Essay On Peaceful Assembly

The Freedom to Assemble vs. Unlawful assembly “The right to join with fellow citizens in protest or peaceful assembly is critical to a functioning democracy and at the core of the First Amendment. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials sometimes violate this right through means intended to thwart free public expression.”(Know Your Rights). A large amount of today’s population struggles to find understanding in the way law enforcement handles some of the situations that have become so normalized. For example, many protests these days tend to get out of hand, and typically the police receive all the blame. Although the police and other bystanders could be at fault, similar to the way they were in the series of graphic novels “March” by John …show more content…
In order for an assembly to be successful rather than violent, the individuals taking part have to have good intentions toward their cause, respect for other people along with their emotions and property, and the acknowledgement that abusing their freedoms will more than likely do more harm than good. Peaceful assembly is an international human right recognized by law. There for, as long as the individuals who wish to assemble for whatever cause are doing so without infringing on another individual’s rights and/or being non-peaceful, they are free to gather for any purpose from anything ranging from equal rights to a union strike. In book one of March, the author tells his story of his ongoing battle during the civil rights movement and how he dealt with racism, lack of equality, and the degrading of people of color that went on every single day. At a very early age, John Lewis led hundreds of other blacks toward a single goal, civil rights. During this, he made sure to constantly emphasize toward his followers just how important being peaceful with their protests was. “Do not: