Argumentative Essay: The First Amendment

The sun is bright and the air is cold. In the background you can see the walls of the rigid, stone courthouse. There is no foot traffic around the courthouse which lends to the beginning or the end of the day. In front of the courthouse is a peaceful group invoking their First Amendment right to peaceful assembly. The clothes identify those gathered as everyday people. Most are dressed in long pants, jackets and sweaters. These are not people with money, yet one holds a purse firmly at her side. On the ground bottles are scattered purposely. The bottles are different sizes and colors. All of the bottles share something in common, they are prescriptions, some empty, while others appear to have pills in them. The shadows of the protesters shade
I think that the depiction of the calm in the group helps get their message out to the public. The strength portrayed in a group standing outside the local courthouse is uplifting. These are everyday people, patients, and advocates for a cause that is important to them. The First Amendment of the United States says that we have freedom of speech, but it also states that we have the right to assemble peacefully in a public place. I think that it is too often that we see angry and out of control protests about controversial topics, but not in this case. I believe one of the most powerful aspects of this photo is the body language shown in the way the people are standing. Their stances are dominant without being aggressive. The strength is pictured in the closeness of the group; their faces need not be shown to capture the emotions of this
I think that this photo depicts the lack of choices that these people have in regards to their health care treatments. It clearly shows a fight between patients and the government criminalizing an option that they feel would help them. Burgess Everett, a Politico Journalist used this photo to grab the attention of his readers, the report was about an ongoing struggle between the State and Federal Governments to legalize the use of medical marijuana. These patients are demanding access to a treatment option that the government is still imprisoning people for possessing, consuming and legally selling under state law. (Everett) Photojournalist, Ric Francis has spent his career capturing the visions of children, humanitarian efforts, and expressions of injustice. Ric Francis, received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communications from The City of New York in 1989, from there he went on to work for many newspapers as a photojournalist and notably the Associated Press. He has traveled around the world capturing life as it is happening. (Francis) His eye for catching humans in action did not elude him