from the blog Cognitive Dissonance
On Sunday, March 27th, the Sargent family went to the Capitol Building in Madison to show their support for the working people of Wisconsin. The two oldest boys had painted a homemade sign which read "Solidarity Forever" and wanted to display it to show their support.
However, an unfortunate chain of events occurred in what otherwise a routine exercise of free speech as shown in two videos. The first one shows two Capitol Police officers speaking to the boys:
After the minute the officer gave the boys to think about their course of action, the police came back and confiscated the sign:
The police then led the family to the station and gave the boys' mother a citation worth $205.50 for having the banner out.
As I mentioned, the family's last name is Sargent. The father is Justin, who is an aide for Senator Chris Larson. The mother is Melissa, who is a small business owner and a Dane County Supervisor. They have four sons, ages 13, 11, 5 and 1.
One or the other of these videos have been going around the Internet already. I've also seen a third one that includes the trip to the police station. The comments, as one might suspect, have been running the gamut. Many are supportive of the family, especially the boys, praising them for their courage. Others are more snarky, accusing the parents of using their children as pawns.
I will admit I had torn feelings regarding this. On one hand, it warmed my old heart to know that the youth of this state were recognizing that their futures were in peril and wanted to stand up for themselves. On the other, I questioned whether the children were there on their own and if not, if the parents had put them up to it.
I've heard similar stories on Twitter, Facebook and the blogs to know that people were getting citations for peacefully exercising their free speech rights. I was also aware that there are many who contend that Scott Walker and his Department of Administration were violating not only a court order regarding access to the Capitol and how they may demonstrate, but even the state and federal Constitutions.
Given these events, I made effort to get in contact with the Sargents. After some emails, I was fortunate enough to speak with Melissa Sargent on the phone.
She told me that her two oldest boys, the ones holding the signs, are studying social sciences in school. She also said that the boys have been to the Capitol several times in the past six weeks to watch as these historical events unfold. Having seen these events, the boys made their own sign and wanted to go to show their support. She said that they went to allow the boys this opportunity, as well as to make sure they understood how to do it peacefully and respectfully.
Melissa shared that her business had been hit by taggers who had spray painted "Recall Walker" on the side of her building, and knows how expensive it is to have it cleaned up before getting cited for it, and wanted to make sure her sons knew the right way from the wrong way of protesting.
Melissa told me that she felt that her sons were targeted only because their sign was of a larger size and because they were hanging it over the side of the railing. She noted that many people were walking around all parts of the Capitol Building with smaller signs and weren't even spoken to by the police, much less cited for anything.
As we discussed how the events unfolded, she shared that the police officer that was speaking during the video was the exemplary of professionalism and has no hard feelings for him. She added that she has a lot of respect for the officers and recognizes that they are between a rock and a hard place during these times. She said that she understands that none of this is their fault. She said that they were simply following orders and doing what they had to do to keep their jobs. She added that she was also aware that the Department of Administration was to blame and that they were the ones violating the court order and the Constitution.
Melissa credited the police for their professionalism and their understanding of people's feelings for being one of the main contributing factors that these six weeks of protests have been so peaceful and why there has been so few arrests.
Melissa did add that she felt the other officer in the video (the one who took the sign from the boys) was less than professional. She said he made a condescending remark, accusing her and her husband of "using their kids." She said that she had to ask him to not speak to her anymore because he was so rude.
I asked her pointedly if she was using her children to make a point. She said that she was not. She pointed out that her children were following some amazing people throughout American history who stood up to exercise their rights. Then she said something that I thought summed it up nicely:
"Even though they're not old enough to vote, they still have their voices and they have the right to use their voices in positive ways."I am fully aware that people on both sides of the aisle will be unfortunately using her boys for their own political purposes. There will be some on the left that will put the image up there and say how evil Walker and his minions are for wanting to give the boys tickets. There will be some on the right that will disparage the Sargents for "exploiting" their children.
I think both sides are wrong for doing that.
I also think that this shouldn't even be about the boys in the sense that they are children. Instead, it should be about the boys in the sense that they were the ones caught on tape of yet just another example of how Scott Walker and his administration is willing to go to any extreme they fell necessary to suppress the rights of the people and to further his ideological agenda.
Whether it is trying to strip workers of their rights, trampling our constitutional rights of Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Assemble, denying the right to know what our government is doing and that they are following the law themselves, or any of the other wrongful acts being done by Walker and his Republican allies, it needs to stop.
It has become fully apparent to any but the most devout Walkerites that these actions have absolutely nothing to do with fixing budgets or creating jobs. It is solely to grab as much power as they can to ride roughshod over the people in order to benefit their special interest friends.
It is also just another example of why the elections on April 5, as well as the recall efforts, are so very important. It will take a long, long time to clean up the mess that Walker has created in less than three months. It will only take longer, or even make it impossible, if we don't show Walker and his ilk that the Constitution is still valid and why the phrase "we the people" has as much significance, if not more, as the day it was written.
AFTERWORD: Melissa Sargent said that she is to appear in court on April 8. When asked, she said that she does not know what they will do that day. She said that she would need to speak to a lawyer, or even several, before making that decision. But she added that at the moment we were speaking with each other, her inclination was to fight it. She said that she does not believe that Mike Huebsch , the Department of Administration and Administrative Code has the authority to override the State or U.S. Constitution.
http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/03/madisons-no-free-speech-zone.html
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