• Listen to this segment

Cohen v. California

Back in the day on June 7th, 1971, The Supreme Court of the United States overturned a ruling in the free speech case of Cohen v. California. The legal dispute stemmed from an incident in April 1968 when 19 year old Paul Cohen wore a jacket reading “Fuck the Draft” inside a Los Angeles Courthouse. Under a California statute he was then promptly arrested, charged and convicted for “disturbing the peace…by offensive conduct.” The decision was upheld by the California Court of Appeal on the grounds that Cohen’s supposed offense had a “tendency to provoke others into acts of violence or to in turn disturb the peace.” The free speech battle, after a denial of review by the California Supreme Court, then went on to the highest court in the land.

In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the appellate court’s ruling saying in the majority opinion that “one man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric” and that “words are often chosen as much for their emotive as their cognitive force.”

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history!