Rhode Island
Kennedy Plaza Isn’t a Free-Speech Zone When RIPTA Calls the Cops on Gospel
What happened
Steven Gonzalez—a Jewish Dominican man who, per his complaint, adhered to Watchmen for Israel teachings—is suing the City of Providence and RIPTA over his Sept. 9, 2023 arrest in Kennedy Plaza. Coverage of the suit ran Sept. 14, 2026 in the Providence Journal (reprinted by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly).
Gonzalez and five other Watchmen for Israel members were under a 10-by-10 canopy distributing food and shoes, reading Bible verses aloud, and urging passers-by off drugs and the streets and to obey the Ten Commandments. The lawsuit says they did not pressure anyone to engage and that video shows no blocked pedestrian movement. One member used a religious incense brazier; a RIPTA street supervisor, James Bianchi, objected to the smoke and—after they declined to stop—asked police to remove the group.
Providence police ordered the preachers across the street to Burnside Park. Gonzalez remained still and silent, was handcuffed, and was charged with willful trespass and disorderly conduct. He was found not guilty five months later. Attorney Shannah Kurland (Sinapi Law Associates) argues Kennedy Plaza is a public forum and “a sort of town square for the City of Providence,” and seeks damages for alleged violations of free exercise, speech, and assembly, plus unlawful arrest and race/religion discrimination. At trial, Officer Gustavo Genao answered under oath that the group under the canopy was not committing any crimes; Bianchi testified he wanted them gone over “interactions” with passengers and called them “very disrespectful,” specifying (per the complaint) that WFI “wanted to paint a picture that Jesus was Black.” Neither RIPTA nor the city immediately commented to the Journal.
Original reporting
Read the underlying coverage:
Virtue Forge commentary
Public bus hubs are classic public forums. When a quasi-public transit agency and city police treat gospel reading and charity under a canopy as trespass—then an acquittal clears the preacher—the pattern is state power shrinking the space for unpopular religious speech.
“Move across the street” is viewpoint management dressed as crowd control. Competent, humble government does not criminalize Bible reading in the town square and then shrug when sued.