The annual Columbus Day parade controversy can be quickly settled, according to a proposal from the American Indian Movement. Bow to our requirements and we’ll go away.
AIM delivered to city leaders this week an absurd list of demands, including what would essentially amount to hush money to keep them from protesting Saturday’s parade. Along with a public statement by the mayor and City Council denouncing Christopher Columbus, members of AIM said they would drop their protest in favor of a review of how U.S. history is taught in schools and by turning over some of the money saved from police overtime to American Indian causes.
The demands were appropriately rebuffed by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Of course, it was the least he could do since he inadvertently stirred up the annual controversy last week with a scolding e-mail to parade organizers and antagonists. It was a ham-handed effort to end the yearly dust-up between parade-goers who celebrate Columbus as a hero, and AIM and its allies who believe he instigated genocide against American Indians.
The mayor, properly chastened, now says his primary focus is “the protection of public safety and First Amendment rights.” That’s his proper role.
The issue sadly pits some hyphenated Americans against others, but it isn’t too hard to see what should occur this Saturday. Italian-Americans have obtained a permit and should be allowed to parade peaceably – they surely have the right to assembly and free speech. American Indian activists and supporters should be accorded the right to free speech, too, but they cannot block the parade from taking place.
The city is armed with new laws that should provide clarity. Civil disobedience is a treasured tradition in the United States, but blocking exercise of someone else’s rights is quite another matter. In years past, protesters have disrupted the parade as police moved in and made arrests. But enforcement was short-lived – last year a jury ruled for the protesters, finding that the city had no enforceable ordinance forbidding people from interfering with a lawful event. To rectify that, the City Council passed two ordinances that make it illegal for protesters to physically or vocally disrupt lawful assemblies, while prohibiting obstruction of public passageways, such as streets.
This Saturday, we urge participants to exhibit mutual respect for the right to parade and the right to protest. That’s settled, and civil, precedent as we see it.
