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A BuzzFlash News Alert: The FBI's House Calls
The FBI's House Calls
Emil Guillermo, Special to SF Gate
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
©2001 SF Gate
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2001/12/18/eguillermo.DTL
If you want to know how strange it's getting in
America, talk to Barry Reingold.
Reingold is a 60-year-old retired phone-company
worker from the Bay Area who's old enough to withdraw
from his IRA without penalty.
His parents are Jewish. But Reingold prefers to be
known as your basic, average American.
Reingold works out every day at a gym in San
Francisco, and has done so for the last six years.
Since Sept. 11, he's been exercising not only his
muscles but also his right to free speech. Reingold
recalls conversations he's had with people in the
weight room about the war.
"It gets pretty heated," he told me over the phone
last week. "People say what dogs those terrorists
are. But I've said, 'Look at what a dog George Bush
is.'"
That's not exactly a popular position to take these
days.
"Look at all the hundreds of thousands of workers
being laid off in the United States," Reingold
continued. "This war is not just about getting
terrorists. It's also about money and corporate oil
profits."
Ahem. This is the kind of talk that gets people's
heartbeats racing even without a Stairmaster.
"People question my loyalty," Reingold continued.
"They say, 'You don't support America.' And I say,
'Sure I do. I work here. I was born here. I pay
taxes. I just have a problem with the ruling class.'"
Reingold's not sure, but he's next to positive that
his First Amendment workout got him a visitation from
the FBI.
The FBI, you will recall, has begun knocking on the
doors of an estimated 85 people in the Bay Area who
are among 5,000 in the nation singled out as
"potential witnesses." They are men ages 18-33 who
possess visas and passports from Arab and Muslim
countries where there are known Al Qaeda operatives.
As it turns out, the list of 5,000 is a much smaller
subset of an even larger group of people being
interviewed. From Sept. 11 to November alone, the FBI
received more than 435,000 tips.
And, as Reingold found out, you don't have to be Arab
or Muslim to get nominated for a house call.
"I have a speaker downstairs in my apartment building
to let people in," Reingold said. "One afternoon,
someone buzzes. And I said, 'Who's there?' And they
say, 'The FBI.' And I'm thinking, 'Why is the FBI
here?'"
He buzzed them into the building and met them in the
hallway. There were two young men, one white, one
black, apparently in their 20s. Reingold asked them
for ID, and the two flashed him their badges.
"And so I asked them what this was all about,"
Reingold recalled. "And they asked me if I was a
member of the gym [in San Francisco]. And I said yes.
"And then they said someone in the gym had reported
that I had been talking about terrorism and Sept. 11,
oil profits, capitalism and Afghanistan," Reingold
said. "And I said, 'Oh, really.'"
Reingold didn't think about calling a lawyer. "At the
time, I was sort of shaken up," he admitted to me.
"If I were in my right mind, I probably would have
met them outside the building, where I could have
witnesses for all to see this. Or at least have
pencil and paper to take the agents' names and
notes."
But he didn't.
"And then the FBI guy said, 'You know you have the
right to freedom of speech,'" Reingold recalled. "And
I said, 'Yes, I know I do, don't I? And that's the
end of the conversation. I don't wish to talk to you
any further.'"
What did they say to that?
"That they had to write a report," said Reingold.
"And I said, 'I'm sorry.' And they said, 'But we
really have to write a report.' At that point I just
closed the door, and that was it."
The agents didn't force the issue, nor were they
coercive. But Reingold was bothered and upset. Here
he was, just a regular guy expressing his opinion.
You know, one of those freedoms we are supposedly
defending in the war.
Reingold confronted the gym about his privacy having
been violated, but the gym manager at the 24 Hour
Fitness Center on Folsom Street in San Francisco
never officially responded. When I called the club,
manager Chris Robinson responded to inquiries with a
chilly, "No comment." Calls were also placed to the
FBI, but were unreturned.
The only thing Reingold has done to date is file an
affadavit with an attorney to commemorate the FBI
visitation. It wasn't until then that he understood
the true nature of what had happened to him.
"It's like we're becoming a police state," Reingold
said.
Reingold firmly believes that had he been Arab or
Muslim, it would have been much worse for him. He's
certain he would have been taken in for more vigorous
questioning, maybe even jailed. Then, he said, he'd
have to decide which was worse, fascism or racism.
Reingold isn't sure what recourse he has now, if any.
But at the very least, his story should serve as a
cautionary tale for those concerned about what's
happening on the domestic front in this war on
terror.
Lucas Gutentag of the National ACLU's Immigrant
Rights Project believes most people aren't concerned
about what's going on with internal security in this
nation because they're under the impression that the
FBI is targeting and profiling mainly noncitizens.
"It camouflages the full effects of the [Justice
Department's] policies because [citizens] don't feel
directly affected, " Gutentag said. "But the
principles the government is relying on result in the
same kind of practices against everyone."
If you don't think it can happen to you in America,
just ask Barry Reingold, an average American with a
strong opinion.
Emil Guillermo's book, "Amok," won an American Book
Award 2000. He hosts "NCM-TV: New California Media,"
seen on PBS stations in San Francisco and Los
Angeles. Email him at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
©2001 SF Gate
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2001/12/18/eguillermo.DTL
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