Gender Inequality in the workplace

Protesters Rights

Introduction

The First Amendment of the United States grants safety for different forms of protest by protecting the right to peacefully assemble in public and the right to free speech. Individuals and Groups that want to exercise their First Amendment rights by protesting can have their voices heard anywhere from parks, sidewalks, and public spaces. Regarding the amount and the location of protesters, some cities require you to have a permit to carry out your protest. Protesting has and will forever be an important part of American life and history because it garners attention to urgent issues and injustices. There are violent and non-violent protests in social movements that can be found in past centuries from the Civil Rights Movement to the anti-war protest. Today, protesting remains relevant because it's the only way for people to speak about the injustice happening in the United States. For example, the Black Lives Matter protest that protested against police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people/ African Americans. Even if a protest does get violent it doesn't give the Police the right to be violent towards protesters. Given that protesting is the only legal way to get our voices heard, protesters shouldn't be treated like criminals when they are fighting for justice and equality.

Non-Violent Protests

Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement chose non-violence as a way to get rid of systematic racism, discrimination, inequality, and racial segregation. The people trusted and followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s plan of non-violent protest and resistance. Martin Luther King led non-violent protesters to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, to make their voices heard. According to Miller (2018), “ For 381 days, Martin Luther King and thousands of other black residents marched through the cold rain and blazing heat, ignoring and enduring death threats and violence they received”. As a matter of fact, the civil rights movement engaged the law in two basic ways. One was for activists to demand a change to established law. Laws and government policies that discriminated against African Americans defined southern society.

The sit-in movement was different. Black/African American students decided to sit in front of the table at coffee shops and restaurants that had a “whites only” sign upfront. The cops were called and the situation escalated with some students being dragged and beaten from the sits, and with some being arrested. As the sit-in movement spread across the South, many were left wondering Where did this all come from?. The students emphasized the spontaneous elements of the sit-ins. The protests, they insisted over and over again, were nothing more than a necessary, commonsense response to this particular racial injustice. They were tired of the indignities of segregation, and no one seemed to be doing anything that actually changed their lives, so they took it upon themselves to bring change. The sit-in movement was a break from the past. In the 1940s, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a newly formed interracial organization committed to nonviolent protest, led restaurant sit-ins in Chicago and other states.

Some people didn’t understand that what the students were doing was a challenge to existing laws, specifically, the Jim Crow Laws. They wanted to have the use of state authority to protect racial discrimination at lunch counters. It was an opportunity for them to enforce existing law, that is, the constitutional requirements of Brown v. Board of Education. The Brown v. Board of Education strikes down state-mandated segregation in schools. By 1960 most southern states had either removed segregation statutes from the books. Most of the privately-owned lunch counters the students targeted were not compelled to discriminate by law. But they were also required not to discriminate by law. Outside the South, many states and localities had civil rights laws that prohibited racial discrimination in eating establishments and other public accommodations.

With the recent attacks of hate crimes going on against Asians

Violent Protests

The Hong Kong Protest that happened in 2019 took the world by storm because of the violence portrayed by the police against the protesters. The protest was held because Hong Kong citizens were against the bill that allows extradition to mainland China. In other words, they were against the bill that allowed criminals to be deported to China. Hong Kongers feared for their safety because they would be exposed to violence. Fights between police and protesters became violent day by day, It became so out of control that the police had to start firing live bullets into the crowd of protesters and protesters started throwing petrol bombs as a response. The protest began peacefully until the protesters were met with an unreasonable amount of police force with which the government response escalated the situation into an unforgettable disaster. According to BBC News (2019), “An 18-year-old was shot in the chest with a live bullet… One week later, a policeman shot a protester at close range…”. With the violence increasing with each protest, Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam suspended the bill indefinitely. However, protests still continued and they demanded an investigation into police actions.

In research from Article 19 (2016), “Law enforcement should have a range of less-lethal equipment at their disposal that allows for the differentiated use of force in full respect of the principles of necessity and proportionality, and ensures that harm and injury are kept to a minimum…”. Also, “ Law enforcement officials must ensure that anyone injured or affected as a result of the use of force receives immediate assistance and medical aid at the earliest possible opportunity, and must report the incident promptly to superiors who must ensure an effective review is carried out by independent administrative or prosecutorial authorities who have the power to exercise authority when appropriate”.

Personal Experience

I woke up and opened my phone to 2 missed calls and 28 messages from me and my friend’s group chat. In the messages, they talked about the death of George Floyd, the protesting that was happening in Minneapolis because of his death, and how much they hate the police. They sent a video of his arrest and It made me sick to the stomach while watching it. An African/American man, a father, a husband, and a brother killed inhumanely by so-called police officers. To me, they were just thugs in uniform with a gun. I immediately texted the group chat and told them how sickening and angry I felt and they told me they felt the same way. Patience suggested that we attend one of the many protests happening tomorrow in downtown Chicago from 3 till whenever we want to go home. She sent us the flyer that was made on Facebook that informed us about the location, what time, and things we should do to stay safe. Patience is an African girl that I met in 6th grade and we have been friends ever since. Marcus is an Afro-Latin gay boy who I met my freshman year in Highschool and the three of us grew real close over time. My parents had work, so I told them I was going to meet up with my friends and hang out with them. After all, I didn't want them to worry about my safety because I knew that If I told the truth they wouldn't have let me go.

The night before I decided to go to the protest I knew I had to take precautions such as wearing clothes and items that couldn’t be identified. I had to get sunglasses because I heard the police were pepper-spraying people. When I got ready that morning I felt so powerful I had something to fight for. I knew I couldn’t stay home and post about things that I saw on social media anymore. I wanted to go down there and show those Officers that Black Lives do matter and that we were sick and tired of being treated like animals in fact animals are even treated better than Black people. I got the posters that I made which said, “BLACK LIVES MATTER” “STOP KILLING US”, and started to head downtown to meet my two friends. I got on the train which seemed to be filled with other Black lives matter protesters headed downtown. When the train stopped at “Chicago and State”, almost everybody came out of the train. A whole crowd of people with signs, bookbags, milk, etc walked toward the same direction I was going. I felt a rush of shivers down my body. My head was filled with random thoughts and emotions thinking to myself how exciting and amazing this was that many people wanted change and were fed up with police brutality. Police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police officer acts with excessive force by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary. Excessive force by law enforcement officers is a violation of a person's rights. Excessive force is not subject to a precise definition, but it is generally beyond the force a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer would use under the circumstances.

The crowd was diverse, filled with people of all races and ethnicities. African Americans, Latinos, Whites, Mexicans, etc. I saw my two friends waiting for me in the Mcdonalds by the train. Patience sign said, “BLM” and underneath it said ”ACAB”. Marcus had a sign that said “Black LGBTQ Lives Matter”. As we walked towards the bridges the first thing that caught my attention was that there weren’t any rioters, no one was armed it just looked so beautiful seeing different ethnicities joining the fight. As we were marching and shouting, “Black Lives Matter” in the heat, the police came rushing out of their vehicles with so much protective gear on and all I could think of was that we are all just normal people with rights protesting against police

brutality. Nobody had any dangerous weapons with them. The only thing other protesters brought were milk, plastic cups, water, and snacks. So why was the police in tear gas masks, shields, batons, vests, and guns?. I and my friends immediately looked at each other thinking the same thing but we kept marching. We moved closer towards the Trump Tower and there was a border of Police officers and I’m guessing what looked like the National Guards between the protesters. The people that were in front of us staring down the officers were Black women. I was so surprised and scared for them because at any moment something bad could happen to them but these ladies stood with their hands up in the air shouting things like “Don’t shoot my black kids” or “Hands up don’t shoot”. Another Black lady with a microphone instructed all the white men and women to get in front of the officers because she knew nothing would happen to them. All the other protesters including me and my friends were all kneeling in front of the officers still chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace”. Suddenly the police started to push the protesters back because we were getting closer to the Trump Tower. The pushing started turning into hitting. People were helping each other up and suddenly the tear gas came in. Everybody was yelling, pushing, coughing, crying, and asking for help. Other protesters with milk were quick to help the injured. The police honestly didn’t care who they were hitting or pepper spraying. As the officers continued pushing the protesters we started pushing back trying to get closer to Trump Tower. That’s when they started grabbing people and arresting them.

I tried to hold onto my friend Marcus but the officers were hitting me with their baton on my hand and in my stomach. More force was being used and I fell. While falling I saw one of the protesters trying his hardest to pick me up but an officer was stomping on Patience’s foot. I told one of the protesters to help her up. As I got up so much anger rose inside of me and I just started shouting at the officers but that didn’t stop them. When they saw we were outnumbered they kept coming at us. We had no choice but to run. The protester that helped me got me some water and stayed with me for a little while. I realized I was alone and heard they lifted all the bridges and suspended CTA trains so I was just stuck down there. I just started walking straight not knowing where I was going I was thinking to myself what next? What’s going to happen after we protest, what’s going to change? It didn't matter if we were peaceful or not. As I was walking around aimlessly I saw young kids on the ground just crying from being pepper-sprayed, others were just bleeding from their mouths. So much was going on I couldn’t wrap my head around everything. I wondered where my friends were and if they were okay. My ribs were still in pain from being hit. Everybody was on the phone trying to get an Uber to come but no cars could come to pick up the protesters because everywhere was blocked no cars could come in or go out. I stopped and asked this young woman that was wearing a suit if she knew how to get on the other side and thankfully she directed me to the river walk and I could see the street and cars. Eventually, I called an Uber and was able to get back home. It was around 11 when I got back home and on the news, all I saw on the news were headlines saying “Protesters loot downtown stores” and then the Mayor comes in and says that the protesters didn't want to leave after the curfew was issued so the police had no choice but to use force. I was furious hearing that statement because not only did everybody try to get home but she defended the police use of force on peaceful protesters. I realized how easy it was for the media to trick people into seeing only the bad parts of these protests so that we can receive all the hate. Until people go down

there and see for themselves what's happening, so many people will continue to believe the media.

Conclusion- The job of the police is to protect and diffuse the situation instead of adding to it.