Our future depends on protecting the rights of protest
By Dega Hartwick / For The Herald
Protesting and expressing our opinions is a key part of our right to freedom of speech. But what if I told you that this right is being taken away from students and teachers?
Across the country, college students and teachers are being arrested, deported, and fined just for speaking out about their concerns. This seems unfair, especially since the First Amendment guarantees this right. It feels like people are being punished for doing something the law allows. To make matters worse, our president is even threatening to cut funding to schools that allow “violent” protests.
This situation raises a serious issue: We are being punished for a right that was given to us by our founding fathers. It is ironic because in many cases, we are told we should be able to start a protest group, but then, as you can see, we cannot do that without facing serious consequences. It is not just the risk of being arrested, deported, or fined, but there is also the violence that sometimes happens during these protests. And this violence is often made worse by the government’s crackdown on people who are just trying to express their opinions. Our rights are being taken because they are “dangerous” even though the only true danger is the unfair punishments being given to people who are just exercising their rights.
We are taking the voices of our youth. It is like we are going back in time; we are supposed to be moving forward with youth not shutting them out.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/youth-forum-our-future-depends-on-protecting-the-rights-of-protest/