1st Amend

This is a follow up to my post the other day about Boy Child #2 having his Poetry Slam stopped at North Idaho College.

Joey had a meeting with the man in the video.

The man admitted to hearing only about 3 seconds of the Slam.
He was stopping Joey because a staff member complained about the noise level. Joey has a naturally loud voice. All his life teachers told him to be quiet.

The man also admitted that the statement “This is not a free speech building” was off the cuff and an excuse used to tell Joey he couldn’t finish. He also told Joey it wasn’t until after he had Joey stop that he realized that Joey wasn’t disturbing anybody.

The man had to look up the rules regarding public speaking.
Joey hadn’t broken any of them.

Where the frustration was initially was that the local Indian tribe had done a public dance in this same building. The Gay-Straight Alliance had shared something in the same building on the same day.
Then comes Joey wanting to share his faith and he was stopped.

The good that comes out of this?

Joey has been asked to be part of the planning committee for a public speaking area. A place where kids can go to share their poetry and the like. Where students can choose to listen.

I am proud of my son for the way he handled this situation.
I am proud of him for standing up for his right, as an American, for free speech.

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