Freedom Museum - Supreme Court Review
I thought I’d take over the Freedom Museum floor and ask why Chicago artists do not have their full free speech rights. A review of the recently concluded session held much to be discussed from the viewpoint of freedom and civil liberties. Richard Epstein and Geoffry Stone - two legal experts on the Supreme Court were speaking and taking questions.
I thought I could work my question about a free speech law case - (Weinberg v. Chicago) that the justices had refused to hear in 2003. I really wanted to let others know that some artists know we do not have our full speech rights in Chicago.
These two photos are from Tuesday, June 20th at noon, when I sold my peace patches outside the Freedom Museum. It was a test to see how the police would treat me as an artist selling my political work. I wanted to select locations that would be logical for political or civic discussion. The Freedom Museum fit that well, I thought.
That day it was just after I took the photos that a policeman appeared and asked if I had a “permit” to sell in this location. I took out my peddlers license and gave it to him. He studied it for some time before giving it back to me. What went through his mind, I will never know. My mind considered the Municipal Code that regulated peddlers. The entire loop was off-limits except for a few outlying spots designated as “free Speech” spots. An artist who registered with the city and provided photos of every article they wished to sell to the Department of Business Affairs and Licenses on a monthly basis, could then pick one of those outlying locations and only sell from that spot that month. There can be no moving from spot to spot. Special events in Grant Park have similar requirements. More on this later. An artist could get to know the lone man at the Business Affairs and Licenses who maintained these records very well if they wished to follow their rules.When I sought out a speech peddlers permit he told me no one had contacted him in two years.
Today the policeman acted as if he did not know the details of the code. This is not surprising as complex as it is. He handed back my peddlers license and said, “Thankyou!” As I thought further about it, he might have been under orders to collect information about my activity more than to move me off of the spot. After all I was in front of the Chicago Tribune building - a business entity that depends on our individual free speech rights to sell their newspapers all over Chicago - as they please. What they can do in the name of free speech - every citizen should be able to do. The police are called most often by the security for the businesses and buildings in the Loop. They inform the officers of their “concerns.” In this case - perhaps - it might have looked hypocritical to evict an obviously political artist from in front of the staunchest defender of free speech.
This shot shows my set-up and how little it disturbed the foot traffic. The two reasons the city uses to legally justify regulation of artists who sell on the city streets is traffic control and public safety.
I prepared to visit the Freedom Museum by pinning my peace patches on suitable clothing for the hot weather we are experiencing (90 degrees).
At the event I blended into the crowd (not!). The discussion was about the human rights issues the Court dealt with this year. As I listened to the two discuss legal points before the Supreme Court I realized that what happens at the level of the Federal Judiciary and what happens on the street are two different things. Artists are likely to find favor in the courts but on the street, Aldermen and the police that work for the city rule the moment. What is needed is not only the knowledge of our rights but also an organized defense of those rights.
Unfortunately, this night was not the opportunity I hoped to bring out the issue of artists’ free speech rights in Chicago.
At the end of the program I filled out my response form and suggested - when asked at the end of the form - that the Freedom Museum ought to explore artists’ free speech rights and the importance of their voices in a democracy. Do you think I will ever hear back from them?