Public speaker Mary Beth Tinker, along with attorney, Mike Hiestand visited Randall Wednesday as a part of her national campaign, Tinker Tour USA. Tinker and Hiestand spoke to students and teachers from multiple schools from around the area.

Tinker’s involvement in public speaking began when she was 13, after she and five other students wore black armbands to school in protest of the war in Vietnam.  All five students were suspended until they agreed to return to school without the armbands. The courts went back and forth, appealing all the way until they reached the Supreme Court in 1969.

                Tinker gave personal accounts such as her experience in the Supreme Court, her childhood, and the importance of student’s first amendment rights, along with her family’s participation in civil rights activities. Hiestand gave his own testimony about his family background and involvement with Tinker’s case and said, “I think I’ve told her story more than she has.”