
In 1992 as founder of the
Education Coalition we spoke with white children in Geauga County about the First Amendment and the value of education. In 1997 I spoke to more children in Columbus, Ohio, receiving
commendation on MLK Day.
Tomorrow I will address the Nashua, New Hampshire School Board regarding the same issues, as part of the ongoing struggle to address the
Julia Earl superintendent mess (terminated a half-year and $65,000.00 ago on paid administrative leave),
vis a vis the overbroad, viewpoint-based prior restraint First Amendment speech ban she initiated against anyone wishing to publicly
discuss comment on "administrative and personnel-related problems."
I'm still formulating it -- I'll be doing that all evening -- but if my
skillset and first presentation on 4 December '06 is any indication, it will be a stirring moment. Both will soon be featured on
KingCast and
Justiceforkids.
As far as positing a strong First Amendment position, I sincerely hope that the board won't
call the police on me, as they did in Columbus (which Board member Loretta Heard said had racial implications) or issue a
bogus criminal indictment, as they did in Jaffrey.
The difference between Nashua, Jaffrey and Columbus? In Nashua I've got an Alderman and a school board member
backing the effort, and a newspaper that had the chutzpah to speak up in support of the First Amendment, as last week's Nashua Telegraph
Editorial and
front page Sunday stories indicate. Columbus
had a strong independent newspaper, as noted by the Columbus Alive
1999 feature on my client, Jerry L. Doyle, who won a Federal speech
lawsuit on this very issue that I initiated, but then they got bought by the major paper. As a former journalist, I know how that goes.
On a related note, I am giving a copy of Charles Barkley's second
book, "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man," edited by my cousin, to someone who has befriended me in a major way over the past several months. Samuel Jackson's entry is the most intriguing so far, but I love what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told Mike and Chuck:
"Don't let anyone trivialize your agenda.... you can't sharpen a knife without friction."
I have this to say to Sir Charles:
You don't have to be a large black man for some elements of society to hate you. You can be a relatively small black man, or any man or woman with large ideas about the First Amendment, and find yourself reviled quicker than you can snatch a rebound. Similarly, watch the clowns at American Tower call me a "Dangerous Black Man" in "American Lawyer #II and III" at KingCast.net, and maybe one day we can trade hoops/tennis lessons. BTW, your commercial with Dwayne Wade is hootlarious.
When you are a man of Chuck's statute you can have Wilbon write your book. When you are a lesser-acclaimed man you get it done with a grassroots writer like Boston's
James O'Brien, whose first draft manuscript is due in 10 days.
But any way you do it, you do it to the best of your ability and hold your head high.
Viva the First Amendment.