Civil rights organizations want their say in Middletown Hummers Parade guidelines

Charito Calvachi-Mateyko, co-chair of the Delaware Hispanic Commission, never again wants to see the "manifestation of hate" she says was on display in the Middletown Hummers Parade on New Year's Day.

One float, for example, depicted people in cages at a border detention center.

The commission will be represented on a new seven-person committee promised by Middletown Mayor Ken Branner to come up with guidelines for the parade. Any new rules will take effect for the 2020 parade.

The commission and the local NAACP also want to help choose the members of that committee and have some say in its recommendations, which must be approved by the town council. 

"The mayor and council should not be the judge and jury on who is selected," said Scott Saunders, president of the local NAACP chapter. "This needs to be inclusive and the racial and cultural makeup of the town needs to be considered." 

Branner vowed to make changes before next year's parade after an outcry over the controversial float led to a standing-room-only crowd at a Jan. 7 town council meeting. Some have wondered how the city will do that without violating constitutional rights.

"There are no guidelines and that has to change," Calvachi-Mateyko said. "People need to know the boundaries." 

The parade:Middletown Hummers Parade slammed as racist, prompts calls for change

The committee will have to walk a fine line between what is constitutional and what might infringe on First Amendment rights, according to longtime Widener University law professor Alan Garfield.

Garfield said limiting the messages that have long been a part of the Middletown parade since it started as an informal gathering in 1972 could be problematic.

"Once you put the government in charge of deciding what speech is OK, it is a slippery slope," Garfield said. "The greatest evil to the First Amendment is prior restraint."

The Hummers Parade began in 1972 as a parody of the Mardi Gras-like Mummers Parade held New Year's Day in Philadelphia. It has always had its share of sharp social and political commentary.

One reason this year's float caused an uproar was that just weeks before the parade, a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who was detained by Border Patrol agents died after suffering from a high fever and seizures. 

Branner quickly set the tone at that Jan. 7 meeting saying racist and offensive displays during the annual parade "would not be tolerated."

Looking ahead

How next year's parade looks will largely depend on what guidelines are created by a committee of seven Middletown residents who will sit on the new rules committee. Any decision that group makes must go to the full council for approval.

Branner said each council member would choose one person for the committee. There is no timeline to start soliciting members, he said.

Reaction:Mayor promises changes after 'offensive' floats in Mummers parody parade

Branner said he would not respond to any requests by the civil rights organizations to be more involved in oversight until he brought the committee up again with the council. Everything will be transparent and done in a public setting, he said.

While Calvachi-Mateyko said it was gratifying to hear Branner say floats like the one that sparked the outrage won't be in future parades, her organization will work hand-in-hand with the NAACP to make sure it doesn't. 

"We want to create something better for Middletown," she said.

Saunders, who also is the community relations officer of the Middletown Police Department, said there have been instances of racially derogatory floats and skits in the parade as far back as he remembers.

But nobody has raised this much fuss about it until now, he said. 

"If we are brothers, we should consider each other's feelings," Saunders said. "This is what I think is being lost in this whole thing."

The Delaware Hispanic Commission has asked for a written public apology from elected officials to the immigrant community that helps Middletown thrive, and Saunders said the NAACP supports that request.

The law

Garfield cited a number of Supreme Court cases, the most famous being the 1977 march on the village of Skokie, Illinois, by an offshoot of the American Nazi Party.

In that case, the village took steps to prevent the march by passing a series of ordinances relating to “Parades and Public Assemblies,” including a 30-day notice requirement and prohibition of military-style uniforms.

The Supreme Court heard various appeals on technical aspects of the case and each time ruled in favor of the neo-Nazis, saying the march was protected by the First Amendment.

Garfield, the law professor, said that the town is free to have content-neutral restrictions for things like noise, traffic and safety, but cannot deny entry on the basis of speech.

"Those cases are in essence saying you do not want to give the majority power to suppress whatever ideas they find offensive," Garfield said.

Garfield said that if the community finds what is going on in the Hummers Parade is disgusting, they should consider holding their own family-oriented parade.

"There is no better way to take the wind out of their sails than to have a countermarch," he said. "Something that says we want a Hummers Parade to celebrate our country, not bash it."

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.

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