Saturday, April 27, 2024

Peaceful Protest

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Peaceful Protest

 

The first amendment to the constitution

Our fundamental human rights

Is not just freedom of speech

Not just freedom of and from religion

The first amendment includes

The right to peaceful protest

The right to gather on the public square

To raise your collective voices

To challenge government authority

To express a dissenting view

 

To be free from police harassment

To be secure in your safety

To expect public servants to protect you

In the engagement of your rights

Is as fundamental to our republic

As the right to vote

 

A government that abhors protest

That suppresses public activism

That punishes those who march

That beats protestors with riot sticks

That demands passive obeyance

That regards protestors as mobs

That employs violent dispersal

Does not deserve the name

Of a republic

 

Let the students be

Let them engage their civil rights

Let them practice the art of politics

Let them demonstrate their involvement

As citizens of a democratic state

 

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