Local citizens of New Orleans, tourists, large groups of school children, and members of the press gather at the top of the stairs to the Louisiana State Court House in New Orleans, waiting for Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other local leaders of the community to give speeches in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The court house is not far from the location of one of the largest of the slave auction “exchanges” in the city, at the intersection of Chartres and St. Louis streets.
The following a slightly expanded text of a short speech I gave at the beginning of a panel discussion on the First Amendment and protest for "The Art of Protest" symposium held on the Lancaster campus of the Harrisburg Area Community College on March 24, 2015. The panelists all gave a short presentation or speech before the discussion.