WEEK 3

 

 First Amendment Rights and BLM

After reviewing America's historical timeline, the political spectrum from one decade to another is on a scale, and currently, that scale is leaning fairly left. The Black Lives Matter activist have taken over the mainstream media and the streets by rioting, destroying, and looting all sizes of businesses owners. This extreme behavior has divided the country and has left America in a predicament. One argument is that most of the Black Lives Matter noise comes from peaceful protestors rather than riots. Is this argument fair or is the movement taking advantage of their First Amendment rights?

The Wall Street Journal posted an article on September 10th, 2020 called "Kenosha Businesses Grapple With Damage to City." The author, Erin Ailworth, brings awareness to some of the destruction left by the rioters, specifically in Kenosha, Wisconsin. From this given situation, The freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are the most at play for the actions and arguments Black Lives Matter implement. Much of the extreme actions, like the image you see above, have taken away the rights of those who own those stores and businesses for doing nothing wrong. 

I think one of the reasons these protests became so extreme is because people have been on lock down for so long and they wanted a reason to leave. Even the people that felt like they were at an all-time low before the pandemic, really felt like they had nothing to lose if they participated or engaged in the movement. In this time, we need to find a way to compromise and improve the scale of imbalance. 

Click here to read the full article from the WSJ