and some ID. Wiita complied by presenting the photos, a New Jersey driver's license and a Columbia University ID.

According to Wiita on Gothamist, "[the officer] said that since I didn't have a NY State ID he couldn't run my information over the radio, and he would have to take me into the station at 145th St to check it out "in front of his peers". He then asked me to turn around and put my hands behind my back and then he handcuffed me." Wiita was detained for 30 minutes.

According to Metro, "police sources said officers question people photographing the city’s rail infrastructure on rare occasions, citing instances in which law enforcement officials have identified men taking photographs of city bridges and subways as Iranian intelligence agents and suspected Pakistani terrorists who were stopped by police while taking pictures of the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges."

I Google stalked Wiita, finding out that he works at the Fernandez Lab and hopes to receive his MD/PhD by 2009. The dude's now working with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in filing a lawsuit against the NYPD, who he believes detained him for his "South Asian or Middle Eastern appearance".

Laura, our Social Chair who sent us the articles, made this comment: funny how the cops didn't even take up his columbia ID or call the school to verify or anything of that nature..? even though i bet he could check an out-of-state id. MMMM, (channeling phil yu) thats racist!

But after the last run-in with the NYPD, how can we be surprised?

Last weekend, one of our Blaaag staffers / NAASCon Co-Chairs told us that she's working on a complaint to send to the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board for consideration. Why? Because AAA believes that the student's mistreatment by the two NYPD officers definitely deserves "a fair investigation".

Thousands of complaints are filed to CCRB every day, so the only way to strengthen the complaint is to track down witnesses at the scene and confirm rumors that point to a racial bias.

The project is currently under way, but we have not kept in close touch with the involved student (who doesn't seem to return messages). Therefore, the project may shut down if s/he wishes it for the sake of his privacy

(Note: a court hearing was held last month; we don't know what the decision was).

At least things are still happening!

Check out this documentary premiering Nov. 10th at the Queens Film Festival. Tea & Justice is about Asian American women in the NYPD, breaking stereotypes and changing the field of law enforcement in this city. Looks fantastic.

[Update 1:03pm: The student, his friends, and Dean Nair didn't show; I left early, but maybe the other present members (three of which are Blaaagers) can show some more insight.]

Looking at the racial hate crimes that have happened since, it's been a long time since anyone's heard about the confrontation between the NYPD and the SEAS student. Many concerned members of AAA have been scrambling to pull stuff together concerning everything else that's happened (and, quoting David, "administrative red tape is a pain in the ass"); consequently, little progress was made.

But maybe today will break the silence.

At 10am today, five members of AAA & AAA PC will be in Lerner to meet with the said student, his two friends, Columbia Public Safety, Dean Colombo, Dean Nair, and Dean Schollenberger to discuss the larger issue of racial bias within the NYPD, determine the next line of action, and hopefully take those steps so that we can improve the campus community.

The meeting is a closed event, but feel free to gather outside.

It's been a while... after seeing news about this incident totally silenced by Ahmadinejad's arrival on campus, it's time we relight the fire.

AAA's angles of approach in this incident are currently as follows:

• We are speaking to administrators (specifically, of student life and of multicultural affairs) within Columbia in the aim of engaging NYPD Public Relations.
• These administrators are also speaking to the student in the midst of this confrontation, letting him know of his rights and consulting with him on further action.
  
• Hoping to get our hands on a police report of the incident, we also plan on informing the police department that their actions could be grounds for lawsuit. We are to receive legal consultation from our contacts in Asian American legal defense before we proceed in this manner.

All of this is contingent on this student's willingness to pursue action for this incident. While we do not wish to speak on his behalf, AAA is willing to provide him necessary resources (legal contacts, etc.) for justice in the face of this racial confrontation. In the meanwhile, we hope that all of you following the case is sensitive to his need for privacy as we participate in discussion and consultation with the student, university administrators, and legal advocates.

In addition, we have heard that this incident is part of a chain of racially charged confrontations with the NYPD in Morningside Heights. Currently, this is still anecdotal rumor - we are waiting on a current Spectator investigative piece before we pursue this angle.

Stay tuned. We won't let this pass unconsidered.

We, the Columbia University Asian American Alliance (AAA), acknowledge that on Friday, September 14th an incident occurred on 114th street and Broadway between officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and an Asian American student. Many accounts – including Monday's Columbia Spectator article (http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26717) – point to evidence of excessive force and racial bias among the officers of the NYPD against the student.

If the details concerning the police's racial overtones and the excessive use of force are true, we condemn this abuse of authority by the NYPD officers present.

Furthermore, if racial discrimination was indeed committed by those officers, AAA will take the necessary steps to move towards dialogue and action that will make these issues clear to the student body and general public.

Finally, we acknowledge that this incident may represent a larger problem within the NYPD and its treatment of people of color in New York City. In response to this, AAA would like to mobilize with other groups in the NYC area and student organizations on
campus to take measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

AAA recognizes that the student involved in this incident clearly violated New York State's zero-tolerance policy of drinking in public. However, AAA believes that regardless of the crime, the NYPD should not under any circumstances practice racial bias or excessive use of force.

The incident referred to in the Bwog-comment post has indeed been verified. The Spectator is about to write an article about it, but we'll update you as soon as we can on anything we know. The Asian American Alliance is getting to the bottom of this very racial police confrontation.

In solidarity.