Wilmington, DE – 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 a public event earlier this year. These restrictions included limitations on what Salaam and other presenters were allowed to say during the public event, how they were allowed to promote the event online, and prohibiting any chanting or signs.
In 2023 Salaam submitted a proposal to the City to organize a series of public events called “Positive Vibes in the Park” as part of Wilmington’s 2024 CityFest programming. CityFest events were scheduled from March through September of 2024 at the Urban Artist Exchange (UAE) Amphitheater, which is owned and managed by the City. “Positive Vibes in the Park” planned monthly musical performances and storytelling, and the August 2024 event intended to include critiques of police violence. Salaam was one of the performers alongside other musicians, and several women whose family members had been killed by the police were intending to give speeches. The event was promoted on social media using the slogan “Justice for All.”
The City approved all of Salaam’s events to be presented at UAE in January of 2024, and the monthly events took place without issue from March to July. However, less than a week before the August event that was to address the issue of police violence, several City officials abruptly decided they were “uneasy” with Salaam’s programming.
For the first time since approving the events over six months prior, The City imposed content-based restrictions on Salaam on August 21, 2024 – just two days before his August event was scheduled to take place. City officials required him 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. These last-minute restrictions – which presented violations of Salaam’s rights to freedom of speech and association – forced him to relocate the event to a public library outside of city limits.
The ACLU of Delaware, which specializes in litigating First Amendment issues and other constitutional violations, is suing the City on behalf of Salaam and in defense of the rights of all Wilmington residents to express their ideas and opinions publicly without unjust restrictions.
"Government suppression of a person's speech simply because they disagree with the message or the messenger is flagrantly unconstitutional,” said Dwayne Bensing, Legal Director of the ACLU-DE. “The idea that city officials are monitoring different groups for this kind of suppression should trouble everyone."
