18-11-2013, 11:29 AM
COPA Reaches Agreement with City ofDallas to Restore First Amendment Rights on November 22
After months of silence from theDallas Mayor's office, the Sixth Floor Museum, the planningcommittee for "the 50[SUP]th[/SUP]" event in Dealey Plaza andother city officials, COPA has reached an agreement with the City ofDallas and Police Department that will restore and protect FirstAmendment rights within and outside Dealey Plaza on November 22. A49-year tradition of holding a Moment of Silence on the Grassy Knollat the time of the assassination was prevented in Dealey Plaza by theSixth Floor Museum's exclusive permit closing the Plaza for twoweeks. When that permit was withdrawn, COPA made a legal applicationfor a permit for the annual event. The City of Dallas Attorneyresponded that all Dallas parks would be closed for First Amendmentactivity permits on November 22 save for City Hall Plaza, which wasthen closed and "reserved for dignitaries" that day.
In our view, Dealey Plaza, a publicpark and also a designated historical site belongs, especially onNovember 22 on the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary, to the Americanpeople, to history and to the world, not to any exclusive event thatwill not mention the assassination. The vast majority of Americansquestion the Warren Commission conclusions and agree with us. We arethe mainstream, not the dissent. We should not need a ticket to getto our own history on this significant anniversary. Free speech anddebate is essential to democracy.
COPA made the issue visible in thenational press, with coverage in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, TexasMonthly, Dallas Observer, and more recently in the National Journal.COPA met with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in February and got noresponse until August. COPA had prepared for a lawsuit, an injunctionto protect First Amendment rights that had been violated by a contentbased denial of permit intentionally because Dallas officials did notwant "conspiracy theory" on the Grassy Knoll on the 50[SUP]th[/SUP]anniversary when the world press would be present at theassassination site. Instead, an exclusive, ticketed public relationsevent was planned to restore Dallas's reputation as a City of Hate,and to honor the life and legacy of President Kennedy instead. Thepublic was to be excluded and inside the event "signs, banners,bullhorns and megaphones" were to be banned. A Moment of Silencewas planned by Dallas that would effectively be a Perpetuity ofSilence about the assassination and the unresolved evidence in thecase.
COPA proposed many reasonablealternatives to accommodate both events and purposes that day,including moving the location of the Mayor's event to a bettervenue, moving the time back to our event and the public into DealeyPlaza by noon, and even moving the barricades to the north side ofElm Street so we could be present simultaneously. All these wererejected.
A written Memoranda of Agreement hasbeen drafted that will restore many of our rights and meet ourpurposes, but our hope to hold our traditional Moment of Silence onthe Grassy Knoll at 12:30 pm has not been granted. Here are the gainswe have one:
COPA will be allowed to hold ourMoment of Silence at a nearby location at 12:30 pm. We will gather atthe southeast corner of Main and Market Street at 11:00 am onNovember 22 and hold our event simultaneous with the Mayor's.Signs, banners and speech will not be prohibited at this site.
COPA will be allowed to leafletcrowds coming to the Mayor's event at designated locations wherethey will enter Dealey Plaza, starting at 8:00 am. We intend toinform them about our events and conference.
COPA members and others gathered atthe alternative site will be escorted by the Dallas police to DealeyPlaza once the Mayor's event ends, around 2:30 pm, allowing thepublic back in, and we will hold another Moment of Silence there onthe Grassy Knoll as we have for the last 49 years.
COPA members and supporters who havesecured a ticket to the Mayor's event will be allowed to wear ourconference t-shirt inside Dealey Plaza on November 22, but signs,banners, noise or outbursts and disruptions are prohibited. This willallow us to be visible to both the press and the public at the event.
First Amendment rights both insideand outside Dealey Plaza are somewhat restored by this agreement andwe plan to exercise them that day, to speak truth to power, and tocontinue to be visible and to speak for full disclosure of allgovernment records on assassinations, for reopening these unsolvedhomicides, and for restoration of democracy and the rule of law inthis country.
After months of silence from theDallas Mayor's office, the Sixth Floor Museum, the planningcommittee for "the 50[SUP]th[/SUP]" event in Dealey Plaza andother city officials, COPA has reached an agreement with the City ofDallas and Police Department that will restore and protect FirstAmendment rights within and outside Dealey Plaza on November 22. A49-year tradition of holding a Moment of Silence on the Grassy Knollat the time of the assassination was prevented in Dealey Plaza by theSixth Floor Museum's exclusive permit closing the Plaza for twoweeks. When that permit was withdrawn, COPA made a legal applicationfor a permit for the annual event. The City of Dallas Attorneyresponded that all Dallas parks would be closed for First Amendmentactivity permits on November 22 save for City Hall Plaza, which wasthen closed and "reserved for dignitaries" that day.
In our view, Dealey Plaza, a publicpark and also a designated historical site belongs, especially onNovember 22 on the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary, to the Americanpeople, to history and to the world, not to any exclusive event thatwill not mention the assassination. The vast majority of Americansquestion the Warren Commission conclusions and agree with us. We arethe mainstream, not the dissent. We should not need a ticket to getto our own history on this significant anniversary. Free speech anddebate is essential to democracy.
COPA made the issue visible in thenational press, with coverage in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, TexasMonthly, Dallas Observer, and more recently in the National Journal.COPA met with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in February and got noresponse until August. COPA had prepared for a lawsuit, an injunctionto protect First Amendment rights that had been violated by a contentbased denial of permit intentionally because Dallas officials did notwant "conspiracy theory" on the Grassy Knoll on the 50[SUP]th[/SUP]anniversary when the world press would be present at theassassination site. Instead, an exclusive, ticketed public relationsevent was planned to restore Dallas's reputation as a City of Hate,and to honor the life and legacy of President Kennedy instead. Thepublic was to be excluded and inside the event "signs, banners,bullhorns and megaphones" were to be banned. A Moment of Silencewas planned by Dallas that would effectively be a Perpetuity ofSilence about the assassination and the unresolved evidence in thecase.
COPA proposed many reasonablealternatives to accommodate both events and purposes that day,including moving the location of the Mayor's event to a bettervenue, moving the time back to our event and the public into DealeyPlaza by noon, and even moving the barricades to the north side ofElm Street so we could be present simultaneously. All these wererejected.
A written Memoranda of Agreement hasbeen drafted that will restore many of our rights and meet ourpurposes, but our hope to hold our traditional Moment of Silence onthe Grassy Knoll at 12:30 pm has not been granted. Here are the gainswe have one:
COPA will be allowed to hold ourMoment of Silence at a nearby location at 12:30 pm. We will gather atthe southeast corner of Main and Market Street at 11:00 am onNovember 22 and hold our event simultaneous with the Mayor's.Signs, banners and speech will not be prohibited at this site.
COPA will be allowed to leafletcrowds coming to the Mayor's event at designated locations wherethey will enter Dealey Plaza, starting at 8:00 am. We intend toinform them about our events and conference.
COPA members and others gathered atthe alternative site will be escorted by the Dallas police to DealeyPlaza once the Mayor's event ends, around 2:30 pm, allowing thepublic back in, and we will hold another Moment of Silence there onthe Grassy Knoll as we have for the last 49 years.
COPA members and supporters who havesecured a ticket to the Mayor's event will be allowed to wear ourconference t-shirt inside Dealey Plaza on November 22, but signs,banners, noise or outbursts and disruptions are prohibited. This willallow us to be visible to both the press and the public at the event.
First Amendment rights both insideand outside Dealey Plaza are somewhat restored by this agreement andwe plan to exercise them that day, to speak truth to power, and tocontinue to be visible and to speak for full disclosure of allgovernment records on assassinations, for reopening these unsolvedhomicides, and for restoration of democracy and the rule of law inthis country.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass