A Supreme Court Fight For Students' Free Speech Rights — Transcript

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1. 0:00hey John it's Marybeth hi Mary Beth
2. 0:02great to be here yes we're going to talk
3. 0:05about our bad case tinkerer NIDA Moyne
4. 0:08what an experience that's been it hasn't
5. 0:11it been yes we never really had any idea
6. 0:14it would turn into this did we no no
7. 0:16idea that this would become such
8. 0:19important ruling for students right
9. 0:20that's right so we grew up in Des Moines
10. 0:23Iowa where our father was a Methodist
11. 0:25minister and then we became Quakers and
12. 0:28so by 1965 I was 13 years old in eighth
13. 0:32grade and John was 15 years old in tenth
14. 0:34grade and the war in Vietnam was
15. 0:37developing steam at night people were
16. 0:39starting to be killed and a lot of us
17. 0:42wanted to protest against or and someone
18. 0:45mentioned that wearing black armbands
19. 0:48was going to be one way that people
20. 0:49would protest the principal in Des
21. 0:53Moines heard about our plans through the
22. 0:55high school newspaper at Roosevelt High
23. 0:57School and so they made a rule against
24. 1:00armbands saying that anyone who wore a
25. 1:02black army into school would be
26. 1:04suspended that's right our dad said to
27. 1:06me that he wasn't so sure that I should
28. 1:08violate their decision so what did you
29. 1:12say John well I said dad this is just a
30. 1:14black piece of cloth and people in
31. 1:16Vietnam are dying and dad said to me
32. 1:18well done for you it's a matter of
33. 1:20conscience I said I guess it is and he
34. 1:23said well then I support you you had
35. 1:26already left for school yeah I didn't
36. 1:28know I was really nervous and scared but
37. 1:31one of my favorite teachers was standing
38. 1:32at the door with a pink pass to go to
39. 1:34the office so I took the pass and I went
40. 1:38down to the office and my heart was
41. 1:39beating and then I got there and mr.
42. 1:41Willits and the vice-principal said Mary
43. 1:44Beth that's against the rule so take off
44. 1:46your arm Ben
45. 1:47so I looked at mr. Willardson and I
46. 1:49looked her in the office and in a great
47. 1:51stand of courage I said okay mr. Wilson
48. 1:54I took off the armband and the girls
49. 1:56advisor mrs. Harmon said now Mary Beth
50. 1:58since you wore that arm then and broke
51. 2:00the rules you are going to be suspended
52. 2:02you know when I wore my armband I went
53. 2:05to the cafeteria for lunch and some kids
54. 2:09came over and called me a coward
55. 2:11communists we think there were maybe
56. 2:14around 10 are a few less that wore the
57. 2:16black garments but five were suspended
58. 2:18and so we sought legal advice from the
59. 2:21Iowa Civil Liberties Union lawyer and he
60. 2:25recommended that we sued the school
61. 2:27board in the federal court for violating
62. 2:30our First Amendment rights that's what
63. 2:32we did you really helped us kids feel
64. 2:35like there was hope and that we were
65. 2:37safe because by this time really mean
66. 2:40people were coming around some people
67. 2:42through red painted our house someone
68. 2:44threw a brick through the window and
69. 2:46then one day phone rang and the lady
70. 2:49said does this Mary Beth and I said yes
71. 2:51and she said I'm gonna kill you I
72. 2:53couldn't believe that someone was so
73. 2:56hateful
74. 2:56just because we had spoken up for peace
75. 2:59at Christmastime we took the case first
76. 3:02to the federal district court in Des
77. 3:05Moines and we lost there and so we
78. 3:07appealed to the Supreme Court and we won
79. 3:1072 On February 24th 1969 Supreme Court
80. 3:15justice Abe Fortas declared that neither
81. 3:17students or teachers shed their
82. 3:19constitutional rights to freedom of
83. 3:21speech or expression at the schoolhouse
84. 3:23gate and so that's become probably the
85. 3:25most well known phrase from our
86. 3:27invocation
87. 3:28I was so happy and our mother went out
88. 3:31and bought some ice cream and soda pop
89. 3:33that night you know we found a way to
90. 3:35deal with our grief which was to take
91. 3:38action and it helped us a lot
92. 3:41it helped young people to be able to
93. 3:44speak up and stand up when the Supreme
94. 3:46Court said that they had a right to do
95. 3:48that