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I Have the Right to.......Nov 06 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Lets stand up for what we believe in and defend it.
This is a paper for my College English Class. It is an argumentative essay about freedom of speech and I would like to have some feedback about it. Thank-x Twenty students living in Little Rock, Arkansas were suspended from school on Friday October 6th after silently protesting the school districts restrictive uniform policy by wearing black armbands to school. After the school district found out about the black armbands they violated the students rights of freedom of speech by disciplining and/or suspending about 30 students (“Arkansas Students”). Many people, like these students, are having their freedom of speech rights violated just because those we put in office don’t like what we say. What is it with our country that many incidents like this are happening all over? Not only are teachers and school districts doing it but law enforcement officers as well. One case dealt with a man and his sister being arrested while protesting at a rally in western Pennsylvania all because he carried a sign that read “The Bush family must surely love the poor – they made so many of us.” (“Free Speech”) Another was a woman was asked to take down her political lawn signs because it violated a “Borough ban on political signs”. The ban prohibits Americans to express political messages through signs placed on their lawns. It also grants greater protection to commercial speech than political speech. (“ACLU-NJ”) These are officials who run our cities, towns, states and country. What right do they have to tell us what our rights are. “We the people of the United States of America”, that’s what the first line of the Constitution says, not “We the Government who runs the United States of America”. That line “We the People” means that it is the people who run the country. We just elect others to manage our affairs with other countries, etc. “The Land of the Free” is another phrase that is not even considered as well. Why then is our freedom of speech taken for granted by those we put in charge to uphold those laws? This seriously weakens our nation because we are not working as a team. Our nation is being split apart at the seams because our rights and liberties are being violated. ACLU staff attorney Holly Dickson stated, “When government officials try to intimidate people from exercising their free speech rights, and punish them because they don’t like what they have to say, it’s a serious free speech violation.” She continued on to say “The students who had the courage to wear a simple armband are faced with failing grades and exclusion from school activities. Watson Chapel School District has had every chance to prevent this, but they have refused to correct their mistakes. These parents have no choice but to file a lawsuit to protect their children’s rights.” (“Arkansas Students”) Can you believe this? Grade schools to High school level students are having their free speech rights taken away from them. We need to stop this. I have received many remarks from some people over the Internet and they believe that I am merely saying that I am against school uniforms. No! I am against the fact that they had their freedom of speech right violated. One comment I got from one of my readers was “Much has been made about "it's a free country" but when the government (i.e. schools) can limit speech they deem unacceptable, where will it end? Freedom of speech is not unlimited; the 'yelling fire in a crowded theater' defense has validity. Political expression does not represent a threat.”(iwasnotanazipolka) The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”(“The Bill of Rights”) We as a people have a right to petition the government when they continually violate our rights. We cannot let our own government and those who represent us, the free people, do this. It is happening all over. I have given many examples and I could give more. Why? We may ask. I’m not exactly sure but I think it’s a matter of power, control, and damaged pride. Their pride is continually being challenged and so they get others to do their dirty work by putting people like Bill Neel and his sister, Joyce, into jail because they did not like what they were protesting. Bill was complaining about “free speech zones and commented when he was told to enter the “designated free speech zone” “I quietly refused, stating that a designated free-speech zone is a contradiction in terms and that the whole country is a free speech zone.” He was taken into custody, charged with disorderly conduct and finally after two hours released. Bill Neel is the man I spoke of earlier with the sign about the Bush family loving the poor. Bill Neel also made this comment; “I’ve lived in the Pittsburgh area all my life and I recently retired after thirty five years on the job at Armco Steel. I enlisted in the Army in 1958 and was honorably discharged from the reserves in 1964. I know what it is to be a patriot and I know I have a right to criticize my government. But if the Bush Administration had its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind. I think anyone who calls him a patriot ought to be as concerned about this as I am.”(“Free Speech”) I believe that if we were to stand together we could convince the government that we are powerful, we can protest about what we do not like. The Decleration of Independence says that we have the responsibility to take action if a situation arises for us to take action. So let us take action and provide for ourselves better guards for our future security. Don’t allow others to violate your freedom of speech rights. Works Cited Page “ACLU-NJ Secures right to display political lawn signs.” ACLU.com. 1/3/2005 American Civil Liberties Union. www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/11514res20050103.html “Arkansas Students Wrongly Punished for Wearing Armbands to School, According to ACLU Lawsuit.” ACLU.com. 10/10/2006. American Civil Liberties Union. www.aclu.org/freespeech/youth/207038prs20061010.html “Free Speech under fire: The ACLU Challenge to “Protest Zones.”’ ACLU.com. 9/23/2003. American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/11418res20030923.html The Bill of Rights, Amendment I. USINFO.STATE.GOV. http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm iwasnotanazipolka, Reply to “I Have the Right to…” answers.yahoo.com. 10/28/2006 Yahoo Answers. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvPh32mGxYTvJO2KC_RLrljsy6IX?qid=20061030004256AAhFgbx  |
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