I was listening briefly to Air America radio today and heard the story of two people being arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts at a Bush speech. What was particularly shocking about this even was that it was held on public property – at the West Virginia Capitol. The T-shirts had Bush’s name crossed out on the front and the words, “Love America, Hate Bush,” and “Regime Change Begins at Home,” on the back.

The couple was led from the event in handcuffs after refusing to remove the shirts.

Although the charges were later dropped, the incident caused one of the protesters to briefly lose her job. The city’s public officials have apologized. The two, however, are bringing a lawsuit against the federal policing agencies involved in the arrest, with the help of the ACLU.

This is a very clear cut case. These individuals, one of whom is a registered Republican, were singled out because the political message on their shirt did not sit well with the authorities. These people were not out there trying to shout the president down or belittle other supporters, instead they were involved in a quiet but visible protest. Protest is not always about disruption, and wearing a shirt with a particular message is a direct way to make yourself heard without speaking.

Take two examples from back at Trinity. For one, a certain sorority during pledge time had shirts made up for pledges. As part of the ritual these pledges had to wear the shirt and a white skirt around campus on certain days. The shirt said, “If I don’t remember it, it didn’t happen.” As you might imagine, some people on campus were furious about these shirts. They found them demeaning to women, and couldn’t understand why some would chose to wear it. Someone mentioned it in a letter to the editor of our newspaper, and the issue was discussed. However, no T-shirts were confiscated, and the girls (I say girls because I mean girls) wearing them were not kicked out – all perfectly correct.

Another instance is when I would wear my famous “San Francisco Physical Education” T-shirt around campus. The message of this shirt was pretty obvious, and I knew that a lot of people did not agree with the message. I’d get stares and sometimes glares, but again, nobody demanded I remove the shirt or leave Trinity.

Obviously what these people were trying to do was bring attention to their viewpoints. Their intention, as far as I can ascertain, was to use the shirts to engage with those who did not agree with the messages on them. Furthermore, they did this all at a public gathering in a public location. Had this been a private place, such as a Bush-Cheney “Town Hall,” then such censorship, though perhaps still odious, would be legal.

But this was a traditional public forum. As such, the arrest of these individuals expressing their viewpoints in a non-disruptive manner, based solely on the fact that the authorities didn’t like the message, is clearly a violation of the 1st Amendment.

I can only hope that this two people, who acted within the law during both their protest and arrest, can get their message out there. There is no doubt in my mind that the treatment these two received has been imposed on countless others, both outside of and within the Bush administration. Incidents such as this are what really turns me away from these Bush type Republicans more than anything else.

Peaceable public protest is the guarantee that makes this country so special and so hated by those who would rather stifle all dissent. If Bush’s platform is going to be a hard line against intolerant regimes, then he must practice what he preaches.

But I don’t see that happening.