Jackson Free Press

Does freedom of expression still exist in the U.S.? Mark Wiggs explores.

As of the second week in March, the U.S. had 300,000 troops massed in the Persian Gulf region. U.S. forces are now deployed in every country on the Arabian Peninsula except Yemen. A virtually unilateral U.S. assault on Iraq appears inevitable and could be underway by the time you read this. If so, the U.S. will have unleashed the Second Persian Gulf War over the objections of most all the world. The war's dissenters comprise a long list—many of them allies or at least supporters in the U.S. war on terror, and include, among others, France, Germany, Russia, China, Canada, the Turkish parliament and a majority of the British people, if not their prime minister.

Numerous U.S. citizens have likewise opposed this war. In different forms and many forums, Americans have exercised their First Amendment rights to persuade their fellow citizens to oppose war and to petition their government not to attack.

And a few of them have gone to jail for such political expression. One such clampdown occurred March 3 at the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, N.Y., just outside Albany. There, a 60-year-old lawyer purchased a T-shirt at a mall kiosk with the phrases "Give Peace a Chance" and "Peace on Earth." His 30-something son bought one with the statements "Don't Bomb Iraq" and "Let Inspections Work." They put them on and continued on to the Food Court. While eating, they were accosted by mall security and asked to remove the shirts. The son removed his, but the father refused. He was arrested by local police and charged with criminal trespass.

When I first read the AP wire report, I assumed there was more to the story. Surely Guilderland requires something more than T-shirt messages advocating "Peace" to trigger the arrest of a 20-something mall walker. I speculated whether the guy might have upended tables in the Food Court or prostrated himself across the entrance of The Gap. Subsequent reports disclosed no such disruptions. Several scuffles had occurred between mall security and anti-war protesters at a demonstration at the mall in December. But the father and son just seem to have been wearing their new T-shirts while they continued to shop.

Might buying and wearing a mall T-shirt proclaiming "Peace" result in detainment, eviction, arrest, fines or jail time around here? I ventured up to Northpark Mall to find out.

On my drive up I-55 North, a massive SUV with Madison County tags roared past doing about 85 mph. It sported a "Nuke France" bumper sticker. Would security permit someone to wear that message at the Guilderland mall?

Inside Northpark, though, I encountered no evidence of any views on the Iraq crisis. Indeed, no shoppers wearing T-shirts with any political messages whatsoever, unless "Abercrombie & Fitch" counts as a partisan declaration.

So I decided to try to shop for a made-to-order "Peace" T-shirt for myself. After half an hour searching among "The Carts of Northpark," I located the T-shirt kiosk. The procedures in place there, though, would seem to preclude any acts of protest. Customers get their photo taken, then the cart operator transfers their faces to a T-shirt, where they are framed with a border that contains a prefab message or slogan. Those options available to the purchaser do not include "Give Peace A Chance" or "Peace on Earth." According to the cart operator, there's no way to special-order such statements, either.

Among the numerous other choices, though, are messages that, with a bit of imagination, one might deem to be pro-war. How about "Let's Light Up the Night," "Danger-High Voltage," "World's Greatest," "Thug Life," or "Blazin'"? For those supporting the U.S. search for wartime allies, "Being With You Makes My Life Complete" might suffice. Or for those who prefer patriotic images, there's one background available with no words at all—just the U.S. flag.

I browsed the T-shirt message options a while longer, applying ever-broadening standards of interpretation, but still could find none that even the most overzealous mall security guard might interpret as an anti-war statement. The closest I saw, and this would be a stretch, was "Keep It Real." It made me wonder whether efforts to pre-screen potential political protest statements have been more thorough at Northpark than they were in Guilderland.

A postscript. Two days after the "Give Peace A Chance" arrest in the Food Court,150 demonstrators wearing T-shirts with anti-war messages marched through Crossgates Mall in Guildersland. One of them got slugged—by a guy shouting "Remember 9-11." No arrests were reported that time.

Hunker down, code orange, code red. For in upstate New York the conflict's already begun, and freedom of speech is under domestic assault. Remember Guilderland. Remember Crossgates Mall.

Want to live dangerously, to be bold and adventuresome in 2003 America? Walk around a mall, wearing a "Give Peace A Chance" T-shirt. If you can find one.