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.
In the first Amendment it is stated that “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” But our rights are being taken away under the claim that protests are “dangerous.” However, the real danger here is not the protests themselves—it is the punishment that comes with trying to exercise our rights. These actions go against the very freedoms we are supposed to have, and they ignore what the Constitution promises us.
If we cannot protest or speak out, how are we supposed to make change happen? By stopping protests, we are taking away the public’s ability to have a voice in what happens in our country. We are even taking away a sense of community. The First Amendment is meant to protect our right to speak out and demand change, but the government’s actions are making it harder for young people to do that. When we take away their ability to protest, we are silencing a huge part of our democracy.
According to a current student at Columbia University — my cousin — believes that it is terrible that there is a possibility of banning protest. Regardless of what subject is being protested, anyone and everyone should be able to express themselves as it is a protected right. On a private school the rules are different.While protesting on a normal campus is fine private schools can kick you out. Even while they could most of the time, they do not mind as much as President Trump seems to. And, if we take away funding for schools how do we expect our future to be better?
Silencing protests is not the solution to these problems; it is the problem itself. The real danger is taking away our rights to speak up and act. We need to ask ourselves: how can we move forward as a country if we continue to shut down the voices of those who want to make a difference? But now the question is, do students and teachers with green cards have the same rights as born Americans. We know that they should, but are they truly protected? The answer is no, even though they have green cards and even being a born citizen, no one is being protected.
The rights we have in the First Amendment are crucial and non-negotiable. It is time we started protecting them for the sake of everyone’s future, especially the younger generation.
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