Should They Be Allowed to Protest?
Martin Luther King Jr. once said “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people” (“Martin Luther King Jr.”). The mission of Black Lives Matter is to campaign against the violence toward people of color. The organization wants to counter the silence that Martin Luther King Jr. is talking about in his quote. Members of Black Lives Matter believe that they are the good people and that it is their job to make known through protesting the importance of realizing that black lives matter and that police brutality toward black people is unacceptable. They believe that their right to protest is guaranteed in the first amendment in the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, the protesting of Black Lives Matter has caused disruptions to society’s normal routine. Black Lives Matter has also instilled the idea that black lives matter, but have given no credit to the idea that white lives also matter. Rather than talking things out with authority figures, Black Lives Matter has resulted to protesting to make their ideas known.
Foremost, an important event in the realm of Black Lives Matter and their protesting was the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. A witness of the shooting stated in an interview that Michael Brown “didn’t have any weapons in his hand as he was walking toward the police officer” (Witness 17). According to this witness, Michael Brown was unarmed when he was shot by a police officer. Black Lives Matter protests against police violence in cases like this one. The police are also closely linked with the prosecutors in court. For this reason, in cases involving police officers, prosecution is often delayed. An article in the New York Times reads “that prosecutors and police officers work closely together everyday creates a conflict of interest. It makes it difficult for many prosecutors to vigorously pursue cases of police wrongdoing” (“Voters Tell D.A.s, Black Lives Matter”). Through their protesting, Black Lives Matter wants this fact to change. They want cases involving police officers to be treated the same way as cases not involving police officers.
In addition, the first amendment of the Bill of Rights 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” (Madison). Mark O’Mara reminds us that “our right to free speech and assembly, the first right guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, is the cornerstone of our liberty. It is what set America apart at our founding. It’s what makes us free and allows us to speak freely and criticize our government” (O’Mara). Because free speech is a guaranteed right, Black Lives Matter’s “right to peacefully demonstrate, whether at Rockefeller Center, the United Nations or the Mall of America should not be restrained” (O’Mara).
Likewise, a final reason that Black Lives Matter should be allowed to protest is that the organization is spreading an important message. Joshua DuBois, former head of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships said:
You don’t have to agree with every statement or tactic of every activist in the very broad Black Lives Matter movement, but we have to agree that they are putting some critical issues on the table. Issues like police brutality and criminal justice reform and implicit bias. We wouldn’t be talking about this if it wasn’t for Black Lives Matter. (Scott)
DuBois makes the point that police brutality and racial discrimination are big issues in today’s society and “thanks to the work of Black Lives Matter” (Maschinot) these issues are being brought to attention. Another organization, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, believes that Black Lives Matter should be allowed to protest because “it is important to affirm that God created our black brothers and sisters. They bear his image. They deserve safety, dignity, and respect” (Grant). A worship director named Michelle Higgins is quoted by Tobin Grant: “Black Lives Matter is not a mission of hate. Black Lives Matter is a movement on mission in the truth of God” (Grant). Black Lives Matter is sharing the important message that black people are created in the image of God and are to be treated as such.
Conversely, Black Lives Matter and their protest have caused many disruptions and inconveniences for innocent people. According to Daniel Victor of The New York Times, “Last December, an estimated 3,000 protesters shut down part of the Mall of America as part of a demonstration against police brutality” (Victor). That created an inconvenience for both customers and businesses in the Mall of America. Customers could not complete their shopping, and businesses could not make money if customers were not able to access their store. The following photograph, taken by Aaron Lavinsky of the Star Tribune, shows the chaos caused by a Black Lives Matter protest (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Protesters were at the Mall of America in December as part of the national Black Lives Matter movement. Trespassing charges have been dismissed, but other charges remain for some arrested protesters (Lavinsky).
Protesters temporarily shut down important operations and created disruptions to people who were just trying to finish some last minute shopping.
Unfinished Essay…