Does the 1st Amendment really mean Free Speech?
On August 11 and 12, 2017 white nationalists who supported a statue of Robert E Lee to be removed was caught in an act of violence when a car ran through counter protesters. Heather Hynes, who was a counter protester at the time, was killed due to the car ramming, and 11 arrests were made.
Was this an act of terrorism?
According to Time Magazine, the Saturday before the violence erupted, white nationalists who supported the cause, went through Charlottesville with burning torches. The next day, James Alex Fields Jr rammed his car through counter protesters killing Hynes and wounding several others. According to CNN, it was a domestic act of terrorism. Reasons for being an act of terrorism:
1)      James Alex Fields Jr used his car as a weapon
2)      He wasn’t directly in contact with foreign organizations
3)      Domestic terrorism is defined as global-jihad-inspired individuals that are located in the United States
When was the line crossed?
The line was crossed in many scenarios of this incident. First, Fields was originally charged with second degree murder of unintentionally harming the counter protesters but after reviewing the evidence, second degree murder was quickly removed, replacing it with first degree murder. Many people were pleased with this change, including Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Hynes. “I feel this is part of what I owe my child,” Bro claims. “It behooves me to be strong. It also renews my sense of purpose about why I am doing what I am doing. I would like to say no other mother has to have her child die for social justice, but I know that’s not happening, so I will do my part,” New York Magazine reports.
That was the first time Bro had seen Fields in person.
Not only was the line crossed because of murder, there is also many arguments that the line was crossed with the First Amendment. Even though the first amendment protects citizens for free speech, there are some exceptions that the US Construction does not protect in the first amendment. For example, Countable reports the first amendment does not protect citizens from crimes against free speech.
Wasn’t there are crime against the protesting?
James Alex Fields committed the crime, killing Hynes and injuring several others. His actions during the protest was not supported because it involved a crime. Also another reason why the line was crossed with the first amendment was because the protesters were threating others with their words. Began yelling the marchers: “Blood and soil!” and “”You will not replace us!” This is violating the first amendment because it is targeting people with harm or death. As stated in the first amendment, threats and crimes are not protected in the US Constitution.
Because of these reasons, that is why the state of Virginia was put in a state of emergency. This rally was not protected under the US Constitution and often labeled under domestic terrorism.
Therefore, the Unite the Right rally was a bigger issue that had to be resolved before lives were put in danger. Even though the rally was quieted down, the affects it had on people will last a lifetime. 

Comments

  1. Julie Quinn TACMarch 23, 2018 at 1:48 PM

    Do you mean Heather Hayer was the one who was murdered by Fields? I also wonder about #3. What do you mean by global-jihad-inspired individuals? the term "jihad" is Arabic for "the struggle" and often means a struggle against enemies of Islam. Is that term being appropriated by CNN at this point to represent any religionist or nationalist violent movement? Now that would be an interesting turn of events.
    So multiple crimes happened during the rally/protest. From threats of violence to murder. My question is--what'll happen to politically sensitive protests in the future? What does this signal?

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