Violence Is Not the Answer

On August 11, 2017, there was a rally in Charlottesville, VA called "Unite the Right rally" which left 3 dead and 34 people injured. The purpose of the rally was to remove the confederate soldier, Robert E. Lee's statue from the Emancipation Park. Later that night, it went from a peaceful protest to a violent protest that led the state of Virginia to go on a state of emergency. According to ABC's channel 13 WSET posted a timeline of the events that happened from August 11th - August 13th. That night of the rally, on August 11th, over a hundred white supremacists held lit up torches and marched through University of Virginia's campus and ended up turning deadly. Many were carrying offensive flags, saying racial thigs, and carrying dangerous weapons.

On August 12th, 2017, the riot was so bad that the state had to declare a state of emergency. Hours after President Donald Trump has tweeted about the situation that was going on, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr, plowed through a crowd of people leaving 3 dead and 19 people injured. Later that day, 3 other people have been arrested due to their violent behavior.

In the United States, there are Bill of Rights. Bill of Rights are amendments that gurantees rights such as freedom of speech, assembley, and worship. So, what happened? what led for this to happen? was the first amendment and other laws broken? In the first amendment, it says " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free excercise 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". 

Eventhough the first amendment talks about freedom of speech, there has been some laws broken. On the LIS Virginia Law website under civil action can be taken for racial, religious, ethic harrassment, violence, and vandilasim says; "An action for injunctive relief or civil damages, or both, shall lie for any person who is subjected to acts of (i) intimidation or harassment or (ii) vandalism directed against his real or personal property, where such acts are motivted by racial, religious, or ethnic animosity".

As stated in the first amendment, people do have a freedom of speech. People can protest so their voices can be heard, but it was wrong for the white supremacist to do what they did the do of the rally. Since they werent against taking down the stature, they shouldn't have spread the word to meet up and do hateful and harmful things to protestors. They didn't break the first amendment because they were using their freedom of speech, but they shouldn't have done it in such a hateful way.



“Title 8.01. Civil Remedies and Procedure.” § 8.01-42.1. Civil Action for Racial, Religious, or Ethnic Harassment, Violence or Vandalism, law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter3/section8.01-42.1/. 

“Charlottesville: 'Unite the Right' Rally, State of Emergency.” Time, Time, time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/.


Doss, Catherine. “Timeline of Events for Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville.” WSET, 13 Aug. 2017, wset.com/news/local/timeline-of-events-for-unite-the-right-rally-in-charlottesville. 
  

Comments

  1. Julie Quinn TACMarch 25, 2018 at 6:54 AM

    Did three people die? I only see one in the reports, but of course many were injured, some significantly. I think what can be explored is that even "freedom of speech" has its limitations. The description that has always been effective, I think, is that one's freedom of speech reaches only so far as another's person. Once their speech affects the safety or reputation of the next person, the original's speaker's speech can be limited.
    And that hate speech could indeed, break the law. It instituted a riot that resulted in illegal violent actions. A judge/jury will decide the fate of Fields and his compatriots and see how liable Kessler and the Unite the Right organizers were in instigating violence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pervaizmMarch 25, 2018 at 9:16 PM

      This is a really great post. You included a lot of important background information like mentioning the Bill of Rights. One thing I would add is that Every right granted to us has certain limitations to it so is America really the land of the free ?

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