OPINION | SCOTUS Ruling Threatens the Right to Protest in 3 States. Here's What It Means for the Rest of Us

by Gennette Cordova

Attacks on our right to protest have escalated to new heights, as the justice system is being wielded in unparalleled ways in the war against free speech. On Monday, April 15, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case of Mckesson v. Doe, a lower court decision that gravely jeopardizes the right to protest in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Under this decision, "a protest organizer faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act."

The ruling stems from the case of DeRay Mckesson, a Black Lives Matter activist who organized a mass protest in Baton Rouge, in response to police killing Alton Sterling, a Black man who was selling CDs outside of a convenience store. During this demonstration, a protest attendee threw a rock at a police officer and injured him. This ruling decrees that, although he didn't throw the object, Mckesson is liable for the officer's injuries as a result of his role in leading the protest.

This sets a spine-chilling precedent for those of us who use our voices and our bodies to take a stand against injustice and oppression through marching, rallying, and other forms of mass collective action. The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene in the Mckesson v. Doe decision means that a person who organizes a protest to condemn systemic racism and police brutality, for instance, could be held liable if a white nationalist infiltrator shows up to the protest to cause trouble, which is not at all unheard of.

Consider this for a moment: Mckesson didn't hurt anyone. He didn't throw any objects. He didn't order anyone to commit any acts of violence, whether implicitly or explicitly. And still, because he exercised his right to protest and encouraged others to do so, he is being held responsible for the actions of an unknown individual acting on their own accord.

Our collective ability to express ourselves through protest continues to be dealt severe blows, in what feels like an effort to scare us into silence and submission. Last year, Atlanta prosecutors displayed a blatant abuse of power when they arrested three people on charges of charity fraud and money laundering, for raising bail funds and finding lawyers for "Stop Cop City" activists. Bail funds, while seeing renewed popularity during the last decade of uprisings against police brutality, have been a crucial tool used by organizers since the Civil Rights Movement when activists were arrested and slapped with inordinately high bails to demonize and demoralize them. Georgia's recent targeting of organizers of bail funds evokes the state's shameful history of persecuting activists during the 1960s. In Albany, 1,200 Black residents were jailed in just one year for protesting white supremacy and fighting for their rights to be treated humanely.

Another aggression stemming from the protests of Cop City, Atlanta's 85-acre police training facility, which will cost taxpayers over $90 million and includes mock neighborhoods, is the charging of 42 activists with domestic terrorism charges. This is being reported as "one of the largest cases of its kind in the country on a charge that is rarely prosecuted." While handing down these extreme charges on this scale is rare for now, it's unlikely that it will stay that way as "cop cities" are emerging all over the U.S.

Here at home, we are already seeing an increase in rhetoric framing pro-Palestine protests as terrorism, in the same way that Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle, and throughout the U.S., were hyperbolized as having "burned cities to the ground." Sadly, this public disdain against movements seeking to challenge the status quo and inequality are as American as apple pie. Despite America's revisionist embrace of Martin Luther King, the vast majority of Americans did not support his cause when he was alive and he was often accused of inciting riots and being a danger to society.

This wave of anti-protest measures is a clear attack on our right to express ourselves through protest, and the rhetoric surrounding and amplifying these measures must be scrutinized and combatted. The intended effect of singling out Mckesson, one of the most well-known Black Lives Matter activists, is to make organizers and activists more fearful to exercise their right to protest.

Many progressive protests seek to shed light on the various foreign and domestic harms perpetuated by our country, to demand accountability and rectification. It seems those opposed to addressing these harms are gearing up to stomp out resistance using both physical force and the legal system. Regardless of where you fall on these issues, or what you think about the way protests are conducted, decisions like Mckesson v. Doe, tactics like the targeting of bail funds, and referring to protests that delay traffic as "domestic terrorism", will ultimately help bring about the dismantling of our essential First Amendment rights.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Gennette Cordova is a writer, organizer, and social impact manager. She contributes to publications like Teen Vogue and Revolt TV and runs an organization, Lorraine House, which seeks to build and uplift radical communities through art and activism.

📸 Featured Image: Black Lives Matter protesters calling for police accountability and defunding the Seattle Police Department on June 2, 2020. (Photo: Alex Garland)