papers please

22 Nov 2005

Via Hit&Run I learned about the case of Deborah Davis:

According to her Web site, Davis was riding to work on September 26 when a guard boarded the bus at the complex and asked for her ID. She refused to comply, arguing that she had no legal obligation to carry ID, let alone present it on command. The guard disagreed, and so did the two other officers he summoned, who eventually dragged her off the bus and handcuffed her.

Would you sit quietly upon witnessing something like this? Would you protest? I like to think I would, but I recognize that I probably wouldn’t. I’d probably sit, quietly stewing, like much of the still-free-thinking populace of this country is doing while watching its creeping descent into fascism. Davis’ website lays out the case as follows:

Deborah Davis’ case is about one thing: the right to travel.

The reason why she was charged has absolutely nothing to do with security. The guard at the Denver Federal Center wasn’t checking IDs against a “no ride” list: there is no such thing. The demands made against Deb Davis were nothing more than a compliance test, a demand that she kowtow to officialdom. And lest we forget, having to show your ID is a search without a warrant….[The case will] determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show ‘papers’ whenever a cop demands them.

Welcome to the wonderful new frontier of freedom that the “war on terror” has won us.