| ||||||||||||||
SPEAKING OUT:Free Speech Zones In the USA?
On Friday morning, May 21st, 2004, during a visit to my city by President George W. Bush, I learned what it means to live in a country when "free speech" means something entirely different if you don`t happen to agree with what your President, and/or his cabinet, have done in your name. On this day, all good "pro-Bush" citizens in Baton Rouge, Louisiana got to stand along the curbside of Dalrymple Drive in hopes of catching a glimpse of the most powerful man on Earth, as he rode by them on his way to speak to the graduates at LSU. "Superman at LSU," you ask? Not exactly, but President Bush was here. Now, having a sitting President visit is normally quite an honor in itself, kind-of, but Bush`s fans on Dalrymple Drive just didn`t have any good luck that day. The President chose a different route leading to the Assembly Center, and so the Bush fans went along their merry way without having caught a glimpse of their leader. I, on the other hand, an old ex-Infantry veteran from long ago, was forced to stand 100 feet from Dalrymple Drive, in the direct Louisiana summer sun, hidden behind some of the beautiful giant oak trees growing alongside Dalrymple Drive at Highland Road, even though I had planned, with several other groups, to protest along the curbside on Dalrymple Drive. But because I was not "pro-Bush", and because I carried a sign, I wasn`t allowed to do what I planned. A sign of protest? How devious! How DANGEROUS! It`s enough to suspend the Bill Of Rights, right? WRONG!
At LSU on Friday, May 21st, "Free Speech," as designated by law, was only to be allowed for "anti-war" citizens that were willing to stand in a roped-off 35 foot square, 100 feet from the road. My sign said "Veterans For Peace, No WAR" on one side, and "The DUBYA--M-D's ARE IN THE WHITE HOUSE" on the other. Not exactly controversial. Not exactly threatening. It just said that I`m against this Iraq "war," and I don`t like this President. I have been against this war since way before it even started, and I will be that way until the last U.S. soldier is home from there. We had a legal permit to demonstrate against this war and President Bush, a permit from the Secret Service, as enforced by the LSU police. When our group of demonstrators arrived on Dalrymple Drive that morning to protest this visit, an LSU policeman told us that we had to stand in a 35-foot fenced-in square, exactly 100` from Dalrymple Drive, for "security" reasons, under the threat of arrest if we didn't. We refused to stand in that thing, but we did not get arrested. (It would have been funny if all the protestors had stood in the little square and said "MOO" over and over, like cattle do.) Directly across the street from the "free speech zone," about 25 "pro-Bush" citizens stood along the curb and waited for the President. I was selected as spokesman for our group, so I asked the LSU police Sarge, "Why can those people stand along the curb but we can`t?" The Sarge said, and I quote, "Because they are pro-Bush, and they don`t have signs".... damn, it was my sign's fault! At the end of the demonstration some of us demonstrators entered the little roped-off square, pulled up the stakes holding it in place, and proceeded to walk all around the Parade Grounds of LSU, inside the world's first government-issued "Moving Free Speech Zone." FOX News filmed it, and they even showed us marching around in our captured "free speech zone" on New Orleans TV. So let me get this straight--and also let me present this to you, and you decide what is wrong with this picture. If you are "pro-Bush," you need no permit to stand along the edge of the road, and no security is necessary if you decide that you want to get as close to the President as you can. The police checked none of them, asked them for no permits, and allowed those people to line the street within only inches of where the President would be riding. So if I were a terrorist or an assassin trying to "hit" our President, all I would have needed to do in order to get only inches away from him, would have been to say nothing, get no permit, and carry no sign. I just don`t get it. Do you get it? Did I mention that a lot of men and women have died in war thinking that their sacrifice would guarantee that something like this would never happen to me or you in the United States of America? Maybe if our "War President" had shown up when it was his turn to fight in a war, this wouldn`t have happened to us when he did show up somewhere, like here in Baton Rouge on May 21, 2004. Nice of you to show up George. At least it was nice if you were a "pro-Bush-non-sign-carrying-pro-war" type. Please don`t come back here. You could have been a world hero, instead of being a world criminal, at least in my eyes. Could have, but never more.
The Infantry wasn`t too bad for me...I`m here. At least I can still write about "free speech," even if I can`t practice it. Peace George, from Baton Rouge. Stop the war, and bring the troops home now. Ward Reilly, of Baton Rouge, La., is a member of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Copyright © 2004 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on May 27, 2004. |
Local Stories, Events
Ref. : Civic Events Ref. : Arts & Education Events Ref. : Public Service Notices Books, Films, Arts & Education
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Health Care & Environment
04.20 London 'pollution pods' let you sample the smog in Beijing and Delhi 04.18 More than 95% of world's population breathe dangerous air, major study finds 04.17 'Underestimating the Opposition,' Trudeau Doubles Down on Kinder Morgan Pipeline Push [How big is the bribe? We thought he had a conscience...] 04.17 New Study Shows Young People in Polluted Cities Are at Greater Risk for Alzheimer's [our children are made worse than idiots breathing our polluted atmosphere] 04.17 New Study Shows Young People in Polluted Cities Are at Greater Risk for Alzheimer's 04.17 To lead on climate, countries must commit to zero emissions [mention of America's willful ignorance is politely omitted out of consideration for the country it used to be] 04.17 Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles 04.14 New satellite to spot planet-warming industrial methane leaks [We know, this is confusing to the boys in the back of the classroom] 04.14 Avoid Gulf stream disruption at all costs, scientists warn [We know, this is confusing to the boys in the back of the classroom] 04.14 Carbon dioxide from ships at sea to be regulated for first time [We know, this is confusing to the boys in the back of the classroom] News Media Matters
04.19 Media Cover-up: Shielding Israel is a Matter of Policy [who sets media coverage policy? (the owners, ultimately); how can we make the policy fair?] Daily: FAIR Blog US Politics, Policy & 'Culture'
04.20 Memo Says Trump Suggested Journalists Be Raped in Jail To Make Them "Talk" and Comey Just Laughed 04.20 Rick Scott Super PAC Donations Challenge Federal Anti-Corruption Rule [sounds familiar... might be in the Republican Governors Handbook from the Koch bros.] 04.19 The Democrats’ Gentrification Problem 04.19 Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency 04.19 Gentrify or die? Inside a university's controversial plan for Baltimore 04.18 Facebook is a tyranny – and our government isn't built to stop it 04.18 James Comey has issued a plea for decency. When will Republicans listen? [do sociopaths equate decency with empathy and dismiss it as reflex?] 04.18 Quick Takes: Feeding That Swamp Thing Justice Matters
High Crimes?
04.20 Gaza Deserves Our Support 04.20 Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn’t Gas Syrians Economics, Crony Capitalism
04.18 World trade system in danger of being torn apart, warns IMF 04.18 A bomb silenced Daphne Caruana Galizia. But her investigation lives on [investigating a micro-state run like a mafia (and the Trump organization) profiting from tax-sheltering of income and wealth and from money-laundering] 04.17 Trump businesses making millions from political and taxpayer spending – report [president slimeball doing business as usual...] International & Futurism
04.19 Trump of the tropics: the 'dangerous' candidate leading Brazil's presidential race 04.19 North Korea wants total denuclearisation, says Seoul [how will Trump and Bolton screw this up?] 04.19 An open letter to the US Congress: don’t let Trump rip up the Iran deal 04.18 Each Brexit scenario will leave Britain worse off, study finds 04.18 US and Russian nuclear arsenals set to be unchecked for first time since 1972 [ungovernment by and for the incompetent and corrupt may not be the worst outcome] We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival. You can also mail a check to: Baltimore News Network, Inc.
P.O. Box 42581 Baltimore, MD 21284-2581 |
|