It is basic to the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee that ideas everyone can agree on aren’t threatened with censorship and therefore don’t require protection against it. But ideas that are opposed are frequently the object of censorship and consequently in need of protection. Summing up the essence of free speech, Evelyn Beatrice Hall famously wrote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Our group, the Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots, wants to make a point on May 5 about the First Amendment. You may not like what we have to say, but aren’t we free to say it? You say: Not here (near the school). Not now (on Cinco de Mayo). Where in the Constitution does it say that the First Amendment applies only some places, only sometimes?
We are told to keep our ideas to ourselves, that our patriotic message will disrupt a school day and possibly lead to violence, that we are divisive, unnecessarily provocative, racist and that our message shouldn’t be protected—even if the First Amendment guarantees its protection.
What are our fanatical ideas? We simply want to stand outside an American high school, on a public sidewalk next to American flags. On American soil. On Cinco de Mayo.
Any other day wouldn’t be a problem, but that day is. That’s the day—May 5 four years ago—when a group of students at Live Oak High School wore clothing depicting an American flag. Told by school officials to reverse their shirts to conceal the flag or go home, they went home. Their freedom of speech wasn’t protected. In fact, it was threatened and suppressed. Four years later, a lawsuit that was filed to protect their First Amendment rights continues.
Four years later, we are being told the same thing those boys were told. Your patriotism isn’t welcome. Your support for the First Amendment isn’t welcome.
May 5 is a teaching moment, not just for students at Live Oak, but for school administrators who want to shut us down. For police officials, who fear having to support the Constitution in order to do their job of keeping the peace. For the radical rabble-rousers, who want to make their voices the only ones heard.
No one should have to suppress their love of the flag one day a year, or only at a specified location. The freedom we have as Americans to express unpopular political views is guaranteed. Non-negotiable. But celebrating the flag should never be deemed offensive. No matter when. No matter where.
