America was founded through protest. From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement, public dissent has long served as a mechanism for holding power accountable. The Spokane 3 verdict has reignited questions about the limits of government authority, the role of protest in a democracy, public safety, and whether constitutional protections are being applied consistently.
The Black Lens spoke with State Representative Natasha Hill and Pastor Walter Kendricks, pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church, president of the Carl Maxey Center Board, and co-founder of Spokane Community Against Racism, about the Spokane 3 case, the First Amendment, public accountability, and concerns regarding the federal government’s use of power.
Q&A with Natasha Hill
Q: Why is it essential in a democracy to hold the government accountable when communities perceive overreach or abusive power?
Natasha Hill: The First Amendment exists precisely because democracy depends on the ability of people to challenge power. Communities must be able to question government actions, organize collectively, and advocate for transparency without fear of retaliation. Accountability is not anti-government; it is fundamental to democracy itself.
Q: What are the broader implications of cases like the Spokane 3 trial when viewed alongside national debates surrounding the treatment of participants in the January 6 insurrection?
Hill: People are noticing what appears to be a double standard. The conversations around January 6 and the Spokane 3 raise important questions about how laws are enforced, whose actions are viewed as legitimate protest, and whose actions are criminalized. These questions matter because public confidence in democratic institutions depends on fairness and consistency.
Q: How can communities remain civically engaged and empowered enough to challenge abuses of power?
Hill: We have to stay engaged. We cannot allow fear to become a barrier to participation. People must continue showing up, staying informed, supporting their communities, and exercising their constitutional rights. Democracy depends on participation, especially during difficult moments. I want people to know they can continue to support their community and continue supporting the rights that people have stood up to protect. Civic engagement remains essential.
Q&A with Pastor Walter Kendricks
Q: Why is it important, especially now, to hold government accountable when concerns about federal overreach arise?
Pastor Walter Kendricks: I don’t use the term “overreach.” I use the term that has been coming from the White House itself: weaponization. We have gotten this thing twisted. Our founding documents say, “We the People.” They do not say, “We the President,” or “We the Senate.” Abraham Lincoln later described it as government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” What’s happening right now is not government of, by, and for the people.
It is the weaponization of systems that are supposed to serve the people. Those systems are increasingly being turned against the people.
Q: Why is the right to protest so important to American democracy?
Kendricks: American democracy was formed through protest. The founders protested the way they were being treated. Protest is a fundamental right.
Why do you think it’s the First Amendment?
It borders on the ridiculous that we have moved so far away from our founding principles that people now question the legitimacy of protest itself.
Q: Many people point to the contrast between the treatment of January 6 participants and the Spokane 3. How do you view that comparison?
Kendricks: There have always been two Americas.
The American experience for Black people has never been the same as the experience for the majority. To think about how ludicrous this is: people invaded the Capitol, damaged property, violated the law, and not only received pardons—which is an abuse of presidential power in itself—but now there is discussion of compensation.
I am at a loss for words.
And don’t think it’s just Donald Trump. There are plenty of people cosigning this nonsense. There will be a reckoning. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, and I don’t know what it will look like, but there will be a reckoning for these egregious acts—not just against Black people, but against the country as a whole.
Q: What is your advice for people who feel intimidated by the current political climate and fear speaking out?
Kendricks: You have to stand.
Black people have been fighting for their rights since they arrived in this country. Now the script is being flipped, and people who assumed they had rights are discovering how fragile those rights can be.
The only way to confront this darkness is for people of goodwill to say, “No, we’re not having that,” and to stand on their principles. We cannot be afraid.
One of the founders said it this way: “We are either going to hang together, or we are going to hang separately.”
The only way through this moment is together.
Q: How do we begin decolonizing our minds, particularly when people in positions of leadership fear retaliation for speaking out?
Kendricks: The answer is the same: stand up.
We know what’s right. Not just Black people—people in general know what’s right.
The scripture says, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
People in positions of influence cannot become attached to the position itself. A lot of people want to be right. I don’t want to be right. I want to do what’s right.
Sometimes doing what’s right comes with a cost. You have to be willing to pay that price.
They knew from the beginning that I was not three-fifths of a person. They knew that. But many people lacked the courage of their convictions to challenge injustice when it mattered.
To answer your question, we simply have to stand.