First Amendment Mob

This one can be wonderful with ten people, and wonderful with 300 people. When a public place has been the setting for an arrest, say, in which the police forgot about the Bill of Rights; then we go to that corporate lobby, or park, or river shore line, and begin to recite together the single sentence that is the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law, respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free expression thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; and petition the government for redress of grievances."

Now this also works well talking into cellphones. Some of our Odd Believers feel safer with that cover. You can pretend that you're talking to a niece that is trying to memorize it for a school class. This gives you the pretext for repeating it over and over again. If you were talking on the cell to your niece, you might say "Alright, Siena, let's go through it one more time, ready? Congress shall make no law..." We've had folks who actually were talking to friends on cellphones with people on the other end helping with the recitation by reading the First Amendment aloud.

But many Holy Mobbers just memorize the beautiful words, with both hands free to gesture. Some feel that they want to walk and declaim; others stand there reading the amendment from a piece of paper. There are no mistakes. The sensation of repeating these five freedoms is dependably uplifting -- emotionally meaningful to both the recitator and the listener -- but hard to explain. We have staged this Action in places that are deeply contested, where governments and corporations are struggling for supremacy over individuals and community. But police have never been able to arrest us, halting in mid-cuffing, then looking around bewildered by their sudden lack of power as the amendment echoes around us. At Ground Zero at the World Trade Center, we've had police join us in the reciting. These freedoms are not for sale.

Exercise your speech here and tell us how your First Amendment Mob went! Amen!