On Tuesday, February 21st at 8:30 p.m., Occupy Nashville will hold a ceremony to decorate their Free Speech Money Tent–the first one of its kind in the country. Because Tennessee legislators recognize that money is free speech but most of them fail to recognize that tents (used to protect protesters from the elements) are free speech, Occupy Nashville is putting their money where their mouth is and attempting to speak the language of the legislators. Perhaps when tents are plastered with cash, they will finally be recognized as a part of the protesters First Amendment rights. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to bring their spare change and dollar bills, musical instruments, snacks, dancing shoes, and beads (for Mardi Gras).

Many Tennesseans and Americans have had their First Amendment rights attacked in recent months. HB 2638/ SB2508 aims at evicting Occupy Nashville and makes it painfully obvious that the political, financial, legal, and economic systems in Tennessee and across the United States are made to serve and benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99%. Occupy Nashville’s attempts to speak out against corporate influence over politics have only been met with suppression. The same elite who profit from corporate-political alliances and who are organizing to both crush the rights of protesters and criminalize the homeless are only proving that Occupy Nashville’s protest is a fight worth continuing.

Occupy Nashville calls on all Tennesseans to stand up and unite. When legislators pass bills to criminalize free speech and homelessness, it is the duty of all citizens of the world to say “no more!” Our presence is our protest.