Dallas needs to stop violating the First Amendment rights of those who panhandle, local civl rights group says.
was sued by the Texas Civil Rights Project, an Austin-based nonprofit organization that advocates for voter rights, racial and economic justice, and criminal justice reform, shortly after the ordinance was passed in October.
It’s been billed as a public safety measure to protect pedestrians from getting hit by cars. But to the Texas Civil Rights Project and the plaintiffs in the suit, the ordinance is a violation of the First Amendment. This is because courts have ruled that asking for help, like asking for money, is protected speech. And panhandlers often ask for help while standing on city medians, some of which may be narrower than 6 feet.
“Accepting help from someone else is a process that requires trust. It’s a process that requires time,” Fife said. “When they can’t have that trust to know if a person is going to criminally sanction them or offer services, I think it just undermines any progress that can be made by any of the city’s other initiatives.”Fife said the city will try to say what it has argued all along, that this ordinance isn’t about panhandlers. It’s about public safety, according to the city.
Plaintiffs in the panhandling suit include homelessness advocates Hannah Lebovits, a University of Texas at Arlington professor, and Kawana Scott, community organizer and chair of the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, as well as two homeless veterans named Alton Waggoner and Teri Heishman. Waggoner, 68, and Heishman, 67, both rely on panhandling to pay for basic necessities.
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