by: Abby Coven
Local Editor

Our government must honor the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and actively preserve the right to protest. Seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke inspired the founding fathers’ thinking about principles like natural rights and the right of revolution. Locke believed that citizens are obligated to resist when they recognize government injustices. In fact, history shows that protests are among the most effective ways of moving a country forward and gaining traction for important rights for its citizens, such as through the women’s suffrage and Civil Rights movements.

In the halls of government and on the streets, the Trump administration is hindering the rights of citizens to resist with the aim of silencing those who object to its actions and policies. During the Minneapolis protests against ICE, the ICE agents perceived Alex Pretti as a threat. The government can impose reasonable limits on protest and lawfully disable threats. However, even after ICE agents removed the gun from Pretti’s holster, they proceeded to shoot him ten times, killing him; ICE agents also prevented medical assistance to Pretti from another protester. Something is profoundly wrong when a rogue mentality, excessive force, and profound negligence become regular occurrences. In fact, the Trump administration is essentially sanctioning ICE’s reckless behavior through rapid and inadequate recruitment, lack of meaningful law enforcement training, and failure to mandate standard uniforms and badges.

Protestors should not have to take such extreme actions to oppose government policies and actions, but, for many, these challenging times call for it. The citizens of Minneapolis moved beyond marches and engaged in a series of diverse resistance tactics including general business strikes, barricades aimed to slow traffic and identify federal vehicles without fully blocking access, and whistle warning systems to alert neighbors of ICE activity. The right to protest in the U.S. is in our collective DNA, and we must continue to breathe life into this crucial civil liberty.

(Sources: NYT, CNN, Wash Post)