On Protests, Violence and Voting Rights

Violence at recent demonstrations and counter demonstrations reveal the need for cities and states, with support from Congress, to refuse protest permits to groups that threaten violence. The simplest way to do that, while respecting the right of freedom of speech, is to refuse permits for protest rallies or marches in which participants plan to carry guns. It’s one thing to allow “open carry” of firearms in public, it’s quite a dangerous different decision to allow persons to carry firearms in a protest march when political confrontation and violence are very real possibilities. To its credit, apparently, ACLU is considering not defending this form of provocative protest. The NRA’s shameless support for violence-prone, gun-toting protests should cause politicians to think twice before taking money from the gun lobby. 

            These are not new issues, but the Trump Presidency is generating an even more dangerous context. In 1966, I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago, supporting the campaign for implementing fair housing policies. The ACLU controversially defended the right of neo-Nazis to march. When we black and white marched together, we needed the National Guard to protect us from screaming white mobs lining both sides of the street.  History teaches us that when politics are deeply divisive, as they are today, fueled in part by the President, dangers to democracy intensify.

Freedom of speech is a right worth defending, even when the message of an individual or group is morally repugnant. The danger in restricting the right is that political contexts and what majorities might want to prohibit change over time. Refusing the right of persons to spew white supremacist, neo-Nazi hatred today may seem a good and necessary limitation, especially to people who have experienced hate-motivated physical violence. In another time and context, a majority, including some of the same people, might support limiting speech of those who oppose their government’s war or who advocate against unfair taxation or for a single-payer “socialist” solution for achieving universal healthcare.  The risks of freedom of speech are real, the risks of denying this right are even greater. Refusing protest permits for groups in which participants carry guns would protect public safety while preserving freedom of speech.

Our work together for a better America is about much more than denouncing hate groups. We need to work together to build effective political support for overturning two recent Supreme Court decisions that are disastrous for our democracy.  “Citizens United vs the FEC” (2010) granted corporations the same right of free speech and right to contribute money to political campaigns as individual citizens and “Shelby County vs. Holder” (2013) gutted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. We need to challenge all politicians and prospective candidates for office, Democrats or Republicans, to support legislation that would overturn these decisions that deny protections for voting rights and greatly compound the problems of big money in politics. Realistically, overturning these court decisions is a longer term goal.

Nationally, in the meantime, we need to resist Republican voter suppression efforts, including restrictive voter I.D. laws, new limits on voter registration, reduced times and locations for voting, and provisions that make it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions – all of which are designed and work in ways that fall heaviest on minorities, the elderly and youth.

Locally, we should support citizenship education, encourage voter registration, and expose hate groups, like anti-Muslim “Act for America” which claims 750,000 members nationwide and recently doubled the number of chapters in Washington. In Everett specifically, we should support the proposed change in how we vote for City Council members to include voting by districts, as well as for at-large members. District voting will attract candidates who have direct personal connections with more multi-cultural, underrepresented and under-served neighborhoods in our city.

Locally and nationally, we’ve got to denounce and protest each new demonstration promoting racist, proto-Fascist, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ hatred. In most cases, I’m sure we can turn out much larger numbers than these hate groups and, if we’re consistent and creative, we can win over a lot more people to side with us against hate and stand-up for justice and peace. Strategically, looking toward the 2018 elections, our goals need to be to strengthen voting rights and increase the numbers of eligible voters who come out to vote. “Si, se puede, yes we can.”