The Bill of Rights is a wonderful thing. It gives me the right to say what I like, and it gives you the right to say you disagree. It gives Ann Coulter the right to write what she wishes, and USA Today the right to say they won’t print it. And Americans have a fine heritage of disagreeing in word and deed. The history of protest in America goes back at least to the Boston Tea Party — which of course predates the Bill of Rights. Perhaps this incident is why the First Amendment specifically protects the right to assemble “peaceably.”
In my lifetime, protest has not always been peaceable. In fact, sometimes protest becomes very much like civil unrest. It is my personal opinion that many protests-turned-violent have a great deal to do with police “preacting” to problems: because protest is expected, police show in force; protesters feel oppressed, cops feel threatened; a small incident occurs somewhere and is met with overreaction; tear gas, beat-downs, and property destruction ensues. Scenes like this are undoubtedly the inspiration for segregated protest areas, sometimes called “demonstration areas” or “free speech zones.” This last euphemism disturbs me, as the First Amendment makes it clear that our entire nation is a free speech zone. Nevertheless, such zones have become all the rage in crowd control, and the issue of mind control must be left to the reader.
This week’s Democratic Convention in Boston has been marred by the existence of a free speech zone that is little more than a cage for protesters. This travesty, not the first of it’s kind, will likely be emulated at the Republican convention next month. There will be clear controls on where dissenting opinions may be voiced en masse. You have the right to say what you want, and you have the right to peaceably assemble, but apparently you don’t have the right to do both at once.
My fellow Americans, protest as we know it is dead.
Your views cannot be heard from inside a cage, whether that cage is in back of the convention center or in the county jail. Do not think that your views are so exalted that, like Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International will take up your cause. There is no point in getting thrown into the pokey for protesting in the wrong spot. There is no point in making a police office want to use tear gas or something worse on you. There are better ways of being heard.
Luckily, America has another fine tradition of dissent, policital prose. For examples, browse this list of documents. You can write down your thoughts. You can send a letter to the editor of any newspaper you like. You can sell bumper stickers and t-shirts with your message on them. You can send a mass mailer. You can ask to put up a poster at the local grocery store. You can rent space on a billboard. You can blog. Heck, you can send your opinion as spam and more people will hear it than if you were in a cage.
Remember, the Bill of Rights was written by people who overthrew the government.