Freedom of Assembly and Petition are under Attack

Amendment I – Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

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.

Attack on Freedom of Assembly

Right to Assemble?The statement “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably to assemble” has been violated. People have been hosed, battered, clubbed, tear-gassed, strong-armed, injured, shot, and killed by the police and National Guard during peaceful demonstrations, picketing, strikes, and sit-ins. Remember Kent State University on May 4, 1970, where the National Guard shot and killed four students and injuring nine others during a peaceable assembly?

Right of Free Speech and Association.L_RCONTRARIAN (2009) posted on Drudge Retort that the Obama administration began engaging in the U.N. Human Rights Council held in Geneva, by calling for limits on freedom of expression. Obama chose to join the Council despite the fact that the Organization of the Islamic Conference holds the balance of power and top human rights abusers including China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Islamic states interpreted the president’s engagement as fundamental rights were now up for grabs. Few would have predicted that it would begin with America’s most treasured freedom. In 1992, the United States ratified the main international law treaty, which addresses freedom of expression. They carefully attached reservations to ensure that the treaty could not restrict the right of free speech and association protected by the Constitution.

Attack on Freedom of Petition

Redress of Grievances?The statement “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” has been violated. Throughout American history, there have been numerous petitions to the government for redress of grievances. To wit, the following addresses a few of the oppressed people that the government had rebuffed in their petitions to redress their grievances:

• Blacks -Black Americans whose ancestors that slave traders had kidnapped from Africa, sold as chattel, and enslaved at hard labor for many years. Some of their slave-owners harshly treated and terribly abused them. Their plight went unheard for years until the American Civil War freed them.
• Indians -Early settlers robbed Native Americans (the American Indians) of their lands, killed them indiscriminately, and degraded and forced them to live on reservations. They were the original owner of the land, but the settlers robbed them.
• Japanese –President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese Americans in detention camps during World War II just because they looked like the enemy. The federal government confiscated their lands and private property and never returned them to their rightful owners. To add insult to injury, Congress voted to pay $25,000 to every American of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) the government had incarcerated in these concentration camps. However, I know no AJA who has yet received a single penny of that grant.

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“If ever [a] time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” ~ Samuel Adams

Reference

L-CONTRARIAN (2009, October 7). At the UN, Obama administration backs limits on free speech. Drudge Retort. Retrieved from www.drudge.com/news/125891/un-obama-administration-backs-limits.