IN AN EGREGIOUS violation of press freedoms and First Amendment-protected activity, a New York City video journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday for allegedly being present during and documenting a pro-Palestine protest action.
According to the charges, Sam Seligson, a credentialed independent videographer, filmed a small group of people last June graffitiing the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director, president, and two other museum officials with pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist slogans.
Spray-painted messages and banners hung on the properties accused the museum leaders of complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. A week prior, the museum had called in police to mass arrest protesters who had assembled inside its building to demand divestment from holdings related to Israel’s war.
No one is suggesting that graffitiing private property is legal under New York law. Seligson is not accused of spray-painting or vandalizing any property. He is nonetheless facing charges for criminal mischief enhanced as a felony hate crime; one other person alleged to have driven participants to and from the executives’ homes is also facing criminal mischief hate crime charges. The police are still looking for four alleged participants.
As cops love to say, you can beat the charges, but you can’t beat the ride. These charges likely won’t stick, and he’ll be sent on his way, but the effect of this attempt is clear. They want everyone who supports a free Palestine to be looking over their shoulder, wondering if they’ll be swept up with trumped-up charges just like this journalist. It’s how they “legally” suppress you.