The ACLU of Delaware has filed a complaint challenging the City of Wilmington and the Wilmington Police Department for restricting the First Amendment rights of Haneef Salaam, a local community organizer, during the 2024 CityFest public event.
Salaam was approved by the city in January of 2024 to put on a series of monthly events called "Positive Vibes in the Park," which would include musical performances and storytelling at the the Urban Artist Exchange Amphitheater. After successfully hosting the events from March through July, less than a week before the August event — which intended to address issues of police violence — several City officials abruptly decided they were “uneasy” with Salaam’s programming and imposed several content-based restrictions on the public event. City officials required Salaam to agree that there would be no speeches about police violence, no use of the phrase “Justice for All” in the event promotion, no chanting, and no signs at the event.
The First Amendment protects speech that is critical of the government and government agencies, including the police. Government suppression of a person's speech simply because they disagree with the message or the messenger is blatantly unconstitutional. ACLU-DE is fighting this constitutional violation in defense of the rights of Delawareans to express their ideas and opinions publicly without unjust restrictions.
