The ACLU of Delaware has filed a lawsuit against the city of Wilmington claiming it violated free speech rights when the city and police officials’ tried to shut down an event featuring speakers on police violence.
The lawsuit also claims Wilmington Police’s monitoring of the organizers’ posts on social media violated their free speech rights.
The lawsuit was filed in Delaware District Court Monday on behalf of Haneef Salaam, a local community organizer and the principal organizer of Positive Vibes in the Park, a series of public events held at the Urban Artist Exchange Amphitheater. The venue is a city-owned and managed public space off Clifford Brown Walk.
Generally, the events featured local musicians, artists and food vendors. Salaam received approval from the city to hold monthly events at the venue from March through September and did so without issue from March to July, according to the lawsuit.
However, the August event was also to feature “storytelling that included critiques of police violence” through speeches by women whose family members were killed by police and was promoted under the banner of “Justice for All.”
Recent coverage:Wilmington nixed activist event from city park, raising free speech questions
Salaam told Spotlight Delaware, a non-profit news organization, that the August event was to focus on raising awareness around police brutality and social justice.
Scheduled speakers included Lakeisha Nix, the sister of Lymond Moses, who was shot and killed by New Castle County Police in 2021, and Keandra McDole, the sister of Jeremy McDole, who was killed by Wilmington Police in 2015.
Spotlight obtained emails through Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act showing that four days before the August event, a city police detective sent an email to other city officials alerting them to the gathering. The emails are cited in the ACLU’s complaint.
The email noted the planned attendance of McDole and Nix and said the event was being boosted by “pro-Palestine” groups and raised questions about whether organizers had a permit, according to Spotlight’s reporting.
The detective stated that the Real Time Crime Center, the police department’s intelligence office, would “monitor” the event, according to the lawsuit.
Police Lieutenant Arthur Gillem forwarded the detective’s email to cultural affairs officials in the office of Mayor Mike Purzycki, the lawsuit states.
Lattisha Williams, who the lawsuit describes as the Wilmington Office of Cultural Affairs Programs assistant who manages the operations for the event’s venue, told Gillem that she “had concerns,” and had been assured that the event was not a “rally,” but was going to “shut it down anyway,” according to the lawsuit.
Editor’s Note: read the ACLU’s lawsuit complaint in full at the end of this story.
The lawsuit claims city and police officials “acquiesced in and encouraged” the shutdown.
Two days prior to the event, Williams, who is a defendant in the lawsuit, contacted Salaam stating she had “lost some autonomy on this one” and said the event could only continue if the slogan “Justice for All” was struck and if there would be no speeches, chanting or signs, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims these conditions were intended to suppress messaging related to policing in Wilmington and constituted a content-based restriction by the government on Salaam and attendees’ First Amendment rights.
Salaam did not agree to those restrictions and moved the event to the Route 9 Library outside the city. City police continued to monitor social media to ensure the event did not take place in the city, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit names as defendants Williams, Tina Betz, the city’s director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, and Police Chief Wilfredo Campos. Cityfest, a non-profit staffed by city employees that manages the event space, is also a defendant.
The lawsuit seeks a judge’s declaration that city officials’ actions were in violation of Salaam’s First Amendment rights, an injunction against such future actions and attorneys’ fees.
It is not the first time protesters have accused city police of squashing a protest critical of government violence in recent months.
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In July, a court hearing on the arrest of a protester outside U.S. Sen Tom Carper’s house showed the charges were built on misstatements and confusion and ended with a basic legal error by a city attorney.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.
