Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Student Political Speech Monitored by the FBI at Lexington High School March 5th (today) has been designated as a national day of student protests against the war.  As part of that movement, a group of students at Lexington High School, together with a faculty advisor, organized a fantastic program, with the support of the school administration. The students have set up tables in the hallways, are distributing literature, have invited two major speakers to the high school, and many other teachers are letting their classes out to come hear these anti-war speakers. They have also organized a small march this afternoon, about five blocks from the school to the town center. One of the students put a note on a web site that Lexington was participating in this national student day of protest. Yesterday, the FBI emailed or called the Lexington police department, and asked them if they were aware of this student activity.  The FBI told the Lexington police that people from around the area might be coming to Lexington to march. The police then went to the school administration to ask what was going on. The principal, Van Seasholes, told the police not to talk to the students, that they had not done anything wrong, that they had a complete right to march, and in general was very supportive. This had nothing to do with terrorism.  Why is the FBI monitoring legitimate anti-war speech in this country, and sending local police departments to High Schools to investigate?  It is due to the USA Patriot Act, which now allows the FBI to monitor political speech when there is no question at all about any criminal activity. The actions by the FBI have provoked a huge uproar in Lexington, and we do not blame the local police department.  Instead, we want to publicize how much this monitoring of political speech violates our basic democratic rights.   11:30:00 AM   comment []

© Copyright 2003 Toby Sackton. Last update: 4/2/2003; 11:23:14 PM.