Letter to the Editor: Freedom of Speech on Public Forum

To the Editor:

Please consider this letter to be a formal, written complaint against the Mahomet Police Department (MPD), of Mahomet, Illinois.  The MPD has violated my First Amendment right to free speech, by suppressing my ability to engage in free speech on the public forum, on their public, official government Facebook page.  I did not violate their terms of use, I did not violate their rules for use, and I did not engage in any language or behavior that would have authorized the MPD to remove the comments I had placed on their public forum.  I am still illegally being blocked from making comments, on all of the threads throughout the public forum; I can only share (Addendum A).  The instant messenger feature has also been disabled for me, as a result of being blocked by the MPD (Addendum B).  In addition to the initial violations that are described above, the MPD is continuing to violate my First Amendment rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, despite me asking to have my rights restored in writing.  I have been provided with no explanation for why my rights have been restricted, other than “unofficially” by MPD officer Rebecca Bragg, in an unrelated public forum.  When I requested to have my rights restored, her response was, “No, sorry.  But you can still read the rules on the page, can’t you?  I gave you 11 chances.  You were in violation so you are now ban from the page.”  When I asked her to explain exactly which rules I violated, she refused to respond.  I have attached the screenshot of that conversation (See Addendum C).

On the evening of July 15, 2020, I was online and on Facebook.  I went to visit Mahomet Police Department’s Facebook page, as there had been several ongoing conversations occurring, with several different members of the community, myself included.  There are two posts on the MPD Facebook page that are related to the protest.  One is a post that included the parade route and information for the community, related to the event.  The other post is related to the community’s reaction to the protest.  I left a comment on both of these posts, shortly after the protest was over (Addendum D).  I also left several comments in response to others’ posts, during the week following the protest.  I voiced my displeasure about how the protest was handled, not by the protesters, but by law enforcement.  I posted pictures and videos of interactions that occurred between law enforcement and protesters.  I was making visible the escalation techniques that were used by Chief Metzler during the protest, as opposed to the de-escalation training that he has been trained to use, throughout his extensive law enforcement career.  I was pointing out that the permit used for this protest was identical to those used in Mahomet’s homecoming parades every year, even though it was executed/enforced in an inequitable manner by Chief Metzler and the MPD. I was verbalizing frustration at the fact that despite having a permit to occupy the agreed upon route, the MPD attempted to force us into a parking lot, instead of being able to occupy the permitted intersection.  I voiced anger, at the Chief of Police, for sitting on the bumper of Rita Conerly’s vehicle, an act of taunting and disrespect that was intended to provoke everyone around.  Rita has filed her own official complaint, as I’m sure you are now aware.  I was discussing how appalled I was, that the Chief of Police arrived on the scene and refused to don a mask for our safety, despite us repeatedly asking him to, and also chanting for him to put a mask on.  He was well within six feet of me and other protesters, yet he laughed in our faces as we asked him to put a mask on. I posted pictures of me, along with several other protesters, having to carry our own barricades from one intersection to the next along Franklin St.  I posted pictures of a vehicle that was not part of the parade, that had entered our roadway, coming directly at us.  I posted videos of the Chief of Police, putting his hands on the same protester several times throughout the protest.  My posts highlighted the discriminatory practices and mistreatment that ‘Paign to Peace and other protesters experienced, as a direct result of Chief Metzler’s misconduct from my perspective.  Without bringing visibility to what happened and the injustices, actions to remedy those injustices cannot take place.  Because I was present at the protest and many people who were commenting on the MPD Facebook page were not, I was posting with the goal of sharing the perspective of the protesters; what the community did NOT see before the protest could even start.  That is why I included videos and pictures.  At no time did I violate any of the following MPD rules for use (taken from their Facebook page):

1. I did not advertise in any way.
2. I did not use profane language or content.
3. I did not post content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.
4. I did not post explicit or implied sexual content.
5. I did not post conduct implying, promoting, or encouraging illegal activity.
6. I did not post information that might compromise the safety or security of the public.
7. I did not post anything that, by its nature or content, might harm public welfare.
8. I used my true identity.
9. My comments remained on the topic of the post.
10. My post did not contain false information
11. My post did not threaten or defame any person or organization
12. My post did not support or oppose political candidates, political organizations, or ballot propositions.
13. My post did not promote illegal activity or commercial services or products. 
14. My post did not infringe on copyrights or trademarks.  

The MPD Facebook page lists their mission as the following: 

“To provide police services for the protection of life and property against violence, disorder, and loss while upholding constitutional rights of all persons; to provide equal and fair treatment and assure the public’s right to peace and tranquility.  To meet goals and needs of the department and its personnel through effective management and fiscal administration.  To adhere to the Police Code of Ethics, department, mission and value statements.”

The MPD is not upholding my constitutional rights, as stated in their mission statement. My posts were removed for one reason, and one reason only.  I gave my very unpopular opinion about what happened at the Mahomet protest.  I spoke up and tried to reveal the other side of the story that was not being told.  It is a violation of my constitutional rights for MPD to remove all of my comments from the public forum, block me from re-posting my original comments and responding to others’ comments, and silence me and my First Amendment right to free speech, simply because I voiced a perspective that they disagreed with.  A federal appeals court recently ruled that “…the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold” (Eidelman, 2019).  There is no reason, based on the MPD’s rules for use, that I should have been blocked in the first place.  The removal of my comments essentially smothered my voice, my free speech, and my First Amendment rights.  Eidelman asserts, “That means that, when a public official blocks critics from the page because of their viewpoints, [they] violate[s] the Constitution. Indeed, the right to criticize the government is at the heart of the First Amendment. The court specifically recognized blocking as infringing on that right, noting that blocking someone in order to silence criticism of government work is itself evidence of government action.” (2019).  

As a resolution to this official complaint, I am requesting that my First Amendment rights be restored in full –  this means I need to be “unblocked” from all activities on the MPD Facebook page.  This includes but is not limited to the ability to comment on any and all posts that the rest of the community is able to respond to, the ability to send instant messages, and the ability to engage in the public forums provided on the official government MPD Facebook page.  I am also requesting a written apology from the MPD.  The official apology statement from the MPD needs to be mailed to me in person via certified mail, and posted on the MPD Facebook page by the MPD, for violating my First Amendment rights, specifically my freedom of speech.  I am a life-long member of this community and the MPD has illegally interfered with my ability to engage with members of my own community, in their public forums.  If all of the above remedies cannot be agreed to, I will be contacting my attorney to discuss my legal options.  

Thank you,

Michelle Matthews, MSN, RN-BC

Eidelman, V. (2019).  “Court Rules Public Officials Can’t Block Critics on Facebook.” American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/internet-speech/court-rules-public-officials-cant-block-critics-facebook

Addendum A

Addendum B

Addendum C

Addendum D