Why Should Delaware Care?
The First Amendment protects the public’s right to assembly and protest, but a local activist raised concerns that Wilmington city officials suppressed his rights out of fear of the message of an event he planned. Records obtained by Spotlight Delaware call into question what exactly city and police officials were concerned about.
Four days before activists were set to hold an event in Wilmington highlighting police violence, a local detective from the city’s Real Time Crime Center sent an email to other city officials alerting them to the gathering.
The alert stated that local activist Haneef Salaam would be hosting a rally and that family members of Jeremy McDole, who was killed by Wilmington Police in 2015, and Lymond Moses, who was shot and killed by New Castle County Police in 2021, would be in attendance.
The detective also made it known that the event was being circulated by what she called “pro-Palestine” groups and that the event holders did not have a city permit.
The Real Time Crime Center – the Wilmington Police Department’s intelligence office – would “monitor” the event, she said.
In a flurry of emails afterward, Wilmington officials determined that the event was part of a city-sponsored, but privately organized, series called Positive Vibe in the Park to be held at the Urban Artist Exchange – a city outdoor music venue built at the site of former police stables near the foot of the 16th Street Bridge.
In those emails, the officials expressed that they “had concerns.”
Less than two days before the event was set to take place, Lattisha “Tish” Williams, an assistant in the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, responded to those concerns. In particular, she highlighted an advertisement for the rally that she said caused her unease. It is not clear which ad she was referencing.
“I called Haneef with my concerns and he said it was just music and vendors with the people in attendance. He said it wasn’t a rally,” Williams said in the email. “I’m going to shut it down anyway.”
Salaam said he had been coordinating the “Justice For All” event for six weeks with the knowledge of city officials, and maintains that their decision to prohibit the gathering infringed on his group’s First Amendment rights.
Ultimately, he secured a venue outside of city limits with the help of New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer.
The thread of emails that show the city’s response was obtained by Spotlight Delaware in a Freedom of Information Act request. Wilmington officials initially denied the request. Spotlight appealed the denial and the Delaware Department of Justice ruled in its favor.
A change in vibe
The August event was part of a monthly series called “Positive Vibes in the Park,” set to take place at the Urban Artist Exchange, every fourth Friday between March and September.
It was meant to be a collaboration between Salaam and the city, and to provide food, music, including live performances from local artists of color for residents in the Eastside community.
Previous events showcased local talent, including hip-hop and jazz artists, poets, live DJs, and food.
For the August event, Salaam invited people who had been affected by police violence to share personal experiences in an effort to raise awareness around police accountability and social justice.
Among the attendees were Lakeisha Nix, sister of Lymond Moses, and Keandra McDole, sister of Jeremy McDole.
Salaam also invited members of Families United, a nationwide organization that supports Black families facing injustice. Through that effort came Bianca Austin – aunt of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Kentucky in 2020 – and Jacob Blake Sr., father of Jacob Blake, who was shot and paralyzed by police in Wisconsin in 2020, joined the event.
‘I’ve lost some autonomy’
Two days after the Wilmington detective sent her initial email about the Positive Vibes event, a police lieutenant contacted the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the Urban Artist Exchange venue.
In subsequent emails, the office sought to determine who had prior knowledge of the event. Williams was the only one who knew about it, according to the emails.
That afternoon, she sent colleagues an email, in which she concluded that she would shut down the event, despite Salaam’s assurances that it wasn’t a political rally.
For his part, Salaam said Williams had been previously aware of details of the event he was planning.
Minutes after sending the email to city staff, Williams texted Salaam to tell him his event could not take place on the Urban Artist Exchange grounds. She then suggested other venues in the city.
“I’ve lost some autonomy on this one,” said Williams in the text to Salaam.
New constraints proposed
Following the decision to cancel the event, Wilmington police were included in the Cultural Affairs office chain of emails, as it was noted that “they [had] concerns.”
Salaam says he spoke to Williams on the phone after that text conversation and that she told him Wilmington police saw other organizations promote the event as a rally and was therefore prohibiting it from taking place.
Communication then shows an email from Detective Pete Leccia that read, “Here is an update from the mayor’s office! It’s being shut down.”
Gliem had then stated a few minutes later that the permit for the event had been denied in an email he wrote to several Wilmington police officials, including three officers who are on command staff.
By Wednesday night, officers were continuing to monitor social media posts of the event, and they raised concerns after noticing the event was still being advertised.
Early on Thursday morning, Williams texted Salaam again, saying that the event could only happen at UAE if event participants agreed to a list of conditions, including that they refrain from holding signs, doing chants, giving speeches, and writing “justice for all” on event announcements posted onto social media.
About an hour after that, emails showed WPD trying to confirm that the organizers had been notified of the event’s cancellation, and Capt. Matthew Rosaio asked for a point of contact for the event, just in case he needed to reach out personally about the event being denied.
The email chain ends with an email from Gliem asking Williams if Cultural Affairs made the event organizers aware that the “Justice For All” event would be canceled.
Salaam did not agree to the conditions and decided to hold his Positive Vibes in the Park event outside of the city limits at the Route 9 Library and Innovation Center near New Castle.
“For Cityfest, the city of Wilmington and whoever made the final decision to deny my event and then label it as something that could potentially be toxic or violent doesn’t sit right with me,” Salaam told Spotlight Delaware in August.
Concerns about free speech
Salaam had even been in contact with Kevin O’Connell, head of Delaware’s Office of Defense Services, that Wednesday night, who advised him to get the city to show why they constituted the event as a rally and explain how it was different from what Salaam proposed to the city.
He also suggested that Salaam try to show the city that their decision could leave them open to a lawsuit.
“If we can show the City’s legal department that they have some legal exposure by pulling the plug on an event literally 72 hours before it was to take place, they may back off on requiring a permit,” O’Connell said in his email to Salaam.
City officials maintain that Salaam did not make UAE aware of the “Justice For All” themed event and that the event was not in line with the agreement that the UAE made with him.
“The UAE was designed and used as a community site for arts and entertainment events, not public protests. The coordinator did not inform the City that the nature of the August event was being changed from the events he coordinated earlier in the summer,” wrote city officials from the Office of Cultural Affairs.
Notably, the city code does not define what constitutes a rally or protest nor does its special events permit designate either as a defined requested use. Still officials assert that the event fell under such a category, without providing a clear explanation.
The statement also noted that public protests and rallies have traditionally occurred in Rodney Square, Tubman Garrett Park, outside City Hall, the State Office Building, and on city sidewalks — but not at the UAE.
“The UAE is an entertainment venue, not a public park or plaza where rallies and protests are permitted. There are plenty of other public areas in the City to stage a protest event,” the statement said.
Free assembly questions arise
The UAE sits on land owned by the city of Wilmington, according to county land records. The venue is an initiative that the city’s office of Cultural Affairs helps to operate, but it was developed by CityFest, a nonprofit organization that is also affiliated with the city of Wilmington and managed by city staff.
While working in close collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, CityFest maintains a separate legal and financial structure as a nonprofit entity, which allows the organization to solicit sponsorships and grants that help cover the city’s financial and staffing contributions to arts and cultural programs.
That complicated ownership could help insulate the city’s ability to deny certain types of speech at the UAE, but it could also leave the city open to legal challenges.
It’s not the first time that Wilmington has had to contend with assembly rights in public spaces.
Another incident involving a similar ownership setup occurred last year, when protesters from the Jeremy McDole Police Reform Now, a community organization that advocates for police accountability, attempted to gather briefly at the Tubman-Garrett Park, which sits along Wilmington’s Riverfront.
Although the park was created by the city and listed as a city park on government websites, the park was sold off to the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC), a nonprofit created by the state government.
The RDC halted the protest just three days before the gathering was scheduled, noting that they did not have a permit to use the space.
However, since that incident, the American Civil Liberties Union and the RDC worked out an agreement that allows potential protesters to file exemption request forms that allow them to skip the usual 45-day notice period and associated fees.
Salaam said that he is in close contact with the ACLU about the incident at the UAE.
The post Emails: Wilmington PD pressed city to cancel police accountability rally appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.