Post (3): The Six Freedoms and the Black Lives Matter Movement

 

Often times we scream "Black Lives Matter", but are we screaming it because we want to see equality and justice for all? Or do we just want to be apart of the trend and we want people to see us as "anti-racist". Often times I hear it, I just feel like it is because of the latter. 

The First Amendment is fundamental to all life in America because it protects the freedoms of speech, assembly, press, and religion, and the violence that the police constantly brings to our country threatens the safety of everybody in this country, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion,etc.

The First Amendment, does in fact agree with the Black Lives Matter Protests. The first amendment clearly protects the right of peaceable protests. If this is in the first amendment, why do people and a lot of police officers still have a problem with it? You might say that they only have a problem when the protests turn into violence and rioting. I am here to prove to you that that is a false claim. For example, we can refer to when the a New York City police officer ripped a mask off of a young black man's face and began to pepper spray the young man, while the man was just standing there with his hands up. Or we can refer to the time when another New York City police officer was in a moving vehicle, and he slammed someone in his car door and drove away. Or maybe, if that is not enough, we can refer to the time when I was at a peaceful protest, everybody was laying down for 9 minutes in honor of George Floyd, and close to the end of time a car was let through the police barrier around the protesters and they came full speed towards everybody on the ground, and right after this the police sped away. They allowed that to happen.

Even though the amendment protects the power of the peaceable protests, it does not protect the looting, rioting, and violence. This is something that I do not agree with, especially considering that most of the people looting, rioting, and destroying businesses were mainly Caucasian people. 

Nelson White, one of my friends, poet and activist

very adamant about the lives of black people, in the middle of a protest.