As stated in the 1st Amendment of our Constitution, we, as citizens, have the right to 'peaceably assemble.' But when does it all become too much? We are taught when we are little that our words can hurt someone just as much as our actions can. So why would we allow protestors continue their protests that are solely based on hate? When are we going to say enough is enough?
Here in America, many people have exercised their 1st Amendment rights by protesting and some were for good causes. However, what do we do when the protests are for all the wrong reasons. One example of protestors going to far would be the Westboro Baptist Church and their protest at military funerals. According to abc, the United States Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, last year that there was nothing unconstitutional about there protest and that they have a right to be there. It also included Chief Justice Roberts stating in the ruling, "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and- as it did here- inflict great pain......we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker." The words to focus on here is 'inflict great pain.' Since when has a peaceful assembly changed to meant that the protestors can inflict great pain in any way?
According to an article titled, The Racist Skinhead Project, the skinhead movement has kept evolving over the last 30 years. Skinhead is a slang word meaning a member of a group that has a shaven head and often takes apart in white-supremacist or anti-immigrate rallies/activities. Though some skinheads are not racist, a majority of them are. They often take part in neo-Nazi rallies. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes neo-Nazi groups as groups that share a hatred for Jews, gays, and other minorities and a love for Adolf Hitler. One of the major American neo-Nazi groups is the National Alliance which was William Pierce until his death. They hold several hateful rallies also, perceiving Jewish conspiracies. Is this going too far?
I believe that we should all take advantage of exercising our rights, but when does it become a problem. Over the last century, our country as evolved to allow more and more people equality and freedom. It seems that we are trying to create peace among races, genders, and ethnicities. If this is true, should we allow hateful protests to continue? If our words are just as strong and even stronger than our actions, how can hateful protests be allowed? It's Hate v. Peace, not Hate=Peace. We cannot perceived these hateful rallies as nothing more than a peaceful assemble of people because it is not representing peace at all. We need to set some boundaries for protestors because what we are doing now, which is nothing, isn't working.
Hate spreads a lot faster than peace ever will and as a country that has worked for eternal peace, we need to prevent the spread of hate. Again, we are taught to use nice words when we are younger because words can hurt just as much as action. As Chief Justice Roberts said, speech is powerful. It may even be one of the most powerful rights we have. But shouldn't we exercise that right in a positive way? These groups that I mentioned have used and abused their 1st Amendment rights. There should be some restrictions based on the motive behind protests. How else do we stop the hate?
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