I made the news yesterday. A tiny bit of it, at least.
WASHINGTON — A U.S. free speech group on Friday asked President Donald Trump to unblock 41 Twitter users after a federal judge in May ordered him to restore access to a group of individuals who filed suit.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan ruled on May 23 that comments on the president’s account, and those of other government officials, were public forums and that blocking Twitter users for their views violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University on Friday sent the Justice Department a list of 41 accounts that remain blocked from Trump’s @RealDonaldTrump account.
The blocked users include a film producer, screenwriter, photographer and author.
__________________________
I’m that author.
The Knight Foundation issued a press release that included a copy of the letter sent to the Justice Department. That letter includes a spreadsheet listing the 41 Twitter users who they are requesting to be unblocked.
I’m #30 on the list.
It’s not a big deal. I’m not an attorney trying desperately to protect the rights of asylum seekers on the border. I’m not writing the briefs that stopped Trump’s bigoted travel bans from going into effect. I’m not a prosecutor on the Paul Manafort trial or an investigative reporter looking into emoluments violations in the Trump administration.
I wasn’t protesting in Charlottesville one year ago when a Nazi who Trump equated to counter-protesters just a day before drove his car through the crowd, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of her fellow protesters.
My participation in this lawsuit is not a big deal. It’s a small thing. Tiny, really. A thorn in Trump’s side at best. I didn’t stand in court and argue the case. I’m just one of 41 Americans who used a social media platform to speak directly to the President in a way that he didn’t like.
Or more likely Trump didn’t want my fellow Americans to see me speaking directly at him anymore. Didn’t want my fellow Americans to see what I was saying.
In response, Trump blocked me.
So I asked to be included in the Knight Foundation’s lawsuit. I found the right person and sent an email. Several more emails were exchanged. I provided some information and agreed to allow my information to be made public.
That’s it. It’s not much.
But it feels good to stand against the tide in my small way. It feels good to stand alongside those doing the hard work. The important work. The work that history will remember and honor.
I’m just a teeny-tiny cog in an enormous machine that is attempting to protect and save our country and its people from this corrupt, incompetent, unethical, and immoral Presidency.
But damn it feels good.
