From Sequarier McCoy, aunt of Dijon Kizzee, killed by LASD in 2020
I am in favor of RevCom getting their permit! We don't need the police to cover the event or events in the future. We, the community, have and will continue to use our First Amendment rights. I am asking the Board of Supervisors to please grant us our rights without the control of the police. Most of the violence in our neighborhood is from the police killing us. Please let us speak freely, walk freely, and express freely. Since my nephew was murdered, that's the best coping I can practice until justice is served.
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From Stephen Rohde, Civil rights activist, retired First Amendment lawyer, and author of American Words of Freedom and Freedom of Assembly
THE LA SHERIFF’S DECISION TO DENY PERMIT FOR LAWFUL PROTEST IS AN OUTRAGEOUS VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
The LA Sheriff’s decision to deny a permit for sound and road closures for the June 12 ‘Show the World: We Are Getting Organized Now For REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS!’ is an outrageous violation of the First Amendment guarantees of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, and the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances.
This is a blatant act of prior restraint, which attempts to unconstitutionally silence protected political speech even before it is spoken.
In the Rights of Man in 1791, Thomas Paine celebrated the right “to speak, write, and publish freely” and affirmed that “speech is one of the natural rights of men always retained” against every government.
The Sheriff is doing what repressive regimes are doing all around the world. This should not be happening in the United States of America.
The Sheriff and/or the LA County Board of Supervisors must overturn this unconstitutional and arbitrary denial and grant the full permit immediately.
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From Elly Levy, Attorney-at-Law and Anti-Fascist Activist
I stand in support of the Revolution's Club's right to have its march permit granted without undue hinderance or delay. The LASD's blanket reasons supporting the permit's denial appear utterly spurious to me given the Sheriff's ability to over-police the relevant part of the county with ample human resources on any given day—prospective "unruly" activity is precisely the kind of activity that the Department is expected, and should be able, to manage.
One will be hard pressed to find a single instance where any march held by the Revolutionary Club was ever blemished by violence or property destruction. The Sheriff's denial letter fails to cogently articulate exactly how a relatively few units otherwise attendant to the proposed peaceful march would inhibit normal police protection to the outlying area. The Department fails to articulate, with particularity, the specific evidence it has to support a finding that specifically on the proposed date, that this specific group, with its planned non-violent march, would lead to the likelihood of violence or destruction to property.
Given the lack of specificity and cogent articulation as to why the contemplated march will exact an onerous burden on the Department and why it is likely to be unruly despite no evidence of same, such being warranted to restrict an exercise of free speech, I am left to surmise that the Sheriff's department is simply providing all-catch excuses so as to be able to discriminate against the content of the speech anticipated at the march that simply does not sit well with the Department.
In short, the denial of subject permit is nothing less than an unconstitutional and deliberate infringement on the right of a fairly small group with a a not-so-popular political opinion that does not curry much favor with the Department.
The Sheriff's Department should be reminded that it is precisely those not-so-popular types of speech that our constitution's first amendment was contemplated to protect.
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From Isabel Cardenas, American-Salvadoran / U.S. Citizen and Community Activist since 1960
I’m with you all the way… we all understand the LA Sheriffs are trying to stop the Revolution Club from doing what they have the right to do, march under the banner of “Revolution, Nothing Less.” This is the only organization that has the chutzpah, the courage, to say it like it really is – what is really going on. All of us who have signed the Demand Letter know what this is about. This is a protest – they can’t stop us. I’ve seen the cops brutalize people who have been protesting – tackling people and smashing their faces. And it’s the LA Sheriffs who do this... We have talked in progressive religious circles about the mass incarceration and police murder going on for years and years and years! When is this going to stop!?
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From Emanuel Padilla, Activist
LASD’s excuse for not granting permission to protest is as ridiculous as when they show up in military gear for a bunch of citizens with protest signs. We have seen time and again that the only manner they respond in is with violence and intimidation. When I was falsely charged and placed in jail last year on trumped up charges, it was clear that their intention was to intimidate all of the people of Los Angeles into backing down from any further protest against police brutality. But I nor any of my fellow protesters will be deterred from exercising our first amendment rights. At times like these I am reminded of the saying, all that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. What can we as good people do when evil is protected by unjust laws and a badge? As civil rights icon John Lewis would say, get in good trouble.
“What is the message that has gotten these LA Sheriffs all shaken?
“June 12th … a force that is getting ready to actually get rid of this system!”
Comments from Noche Diaz, national spokesperson for the Revolution Clubs, at the June 2 press conference.
Letter from the ACLU of Southern California “Re: Reversing Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's Denial of Event Permit for the Revolution Club.” Click here to download PDF of complete letter.
