Citizen captures police act of racism on camera phone

A blatant act of racism by the Portland police was snapped by a "citizen reporter" armed with a camera phone. The story and the photos were published in the Portland Tribune and broadcasted on television.

"Police offers parked their car outside Ringlers restaurant with a stuffed gorilla attached to the car's grill last Tuesday night, - where a largely black crowd had gathered for a weekly hip-hop show hosted by disc jockey Mello Cee.

"This is the kind of thing you expect to see in the South, like a Confederate flag. They might as well paint their faces black with white lips,” said Mello Cee.

"Resident Calvin Washington who said he took the photos around 1 a.m. last Tuesday morning outside Ringlers restaurant at 1332 W. Burnside St. Washington said when he realized what was happening, he grabbed his cell phone camera and walked outside to take pictures. “I went out and flicked a few pics. The police couldn't tell what I was doing because I had the phone in my hand. They couldn't tell what it was,” he said."

The Portland Tribune published a follow-up article on Friday, questioning whether the "incident may have launched the age of technological vigilantism in Portland".

For anyone following the social impact of camera phones, this was a story just waiting to happen and brings to mind the Rodney King beating, videotaped by an amateur. Citizens as camera phone reporters are sure to play an increasing role in news reporting. Or as Jeff Jarvis so aptly put it a while back;  "Mobile cameras will be extraordinary tools for witnesses to capture events with more immediacy than news organizations can provide".

emily | 3:25 PM | Citizens as Camera Phone Reporters |
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