An estimated crowd of 70 protesters gather in front of the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building in Fayetteville in concert with 100 other planned protests around the country to protest the second anniversary of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that rules corporations are persons entitled to constitutional protections. Organizers of the protest, including Occupy NWA, Move to Amend Arkansas and the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology, oppose the concept of corporate personhood and propose a constitutional amendment to overturn the court decision, as well as the passage of a city ordinance to condemn the decision.
We are always uncertain how to deal with protesters when they descend upon Fayetteville. Protest is a large part of the fabric of the city's past, but on the other hand there seems to be a protest of some form or another weekly. This forces us to choose what to do with our coverage. With this being a part of a national movement, however, and there being so many folks who showed up for it, it became quite clear that we needed to cover the event. At some point, an effort is big enough to become part of the town's history, and this certainly qualified.
2 comments:
Do I recognize a couple of local artists in this shot?
You should. Bill Flanagan was there, and you know him well. The sign painter I like, Joe Alexander, is in the foreground in the brown hat. I think I introduced you to him. There are no doubt others.
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