Applause for an anti-data center speaker lands a US teacher in jail
What First Amendment?
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- Kansas teacher Lux Claridge was arrested after briefly clapping at an Emporia meeting opposing a data center.
- Police removed Claridge after he refused to leave; he was booked for interference and disorderly conduct, then released on bail.
- His brother accused city officials of violating First Amendment rights, while police said Claridge disrupted the proceedings.
- The meeting centered on the proposed 1,000-acre Flint Hills Digital Campus, amid growing public concern over data centers’ local impacts.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A Kansas teacher has shown a simple sign of support for a speaker opposing data centers. He was arrested seconds later.
Lux Claridge, a high school physics teacher, participated in a public meeting held by the Emporia City Commission in Lyon County, Kansas, where dozens of residents gathered to show their opposition to plans to build a data center.
Monica Duncan, an Emporia commissioner, instructed participants that each would be given 2 minutes and warned attendees against making noises in response to speeches, 404 Media reports.
"Snapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything – we will ask you to leave,” Duncan is seen saying in a video that was published on social media.
Some people clapped anyway during the 5-hour meeting, but the room, fitting around 30 people, didn’t become rowdy.
After one speaker finished her speech by saying “we are the people, and the table belongs to us,” Claridge briefly clapped, provoking one of the commissioners to ask Emporia police chief Ed Owens to handle him.
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Seconds later, 4 police officers asked Claridge to leave. When he refused, challenging the officers to drag him, the teacher was carried out of the room. Handcuffed behind his back, Claridge was dragged into a police car.
The incident was accompanied by other attendees saying that it was not an adequate punishment for clapping a few times.
The arrestee’s brother, David, then took the podium and accused the commissioners of violating the sibling’s constitutional First Amendment rights.
“This is ridiculous. I have never seen politicians so abundantly terrible at their PR. It is insane. You had someone from the opposition removed for clapping because they enjoyed a speech another member made,” he is quoted as saying by 404 Media.
Claridge was booked for interference with law enforcement and disorderly conduct, but was released from jail after posting bail. Speaking to KWCH, he said he was happy to be out and called the incident “an inconvenience.”
“It’s not really deterring me from speaking out, or I guess, clapping,” he told the media.
The Emporia Police Department issued a statement on Facebook, where it accused Claridge of continuous “disruptive conduct that was interrupting the proceedings.”
The meeting focused on the 1,000-acre data center project, “Flint Hills Digital Campus,” which could become the largest data center in Kansas, and which attracted heavy opposition from residents.
Anti-AI sentiment
The incident comes amid rising tensions over power- and water-hungry data centers in the US and elsewhere.
Seven in 10 Americans oppose data centers being built in their area, making the facilities even less favorable neighbors than nuclear power plants.
Concerns about data centers range from rising electricity costs for residents and land-use impacts to noise pollution and water contamination.
The government, meanwhile, is closely monitoring anti-AI sentiment, unofficially labeling some activities as “anti-tech extremism.”
A lot of opposition is directed at data centers, making local officials who approve building projects targets of vitriolic campaigns.