#Teen #artists portrayed their lives — some adults didn't want to see the full picture

Elizabeth Blair
July 28, 2025

Excerpt: "The #protesters in the mural hold signs that read 'The climate is changing, why aren't we?' 'No human is illegal,' 'Protect kids, not guns' and '#FreePalestine.'

"Mary Beth Tinker was impressed when she saw the mural on her way to speak about #freespeech. She said she "encouraged the students because they were making this beautiful mural about issues that they cared about. One of the issues featured was Free Palestine. And that's an issue that I care about.'

"Tinker has a long history of advocating for free speech. In 1965, when she was an eighth-grader in Iowa, she and other students were suspended for wearing black armbands to school to protest the #VietnamWar. The incident led to the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, in which a majority court ruled that students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'

"Tinker said she often tells students, 'You always can be proud of speaking up about the things that you really believe in because that's a life of integrity.'

Smithsonian officials were not impressed

"Flair Doherty said a Smithsonian staff member approached her and the other teen artists and told them she believed the 'Free Palestine' slogan was 'antisemitic and hateful.' Doherty, who is Jewish, said she told her she disagreed, 'We talked for maybe three minutes and did not really get anywhere.'

" 'We went over the next day and it was completely covered in tarps,' said 18-year-old artist Léda Pelton, who had not yet finished her section of the mural about cars and college acceptance.

"Pelton said Smithsonian officials told them they covered it up because they were 'afraid that somebody was going to walk by and see 'Free Palestine' on our mural and get mad and hurt us. And I'm like, 'maybe we are not the problem in that situation.' "

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/28/nx-s1-5463593/teen-art-smithsonian-folklife-festival?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

#ProtectKidsNotGuns #ClimateChange #Youth #Censorship #NoHumanIsIllegal #NationalPublicRadio #NPRNews

#police #corruption #brutality #punched #black #man #florida #jacksonville #apnews #nprnews

Footage shows William McNeil Jr. asking to speak to a supervisor when deputies broke his window, punched him in the face, pulled him from the vehicle, punched him again and threw him to the ground.

https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2025-07-23/video-shows-jacksonville-deputies-punching-and-dragging-a-black-man-from-his-car

"....a disturbing reminder that even the most basic rights — like asking why you’ve been pulled over can be met with violence”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ez-hbqdQ4

Dear #NBCNews #ABCNews #CBSNews #NPRNews

I'm waiting for you to question Trump, aka "The felon," on why he keeps saying #TheExonaratedFive are still guilty.

It's been proven they aren't.

You all have really disappointed me in these last election cycles.

When trumps loses, you're going to have to go back to real journalism.

"Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he had no plans to bring lawmakers back from recess before the election to address requests for additional disaster relief as Hurricane Milton approaches the Florida coast as a Category 5 storm."

#Republicans dropping disaster relief and refusing to come back from recess. Shame on #mikejohnson for leaving Americans out in the cold like this. #nprnews #republican_manipulation #republican_logic
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/07/nx-s1-5144159/fema-funding-migrants-disaster-relief-fund