Court Upholds Arrest of Mascot Protesters (Chief Wahoo)

[Khephra]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The arrest of five people protesting the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo emblem as a racist depiction did not violate the protesters' free speech rights, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The court's 5-2 decision upheld the city of Cleveland's decision to arrest the protesters in April 1998 after they burned an effigy of Chief Wahoo outside Jacobs Field in downtown Cleveland.

Some consider the picture of the grinning red-faced American Indian a racist depiction.

The activists said their action was protected free speech. The city said the fire was hazardous and not protected by the First Amendment.

Justice Maureen O'Connor, writing for the majority, says there was no question that burning the effigy by itself was constitutionally protected free speech.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-arrest-ruling,0,123584.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[elehhhhna]

1. I'd have to agree. The speech is protected. Setting a fire is not.

Although using backwards-day BA logic, our burning Iraq down could be spun as "free-speechifying them Iraqis".

[haifagirl1]

2. Agree with the city!!!