many huddles to come to fruition. Park permits, restrictions, and at one point even New York City’s Police Commissioner Kelly deemed the use of the suitcases as a security threat, which only gave further mandate that this exhibition was very necessary.

The project spearheads created twenty custom designed suitcases echoing the now infamous color coated warning system; red, orange, and yellow. They were carried by a group of artist volunteers including myself. We were assigned a choreographed walking pattern that was created by Ann Robideaux. We would snake around the Columbus Park past Metropolitan Detention Center, where the currently pending Turkman v. Ashcroft lawsuit is pending, and continue pass the Brooklyn Supreme Court Building. We were armed with fact cards which proposed true or false scenarios questions such as: Special Registration has been an effective means of finding terrorists; do immigrants serve in the United States armed forces? As a participant I had the opportunity

intergrated part of our common U.S. History. “Initially I wanted to raise awareness about the currently discriminatory U.S. immigration policy and draw attention to the detainee cases as well as how then as the project progressed I realized this was an opportunity to provide immigrants with access to information and resources, and to show solidarity.

Ms. Svetvilas believes there is potential for this project to literally travel to other sites both home and abroad where it can be re-conceptualized based on those communities or organizations specific needs. “Unfortunately, says the artist, Suitcases on Tour will continue to be relevant.”

Regardless of where you stand, newly categorized as either a red or a blue state- Our jobs as citizens of a free nation is to question and guide the law of this land. The goal of a democratic society as a whole is to uphold and guarantee its long-standing tradition of personal freedoms bonded to its citizenry by our constitutional rights. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part, and often the leading role, in a number of operations. It has raised many eyebrows to that very bond which many Americans hold so dear. Several

passages seem to make ordinary citizens and their routine actions into susceptible criminals and subject them to scrutiny by the government.

Suitcases on Tour, an installation and performance project conceived by Chanika Svetvilas, resident artist of Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn, attempts to address the underlying paranoia and suspicion associated with unattended luggage in a time of heightened security and focuses on the action of travel; citizen verses visitor and immigrant. The project underwent

to speak with many people that were witness to the exhibition. I thought a concrete way to get immediate feedback would be to ask unassuming Brooklynites whatthey believed was true and false about these questions. It was surprising to hear some of the answers…

Most of the people I spoke with were very adamant that it is an absurd policy that will not aid in any substantial way, and feared having their rights taken away. However one gentleman, 40 years old from Yemen and currently living on Fulton Street, revealed to me that he believed that Special Registrtion is an effective way of finding terrorists.

I dug a little further and asked him if he understood that he, himself, would have to register under this new law. He quickly became defensive. “It is for suspected criminals, not good working people,” he stated at a near fervorous pitch. While I understood his comment, I do not believe that if left up to its own devices that the government would make such differentiations among individuals. Another male Brooklyn resident from the Dominican Republic somewhat shared this sentiment. He said that “if all people were required to register, including Americans, than maybe it would help. At least it would seem just, but the way it is set up now it would just be profiling and very stereotypical.”

Visitors and passersby were invited to stop by a temporary mobile “immigration booth” created and manned by Miguel Baltierra and Shahaan Azeem. At the booth they would verify and stamp your “visa” which stood to highlight the relativity of security alerts (or threats) have become a part of our daily lives, but borders and the very institution of free assembly. You would also be fingerprinted and read your rights that were outlined in ACLU’s Know Your Rights pamphlet and the AALDEF’s Special Registration Report.

I asked Ms. Svetvilas what she hoped Suitcases on Tour would accomplish. She, like countless other Americans, is from an immigrant family and wanted to reflect on how immigrant communities are an