If elected to city council, how will you uphold City guidelines in A Public Speaker’s Guide to Addressing the Arcata City Council, noting, “The public speaker’s role is to provide additional information focused on the item being considered that will assist the Council in making its final decision on the matter.” How will you enforce this guideline to ensure a norm of decency? How will you prevent mob rule from dominating public speaking at council meetings? How will you draw a line between free speech and intimidation and defamation? How will you disallow public speakers to create a hostile environment for council members, public attendees, and especially, minority voices? How will you prevent screaming matches during public comments?

— Maria Vonn

Response

Dan Shahin

Thanks for this important question, Maria. It’s pretty similar to a question previously asked, so I will keep it simple:

Democracy can be messy sometimes, but the alternative is unacceptable.

I will forever stand up for the First Amendment, as I would expect anyone on City Council to do. We have existing rules of decorum for speakers to keep meetings safe, and I support them when they are applied fairly.

Like you, I have been horrified at the comments of some people who come to speak at City Hall. I have sat in the room when speakers called the term “Palestinian” a blanket term for terrorists. When they said that, they were calling me and my children terrorists.

I’ve watched people stand up and advocate for the slaughter of innocent families using our tax dollars in front of the Council. They said those people were “human shields,” and deserved anything that happened to them.

I’ve seen particularly odious speakers at City Council deny the humanity of entire groups of people, insisting there was never starvation in Gaza, and in fact that starvation victims are actually obese and could use a diet.

The fact is, as hard as it might be for good people to understand, people do have the right to speak their minds, and I would never argue they should not. In fact, those kinds of comments do a lot to expose the hateful, racist feelings of a small group of people that would otherwise be hidden by silence.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

 

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