August 4, 2004

John Kerry, in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, made an inspiring call to defend free speech. "Tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is really about. . . . Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism."

But on the floor of his own convention, when two Americans--one a delegate, and one with a press pass--tried to stand up and speak their minds and say that America can do better, they were not allowed to do so.

Here are their stories.

1. Medea Benjamin

The co-founder of Global Exchange and Code Pink, Medea Benjamin had a press pass for the Democratic Convention.

"I went onto the floor of the convention on Tuesday night when Teresa Heinz was speaking and opened up a banner that said, 'End the Occupation of Iraq.' It was maybe three feet by two feet. Pink, of course.

"I was immediately surrounded by police, who tried to take it away from me. They said, 'Only official signs are allowed.'

"I stood my ground, and they started pulling me and pushing me and asked me for my pass, and I showed it to them. They said, 'But she's not press, she shouldn't be here, we've got to get her out.'

"I was in front of the Colorado delegation, and some of them were saying, 'Free speech. Let her stay.' And others were being told that they should get up and surround me and stick their Kerry signs over mine, which they dutifully did.

"And then I heard Teresa Heinz say, 'The true patriot is one who speaks truth to power,' so I started speaking truth to power, and I started yelling, 'Will John Kerry bring the troops home? Will John Kerry take an anti-war stand?'

"Then I got lifted in the air, and as they were dragging me out, I was yelling, 'End the occupation, bring the troops home.'

"They held me for about a half hour. They brought in the Secret Service, the Boston police, the DNC's own security. And they questioned me on everything from my Social Security number and birthday and marital status to my political persuasion. And then they left it up to the DNC to decide if they wanted to press charges. And the DNC folks went out and huddled and came back and said, ' Let her go.' "

Not one to take no for an answer, Benjamin returned the next morning to the Latino caucus. This time, she met more hostility from the DNC but managed to stay put.

"We had a banner saying, 'Bring the Troops Home,' and the DNC security staff tried to grab it. They called us 'bitches,' and they dragged us out. But we went right back inside and held up our sign. And this time, several women, including the Vice President of NOW, Olga Vives, stood in front of us with her arms folded and faced the security staff and said, 'Don't you dare touch them.'

"So I climbed up on the table and kept the sign there the whole time while Teresa Heinz and Hillary Clinton were speaking to the caucus."

2. Vincent Lavery

Lavery is a longtime Democratic Party member and peace activist. He last went to a Democratic Convention in 1968, as a Robert Kennedy delegate. He was a delegate again this time, for Edwards. Lavery is also one of the co-founders of Peace Fresno, a group immortalized in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. I spoke by phone with Lavery on the Sunday morning after the convention. He was back in California, working at the Kerry/Edwards Fresno County campaign, which he co-chairs. He was about to go speak to a Kerry rally with the United Farm Workers, but he was still burning about the treatment he received on the floor of the convention.

"A letter came from the DNC a week or 10 days before, listing about 20 things we shouldn't and couldn't do, and one was no signs," he recalls. "So, the Monday of the convention comes, and in my bag I have a 'Kerry' sign, just that word, 10 inches by 8 inches. It was a sign issued by the Kerry campaign. And it was my intention to write on the back of it, 'Brings the Troops Home, 1/21/05,' but I hadn't done so yet.

"I went through the checkpoints and they took that sign away, which absolutely paralyzed my mind. It was an oxymoron that you couldn't have a ' Kerry' sign at his convention.

"The next day, I was at an anti-war event that the AFSC was putting on, and I picked up five 'Say No to War' signs, which had three-inch sticks on them. I took the stick off one and put the sign in my pocket. As I went through the inspection at the convention, they took the four away from me. So I took out the last one, the one without the stick, from my pocket, and wrote on the back, 'DNC would not allow this sign!'

"I then moved around almost the entire convention, standing in front of each delegation. In many cases, the reaction was complete apathy, a few gave me a frightened thumbs up, and some said sit down and stop being disruptive.

"When I started walking around, the DNC sent out two employees who surrounded me with Kerry/Edwards signs to block me. I said, 'The two of you should be ashamed of yourselves.' I asked one of them, 'Why are you doing this?'

" 'We have to keep signs away from the TV cameras.'

"I said, 'Who instructed you to follow me?'

"His answer was, 'I can't say.' "

Lavery did not buy the argument that everyone in the hall should fall lockstep behind Kerry.

"Unity doesn't mean giving up your First Amendment rights. And it doesn't mean we all need to act like robots," he says. "I'm disappointed at my party and my candidate who I'm working for. And I'm a little frightened about the ramifications that go with this. If this happens on the floor of a Democratic Party convention, and no one is riled, and it is permitted by the highest authorities of the party, and none of the media pay attention, then it has certain portents for the future of free speech."

I tried to get comment from the DNC. One press spokesperson told me on background that they had to check "anything that was being brought in and out for security reasons."

Lina Garcia, press secretary for the convention said, by e-mail, "Please call the Boston Police Department for comment," even though I asked specifically about the actions of DNC personnel.

Beverly Ford is director of communications for the Boston Police Department.

"We didn't do the inside security," she says. "We did outside security. It wasn't us."