Argumentative Essay: The Kneel To The Constitution

Kneel to the Constitution One knight created all this chaos. He stood up to his whole nation to defend his race by kneeling humbly. He believed that blacks were still treated unequally in the U.S. today. It started on August 14th, 2016. One man against a whole nation. During the national anthem before an NFL game, he knelt in protest. It was a peaceful and quiet form of protest. People started yelling at him, calling him a traitor and others wanted him to be punished. The people of the United States have the right to protest during the national anthem because it is protected by their 1st Amendment rights.
The constitution protects the people’s right to assemble and express their opinion freely. The protests were widely criticized by the American public, especially recently due to president Donald Trump’s recent comments. He said that these players were being unlawful and should be jailed or fired. This is a reoccurring problem with
president Donald Trump. He continues to blast the 1st Amendment which states: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This means that by kneeling, NFL players are silent protesting to give their opinion on the treatment of black people. They did it through “freedom of speech” and they were all together to “peaceably assemble”. They have every right to protest about the treatment of African Americans and they definitely should not be jailed for exerting their rights.
The opposition would say these NFL players are disrespecting our national anthem and they should just stand for just 2 minutes of the song of the greatest country in the world.
Notably, Trump, our president said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” This however is wrong; the American people are standing up for Blacks and are allowed to disrespect the flag just as well as the national anthem. In Supreme Court decision Texas vs Johnson in 1989, the Supreme Court decided that it was Constitutional to burn the American flag because it is a form of free speech. Also in supreme court case Snyder vs Phelps, people were performing disrespectful peaceful protests at several marine’s funeral. Both of these fall under the 1st Amendment. This shows that no matter how disrespectful a form of “free speech” or “peaceably protesting”, the NFL players are still legally protected by the federal
government.
The protesting of the national anthem shows advancement in our country. This was the purpose of the 1st Amendment. The Amendment defends the right to freedom of speech and to peacefully protest so that if the people of the United States disagree with the government, they can do something about it. Without the 1st Amendment, the government would be able to imprison anyone that disagreed with it opinions. Protest have shaped the United States in historical events such as The March on Washington of 1963. This is why protests should be allowed, because standing up for what is right, makes America great.
Not only are these protests legal under the 1st Amendment, but they also benefit the people. As much as people might not like it, minorities are legally standing up for themselves. If it is not allowed now, then what about in the future? Will we ever have the right to protest again?