An Open Message to Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02[Music]
2. 0:09hello chief haddad my name is david wood
3. 0:12you might remember me as the christian
4. 0:14whose constitutional rights were
5. 0:16repeatedly violated at the dearborn arab
6. 0:18festival
7. 0:20wait i'm not being specific enough am i
8. 0:22dozens of christians had their rights
9. 0:23violated at the arab festival
10. 0:26all right i'm the christian who was
11. 0:27arrested while standing on a public
12. 0:29street recording a peaceful dialogue
13. 0:33i'm sorry that's not clear enough either
14. 0:35is it there were three christians
15. 0:36arrested while standing on a public
16. 0:38street recording a peaceful dialogue
17. 0:40this was in addition to our friend
18. 0:41nabeel who was arrested while
19. 0:43proclaiming his love for a group of
20. 0:44muslims who were insulting and
21. 0:45threatening him
22. 0:47all right i'm the six foot three white
23. 0:49guy who was arrested who was arrested
24. 0:52whose camera and equipment were
25. 0:54illegally seized and who was thrown in
26. 0:55jail on a false charge as punishment and
27. 0:58retribution for resisting your attempts
28. 1:00to establish a real law in dearborn
29. 1:03hope that's clear enough
30. 1:05normally i'd rather talk to someone face
31. 1:07to face the problem in this case is that
32. 1:09i don't trust you at all people in your
33. 1:12department including you have lied to us
34. 1:14and you have no respect for the civil
35. 1:16rights of non-muslims
36. 1:18this makes it a bit difficult to sit
37. 1:20down with you for all i know you won't
38. 1:21like something i say and then you'll use
39. 1:23your position as chief of police to have
40. 1:25me tossed in yet another jail sale on
41. 1:27yet another false charge
42. 1:29and since i know that if i were to bring
43. 1:31a camera along you just have your sharia
44. 1:33task force illegally strong arm it from
45. 1:35me again
46. 1:36i figured it would be best if i say what
47. 1:38i need to say in a video far far away
48. 1:40from the long arm of the stf
49. 1:44chief haddad
50. 1:46you have our three video cameras as well
51. 1:48as several of our microphones camera
52. 1:50bags cables adapters etc not to mention
53. 1:54my pocket new testament assuming you
54. 1:56haven't ripped it to shreds as you've
55. 1:57already done with the bill of rights
56. 2:00by now you know what's on those cameras
57. 2:03you know that nabeel in the midst of
58. 2:05sharing his faith was walking around
59. 2:06with a wireless handheld microphone
60. 2:09interviewing people who came up to him
61. 2:11what's that called that's called
62. 2:13journalism good
63. 2:15we were going to use that footage for
64. 2:17youtube for our blog and for a tv show
65. 2:20that i do on abn
66. 2:22now i might be inclined to give you the
67. 2:24benefit of the doubt and say well maybe
68. 2:26chief adot isn't aware of the fact that
69. 2:27it's illegal for him to seize the
70. 2:29cameras of journalists
71. 2:31but i can't say that about you because
72. 2:33two weeks ago the thomas more law center
73. 2:35faxed you a letter informing you that it
74. 2:37was illegal for you to seize our cameras
75. 2:40and yet you haven't responded nor have
76. 2:42you returned our cameras
77. 2:44the question is why why would you
78. 2:46trample on the us constitution by
79. 2:48refusing to give back our property
80. 2:50this may seem like an odd question after
81. 2:52you unlawfully arrested us took away our
82. 2:54freedom of speech illegally confiscated
83. 2:56our property violated our right to
84. 2:59freedom of the press and obliterated the
85. 3:01free expression of our religion
86. 3:03in other words since you've already
87. 3:05violated our rights in almost every way
88. 3:06imaginable why would it be surprising
89. 3:09that you're violating them further by
90. 3:10not returning our cameras
91. 3:13well i think your refusal to respect our
92. 3:17right to our own video footage says a
93. 3:18lot about your motives
94. 3:20i'm sure you've been following the news
95. 3:21stories about the violation of our
96. 3:23rights some people are saying that we
97. 3:24were harassing muslims that we were
98. 3:27tormenting children that we were
99. 3:29preaching fire and brimstone that we
100. 3:30were trying to cause a scene that police
101. 3:33officers ordered us to leave and that in
102. 3:35a stubborn act of defiance we refused
103. 3:40now since you've seen the footage you
104. 3:41know that all of this is sheer deception
105. 3:44i'll focus on these distortions and
106. 3:47outright lies in a separate video but
107. 3:49what i'd like to ask you for not as this
108. 3:52why is it that people are able to
109. 3:54continue circulating lies about our
110. 3:56ministry when there's video footage
111. 3:58proving that these men are lying
112. 4:02they're able to spread deception about
113. 4:04us they're able to drag our reputations
114. 4:06through the mud because you took away
115. 4:08our constitutionally protected video
116. 4:10footage that we would have used to show
117. 4:12people what really happened at the
118. 4:13festival
119. 4:15so you haven't just violated our
120. 4:16constitutional rights and having a half
121. 4:18a dozen or so ways you've also actively
122. 4:21enabled those who hate and despise us to
123. 4:23spread lies about us and there's nothing
124. 4:25we can do about these lies because
125. 4:26you've got the truth locked up inside
126. 4:28that impenetrable fortress of oppression
127. 4:30and intolerance known as the dearborn
128. 4:32police department
129. 4:34the truth would have been circulating on
130. 4:35news programs and youtube videos long
131. 4:37ago if only you hadn't decided to
132. 4:40declare war on both christianity and
133. 4:42america itself
134. 4:45you know what's on those cameras chief
135. 4:47haddad and you know that practically
136. 4:49everything our critics are saying about
137. 4:51us is patent nonsense
138. 4:53and so it seems that the reason you're
139. 4:55refusing to return our cameras is that
140. 4:56you want people to lie about us
141. 4:59in which case your hatred of christians
142. 5:01your contempt for our right our rights
143. 5:03and your corruption are all the more
144. 5:05evident
145. 5:07chief add i know that the footage on
146. 5:09those cameras is going to embarrass your
147. 5:11department when people see what really
148. 5:12happened at our arrest
149. 5:14many people are going to be exposed as
150. 5:16liars when the world sees nabil qureshi
151. 5:18peacefully sharing his beliefs with
152. 5:20muslims who approached him and the rest
153. 5:23of us calmly recording the exchange
154. 5:25that's not the version of events you
155. 5:27want circulating but that's what
156. 5:29actually happened
157. 5:30you know it and i know it
158. 5:33but i want america to know it
159. 5:36everyone's telling me of course that
160. 5:37you're not going to allow it that you're
161. 5:39going to erase the footage or that the
162. 5:42cameras are going to mysteriously
163. 5:43disappear just as the civil rights of
164. 5:45christians mysteriously disappeared the
165. 5:47moment you became chief of police
166. 5:51that certainly wouldn't surprise me
167. 5:52given what i've seen from your
168. 5:53department so i don't know what to
169. 5:55expect but i can say that it's not going
170. 5:57to look good and no one's going to be
171. 5:58fooled if you erase our footage
172. 6:01so if it's not too much trouble
173. 6:03you'd like a property back property
174. 6:05which let's face it you've stolen from
175. 6:07us
176. 6:10if possible i'd also like the footage
177. 6:11from the security cameras in the police
178. 6:13department when you are booking us
179. 6:15i think the footage will help us expose
180. 6:17the bias of the dearborn pd
181. 6:19for instance i've heard that when your
182. 6:21officers forced nagin to take off her
183. 6:23long-sleeve shirt and stripped down to
184. 6:25her tank top in front of the male police
185. 6:27officers who were present one of them
186. 6:28said
187. 6:29let's get this beautiful girl into a
188. 6:31nice cell
189. 6:33then he said step over here so we can
190. 6:35get a look at you
191. 6:38now i'm willing to interpret this for
192. 6:39the moment in the most innocent manner
193. 6:42imaginable
194. 6:44but i'd like to ask you this
195. 6:46would your officers have treated an 18
196. 6:48year old muslim girl like that
197. 6:52would they have forced her to strip down
198. 6:53to a tank top in front of male officers
199. 6:55and would they have made comments about
200. 6:57her beauty and about getting a better
201. 6:58look at her
202. 7:00of course not
203. 7:02they wouldn't dare why
204. 7:05because this is dearborn and there are
205. 7:06two sets of rules one for muslims and
206. 7:08one for everyone else
207. 7:12what i'd like to see from the dearborn
208. 7:13police department is equal treatment
209. 7:15under the law
210. 7:16at last year's arab festival muslim
211. 7:18security guards physically assaulted us
212. 7:19they even physically assaulted our
213. 7:21friend mary jo while one of them
214. 7:23confidently declared that like you he
215. 7:25doesn't care what our rights as american
216. 7:26citizens are
217. 7:29remind me how many of those security
218. 7:30guards were hauled off in handcuffs
219. 7:33none right
220. 7:34despite the fact that we had the attacks
221. 7:37on camera
222. 7:38and yet i was arrested this year
223. 7:40apparently as revenge for publicizing
224. 7:42the attacks last year
225. 7:44i didn't assault anyone i didn't insult
226. 7:46anyone i didn't do anything wrong
227. 7:48neither did nabeel or paul or negin
228. 7:53why the double standards chief
229. 7:56how come a muslim won't get arrested for
230. 7:58physically assaulting a christian woman
231. 8:00but a christian woman will go to jail
232. 8:02for holding a camera on a public street
233. 8:07the reason srifad is you
234. 8:09as far as i'm concerned if you're going
235. 8:10to use your position and authority to
236. 8:12persecute a press and
237. 8:15subjugate members of any religion you
238. 8:16don't qualify for male security let
239. 8:18alone chief of police
240. 8:20and so i hope that for once you'll do
241. 8:22the right thing
242. 8:23i invite you to return the cameras that
243. 8:26you illegally seized i also invite you
244. 8:28to take full responsibility for your
245. 8:30department's oppression of christians
246. 8:33and to resign from your position as
247. 8:35chief of police
248. 8:36not only because of your complete
249. 8:38disregard for the constitutional rights
250. 8:40of non-muslims but also because you have
251. 8:42no concern for the reputations of the
252. 8:43officers under you
253. 8:45you send them out to persecute
254. 8:47christians and some of them don't want
255. 8:48to persecute christians how do i know
256. 8:50some of them told us
257. 8:52and yet they have to follow your orders
258. 8:56but when i put up a video showing them
259. 8:58harassing christians for handing out
260. 8:59bibles or arresting people for having a
261. 9:02peaceful discussion
262. 9:03they're the ones who look bad
263. 9:05all because they're taking orders from
264. 9:06you
265. 9:08so you're throwing your fellow officers
266. 9:11under the bus and you don't seem to care
267. 9:12as long as you get to continue your
268. 9:14campaign of reducing christians
269. 9:17to demi status
270. 9:20your officers also know that you refuse
271. 9:22to get back our stolen property because
272. 9:23you're trying to avoid the consequences
273. 9:25of your illegal activities
274. 9:28they know you're corrupt
275. 9:30and i have no clue how you can hold your
276. 9:32head high among them you have no
277. 9:34business being a role model for other
278. 9:36police officers chief well not in
279. 9:37america i think you'd fit right in at a
280. 9:39police station in say iran
281. 9:41which seems to be the template for your
282. 9:43work in dearborn
283. 9:46finally based on your irrational hatred
284. 9:48of christians a hatred which causes you
285. 9:50to lose all concept of right and wrong
286. 9:52whenever someone so much as thinks of
287. 9:54handing out a gospel tract
288. 9:56i'd recommend some professional help or
289. 9:58at the very least some anger management
290. 9:59classes
291. 10:01better yet you might want to read one of
292. 10:02the copies of the gospel of john my
293. 10:04friends tried to distribute outside the
294. 10:05festival before being surrounded by
295. 10:07eight members of your sharia task force
296. 10:10we have plenty of copies left over since
297. 10:12you took away our constitutional right
298. 10:14to hand them out
299. 10:15i'd be happy to give one to you and to
300. 10:18everyone in your department i think
301. 10:20you'll find that the gospel isn't nearly
302. 10:21as frightening as you're making it out
303. 10:22to be
304. 10:23certainly isn't something that should be
305. 10:25censored by the government
306. 10:27on a public street in the united
307. 10:31see you in st chief
308. 10:36[Music]