“Who Are We?” I asked Sunday at Townhall.com.
Today’s question: What have we come to?
Under a seemingly click-bait headline in The Atlantic, “Can Government Officials Have You Arrested for Speaking to Them?” Garrett Epps examines last week’s outrageous handcuffing and arrest of a Louisiana teacher, Deyshia Hargrave, for speech displeasing to the Vermilion Parish school board at a public meeting.
The elementary school teacher complained about a $30,000 raise the board was giving the superintendent, noting that teachers had not seen an increase in nearly a decade. After asserting that the raise would be “basically taken out of the pockets of teachers,” she was ruled out of order by the school board president and then asked to leave the premises. She calmly left the meeting room … only to be forced to the floor, handcuffed and arrested once in the hallway.
Police claimed the arrest was for “remaining after having been forbidden” and “resisting an officer.”
The school district announced it won’t press charges. Very funny. Anyone can see from the video that her treatment was excessive.
Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Lozman v. Riviera Beach, Florida, where an arrest was clearly retaliatory, but the city is newly claiming another violation it could have used to arrest Mr. Lozman.
Does this after-the-fact adding on of charges provide governments with an escape clause? As Epps argues, a Lozman decision “could either rein in, or embolden, the tiny-handed tyrants who rule county buildings and city halls around the country.”
If respectfully challenging our so-called public servants in meetings designed for that can lead to being arrested, handcuffed and dragged off, we no longer live in ‘the land of the free.’
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
2 replies on “Lock Her Up”
What rule did this teacher break at this board meeting? It’s scary to think that if one speaks out against, what was considered to be, an unfair decision on the part of the board, that one can be arrested for exercising ones’ rights. Imagine if you exercise that right in city hall, a state hearing, or a federal hearing, that you can be arrested for simply disagreeing and speaking out against a flagrant abuse of government power. This, to me, is a slippery slope that can’t be ignored, and stopped right there. Can jail terms be next, or at worst executions, like what occurred in Iraq when Saddam Hussein eliminated his rivals as he came to power? The thought seems way far fetched, but it starts with little dramas like this. The school board should have raised the teachers’ pay by the same percentage as the supervisors’ salary, at the same time. I’m not much for unions, but I think a work stoppage is called for in this particular case to raise the teachers’ pay, and compensate the arrested teacher for what was done to her. Perhaps a change in the makeup of the school board is called for too.
And who my son left you with the terribly mistaken understanding that You were (ARE) free? Someone has played a terrible joke on you Mr. Jacob.