I Have the Right to..........(Finished)?

Question

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.




Please tell me what you think........i have also included the works cited page so you can look up my sources.
Works Cited Page
“ACLU-NJ Secures right to display political lawn signs.” ACLU.com. 1/3/2005American Civil Liberties Union.
www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/11514res20050103.html
“Arkansas Students Wrongly Punished for Wearing Armbands to School, According toACLU 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. 10/28/2006Yahoo Answers.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvPh32mGxYTvJO2KC_RLrljsy6IX?qid=20061030004256AAhFgbx

Hey Jesus Murphy.......what you were saying about anyone who protests against the government read the following News Ad.

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/20750prs20061012.html

Answer 1

Ma'am, I agree with you. Many schools are limiting freedom, because it gives a school a "gang reputation". Honestly, they think that anything that speaks out against the school is 'gang-related'. I'm not saying that we should ignore possible gang and violence related activity, but something like wearing a wrist band isn't gonna kill someone. [but come on! for uniform?! Get over it! there are more inportant things in life than your clothes!] And is definitely not supposed to be punished by expulsion. Of course if it violated a dress code then it could be punishable by a detention, but not expulsion from activities.
Also, I think that the politicians would pay more attention to young people if more young people showed more interest in politics and voting.
Plus, stuff like the protestrors getting arested, is still unknown in the American public, because the people take their rights for granted and dont' see the threats to them. They probably won't miss them until they're gone. They are just to busy with they're MTV and malls, to care about the community. What's gotta happen is that the power has got to go back to the people. Our schools teach the importance of staying away from drugs and violence and sex, but they don't say any words of encouragemetn about voting. Some do, but not enough. And that's another thing that has got to take place. I agree with you that we should do something about our speech rights being taken away. But as you can tell, protesting is not gonna get us anywhere. We've got to take the matter into our own hands. Like joining Congress, and law. I personally am considering joining politics.

Answer 2

Oh, grow the bloody (something) up!

Now listen. The right of freedom of speech may be under attack. If you feel it is, take it up to your Supreme Court (or whatever the US's highest court is). I personally believe Bill of Rights are not beneficial to us at all, but rather reduces our society's standards in a wider view.

BoR has that nasty habit of once being entrenched in the Constitution of staying almost forever. Yes, its in the Constitution. But there are also laws that restrict the scope of FoS. And guess what? They are equally important. Why? Because here's the dirty little secret. The constitution is not higher than the law. The constitution does not have more authority than statues. The constitution is a guideline written down that Parliament MUST follow to the letter to make law and go about their everyday business, but that does not mean that the Constitution over writes everything and anything.

It is no doubt a fact that gun owners in the US who uses them are breaking the Constitution. Why? Because that was not what the constitution meant by US citizens able to have arms. That was for when a foreign country or force invades, that the people then, and ONLY then, can arm themselves. But guess what? Current interpretations sets that amendment as arms for all. I am not pro- or anti- gun. I don't care. I don't live in the US, so meh. But as you can see from taht example, the Constitution does not over-write anything. It is a guideline subject to interpretation by the courts of the US, and if Parliament legislate certain laws that "infringes" those writes, the courts must rule them Ultra Vires. If they don't, then they are legal and fine.

In 2001, in Canada, who also uses a Federal system of Parliament, and has a BoR, had this case:
R VS Sharpe (2001) - in regards to Sharpe owning Child Pronagraphy. The argument presented by Mr. Sharpe was that these pictures were perfectly valid, as he has the power of "freedom of speech." Yes, in his defense, it can be said that "Hey, these stuff is his stuff, something that he believes in, and so are valid." But the Canadian Court ruled against him. No, you are not allowed to have child porn. If any country were to allow the constitution, in which the words are written in futuro and attempts to cover all circumstance, and hence can be ambigious and brief, to rule them, then child porn would be legal and I could walk around your house (freedom of movement)! But there are limits. There must be limits, otherwise more and more people, some similar to the writers of sites that you presented, who will abuse the Constitution.

Answer 3

Welcome to post 9/11, post Patriot Act America, folks! You have the right to realize that you no longer have any rights, because the Patriot Act has destroyed both the US Constitution and the Bill Of Rights!!! Free speech? It's dead, forget about it. Freedom of expression...what the f--k's that mean anymore?

And, don't forget, speaking out in support of these freedoms, these f--king god-given RIGHTS will make you a TERRORIST in the eyes of Homeland Security because HS brands all the Consitutionalists into the same category as Al-CIAeda!!!!

...Seriously, you need to get in contact with these guys and send them what you've posted here; they'll find it interesting, because what you're talking about is just one example out of hundreds going on right across the country:

www.infowars.com
www.prisonplanet.com

Answer 4

To the people who are giving this young lady negative feedback:

It is absolutely ridiculous that you choose to verbally attack this girl simply because she has chosen to fight for her right to exercise free speech. Who are you to belittle what these kids are doing? You forget that we were all children at one time and held certain issues near and dear to our hearts. This young lady isn't acting like a brat at all and neither are the other children. They have chosen to let their voices be heard in a constructive manner. They have chosen to express their opinions in a good way rather than, for example, protesting the dress code by going to school half naked and yelling at the authority figures. The kids should be congradulated as opposed to being criticized regardless of how you feel about the issues that they are concerned about.

And as far as comparing a homeless man fighting for his rights to "a brat pack of inmature kids that are whinning about a stupid school uniform" is concerned... The wonderful thing about the right to free speech is that it should include everyone regardless of age and the issues with which people are concerned. I find no wrong in the above comparison. But I'll tell you what comparisons I think are absolutely absurd... comparing the right to exercise free speech to the possession of child pornography and "walking around someone's house" (I'm assuming that you meant "walking around INSIDE of someone's house"). Firstly, possessing child pornography is supporting actions which rob children of their right to not be harmed. Secondly, entering someone's home without their permission violates the person's right to privacy. Thirdly, you speak of limits. You're exactly right... There ARE limits, which brings me to my point... The limit on free speech is that the exercise of free speech is not to violate any of our other rights: the right to life, the right to be free from harm, the right to privacy, the right to own property, etc...

You people who are attacking this young lady are the ones who should GROW UP! And furthermore, if you have something more important to do other than concerning yourself with what she and the other kids have to say then why did you take the time to respond to her question/post? Maybe you should try to find something constructive to do with your time that doesn't include attacking children on Yahoo Answers. I really hope this girl isn't discouraged by your rantings. Why don't you try acting like an adults?

Answer 5

Students in public schools have very limited rights concerning dress. There's many policy reasons for this.

If you're interested in some reading on the topic, see Tinker v. Des Moines. It's an older case, and it doesn't apply *completely* to your situation, but you may find it useful.

Answer 6

Ok, now that you are finished. Here is my humble opinion. You are twisting the law for your own benefit. How can you compare a homeless man fighting for his rights,... and you,... a brat pack of inmature kids that are whinning about a stupid school uniform. If your going to fight this, go ahead but we have more things WAY more important than your little tantrums about wearing bad clothes to school. It takes one apple to rotten the others,... thats the reason they wont allow you to do your won thing. And that black armband?..... the nazis wore them too!