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May 31, 2023 - Lionel Nation
15:44
Is Panhandling Free Speech?
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Alright, this is one of the most interesting issues that I can possibly explain to you.
The notion of loitering, prowling.
Hanging around, solicitation, the idea of what you can and can't do, loitering, panhandling, busking, basically getting in the way, bothering people, being a pain in the arse.
That's really what this is about.
How far can you go?
And why is it, does it seem to be associated with For the most part, those people who are, quote, homeless and the like.
We will address this in great, great detail.
I'm going to go through the constitutional implications of this, which is fascinating.
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Now, Do you have a First Amendment right?
Let me grab my usual.
There we go.
There is my tattered and my now famous.
This is my Constitution.
Do you have a First Amendment right to panhandle?
Yes!
Well, to ask for funds.
What is panhandling?
This comes down, believe it or not, to the way we specify these things.
If you have a person, A cute little Girl Scout troop sitting in front of a Whole Foods little card table selling cookies.
What is that?
Is that panhandling or you're selling stuff?
Well, you're kind of selling stuff.
Okay, but not only that, they're cute and they got their uniforms on if they even have that anymore.
But it's basically what it is.
It doesn't offend you.
It doesn't bother you.
You're used to it.
Now, what if those same girls were standing there with just a little bucket?
Or maybe the Salvation Army with a bell.
What is that?
Well, those are contributions.
Are they panhandling?
Well, they're not panhandling, because panhandling normally connotes some ruffian.
Some smelly, stinky, homeless, right?
Isn't that what you think?
When I see panhandling, begging, the words, the connotations.
How about busking?
Busking is interesting.
That's where you are entertaining people, doing a particular type of...
We do it all the time.
Here in New York, some of the best dancers, you go around Times Square, and these dance moves, you want to see me move.
Oh my God, I'm incredible.
But I don't do this because I'm a professional.
And plus, I don't want to take away from their gig.
But if I did, there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house.
Because people would be laughing so hard.
But if you do something and you are giving something back in return, some type of entertainment aspect, then it's a different story.
By the way, I was thinking, the other day we were walking along...
Upper West Side.
And it seemed like we had more and more of these people.
One guy in particular, he was on the ground.
He was like, I thought, this is not good.
This is not good.
First of all, I don't know what you're saying.
And I think it's money because his hand is out.
But he was like, I thought, you know, if I gave him a harmonica.
And had a sign that says, Authentic Delta Blues.
You're doing the best of Willie Dixon.
Somebody might say, well, you know, it's entertainment.
He's playing.
You know what?
There you go.
That's authentic, hardcore, gut-bucket, authentic Delta Blues.
Why not?
Give him a harmonica.
Just like if you give empty earpieces to...
To people walking around hearing voices and talking to themselves, it looks better.
I don't know where this stops and where this starts.
I don't know.
I do know that what they want to do is they want to say under no uncertain terms, we want to get rid of these homeless people, they're driving us crazy, and they're offending us.
Now the greatest panhandler type, and by the way, panhandling is...
Either passive or aggressive.
Passive is just holding a little cup.
Like in New York years ago, there was this official cup that was used by panhandlers.
It was a Greek Parthenon cup.
And you had to have that.
And then later on, after a period of time, it went to...
These groups of people, these folks called squeegee men, and they would really, this wasn't even a panhandling, they'd come to your car and threaten to, they had a bucket with like no water in it, and a squeegee, and they'd smear your windows and maybe bend your wiper.
I mean, they were scary.
You would just pay the money.
Just leave!
And they try to create this fiction that, no, no, what we're doing is we're merely trying to offer a service.
Nonsense.
They got rid of those so fast, it made your head spin.
Is there a First Amendment right to it?
Yeah.
Is there a limitation that people can put to where and when?
Is this a public place?
I was a public place.
Well, yeah.
Can you actually forbid interaction?
Where you can tell somebody you can't ask for money, you can ask people for the time of day, you can engage in conversation, but that conversation had better not revolve around or return to the notion of money?
I don't know.
This is very scary stuff.
Very scary.
And when it comes to the notion of loitering, prowling, panhandling, and telling people, and this is the most important, Telling people, which we'll talk to maybe in greater length in another video, but telling people that you cannot hang around there for the purposes of inducing or soliciting or offer to commit prostitution.
Now, how do you know that?
Because they look like hookers.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
Well, they're on the corridor and they're bending into cars and they're...
Parts of their body are hanging out.
Is that against the law?
No.
In the state of New York, being topless is not against the law.
Men are women.
Thank God we don't see this too often.
We had something in New York in Times Square called Das Desnudas.
These basically topless women who would have their chest painted.
Red, white, and blue, supposedly obfuscating the accoutrement of their breast areas.
And everybody could see.
Anyway, it got into these really gray areas.
The point is, where does this fit in?
What you're asking, what most people are asking is, give me a law I can write because I don't want to see these people anymore.
I don't want them.
You don't want to see them.
They're annoying, right?
This is what people are saying.
They're annoying.
They're in the streets.
They're coming up to cars.
And we will create as many fictions as possible so that we don't have to deal with this.
But if you're a store owner and you're saying, this guy out there who is passively panhandling, he scares people, scares patrons, scares kids, makes people wonder, is this guy going to rob us?
He smells, he's on drugs or something, he's scary.
Now granted, let's talk about his rights, but what about my rights?
Whether you like it or not, he is hurting my business, this is what people are saying, because he scares people.
Is that it?
Do I have no rights?
Do I have no rights?
None?
What if you found out That in front of a nude dancing establishment or in front of, oh, I don't know, if they even have an X-rated theater, what if I had nuns and priests standing there praying and it scared people away?
Or what if I had cameras?
Camera setup that says, we're taking pictures of everybody who's coming into this place.
Don't I have a right to First Amendment?
Yes.
But what if those rights interfere with legal businesses?
What happens then?
How does this work?
How do you deal with the two?
This is what's fascinating.
And what scares me is that even though you might think, Hey, that's great.
Those people that were bothering us are moved.
You're empowering the government to use loitering, prowling laws, solicitation laws, you know, all of these panhandling laws in order to quell, quash, and destroy speech, which is what this is, from people we don't like.
And already there's so much...
I am sick and tired of people saying, don't do this, don't say this, because this is speech.
Panhandling is speech.
You may not like it.
You may say, wait a minute, he's just asking for money.
Yes, he's asking for money.
Yes.
Yes, that's exactly right.
That's what they do.
That's what he's doing.
Yes.
He might be, some people are selling art.
That's speech.
Some people are dancing and asking for contributions.
That's it.
Some people are cutting out the middleman and just say, just give me some money.
That's it.
That's it.
And in the meantime, I am more worried about our precious First Amendment being whittled away to nothing, to nothing, in order to handle this.
And believe me.
Believe me.
I wish sometimes I could just say, can we just move these people to someplace else?
Why?
I don't want to see them!
I am honest.
I don't want to be accosted every corner as he thrusts something at me.
People on the street, high, stone, dirty, strewn about.
I'm sorry.
I feel for them.
Do I have no say?
Do I?
I don't do this.
Since when can people just decide, I'm going to just lie down on the street, just right in the middle of pedestrian traffic, set up my cardboard, little bed, and I'm just going to stay there.
Or passed out.
In Philly, you can't believe it.
They're just on the ground.
Not even...
It's like they're dead.
I mean it.
I've never...
We don't see this here.
Philly is the worst.
And there's a place in Philly called Kensington.
Was it Kensington City or Kensington Place?
Kensington.
Oh!
North Philadelphia.
Oh my God.
Go to YouTube.
Check out Kensington in Philly.
It's Night of the Living Dead.
So the bottom line is simply this.
Yes, we as citizens should be able to do something.
And yes, we should be able to say something.
And yes, we should be able to do something.
But, but, but, but, but, but.
We can't throw away the Constitution and the First Amendment.
And remember, speech does not mean standing on a soapbox in a nice suit reciting Cicero.
It doesn't work that way.
Speech is expression.
And if that expression involves the solicitation of charity and the like, or funds, or whatever, so be it.
Thank you.
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