First Amendment Rights and Black Lives Matter Protests // Blog 3

The black lives matter movement has been going on since nearly May, when George Floyd was killed in an act during police brutality. People all around the world held protests to show their support for Black Lives Matter and since then, the news has been on the front lines reporting on everything that’s been going on. One major thing to keep in mind when talking about the Black Lives Matter protests is the First Amendment and the rights that protect our six freedoms. Recent news I found on Black Lives Matter is mainly focused on numbers and precents focusing on support for the campaigns. However, one recent article from August 21 titles “Police Response to Press at Black Lives Matter Protests Test First Amendment.”

This article discusses how police are responding to the press at the protests held by Black Lives Matter supporters. In this article, it describes how many journalists were tear gasses, hit by rubber bullets and even detained. The press showed identification that they were indeed the press buy were still treated poorly. However, this isn’t just a few cases where police are targeting the press. Police in these situations have the tendency to overreact, especially in the presence of news media. This is a real problem when relating it back to the First Amendment. According to Floyd Abrams, a New York Times representative, “The fact that the police are reacting, too often, overreacting, to the presence of the press is something as to which there is a genuine or a real and then I would say an enforceable First Amendment problem.”

This however isn’t a shock to anybody. Looking back on the past history of conflict between the press and the police, this has been going on for over 200 years. The sedition act of 1798 made it illegal to attack the United States Government. Thankfully, this Act expired but its threat on the First Amendment has since remained. The Sedition Act is extreme, but still the press is limited by the government to this day. The most common forms of limiting the press is by detaining them for short periods of time so they are unable to cover a story. Another tactic used is pushing the press far behind the scene, so they are physically unable to see what’s going on. 

To conclude, the Press and the Police have a long and difficult history when it concerns the first amendment. When focusing on certain events such as the death of George Floyd, that sparked the Black Lives matter Movements, it’s easy to look past details like the press being limited to certain areas and being detained. Keeping an eye on these violations and injustices is crucial to maintain how we view our First Amendment rights and to ensure we are protected.