I have been generally supportive of the right to protest if it doesn’t include burning, looting and infringing on the rights of others. I question the effectiveness of random pop-up protests other than for the self-satisfaction of participants.
Protests have taken place in our country before we even became one. On Dec. 16, 1773, fed-up American colonists in Boston told Great Britain’s King George III what they thought of his tax on tea by dumping 342 chests of it into the harbor at Griffin’s Wharf. It was the first major act of defiance leading up to the Revolutionary War and the formation of our new nation.
In the summer of 1787, delegates from 12 of 13 states met at a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to amend the ineffective Articles of Confederation.
After intense debate, the delegates decided to scrap the Articles and instead draft a new constitution. The intent was to create a stronger, more clearly defined central government. That concept was met with pushback from the Anti-Federalists because it reminded them of the government they had just overthrown, and it lacked a basic Bill of Rights.
By the fall of 1787, most delegates signed the Constitution and it was sent on to the states for ratification, where it needed nine of 13 votes. Massachusetts’ suggestion of “ratify now, amend later” brought the holdout states into the fold.
Anti-Federalists continued to push for amendments to the Constitution that more clearly defined individual rights and freedoms. James Madison drafted 19 amendments that were whittled down to 12, of which 10 were ratified by the required number of states. On Dec. 15, 1791, almost 18 years to the day of the Boston Tea Party, these ten amendments became the Bill of Rights.
The powerful First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and the right to petition the government. It does not protect all types of expression such as incitement of violence, true threats and fighting words. Interpretation of this amendment has been hotly debated for centuries, including over Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and pro-Palestinian demonstrations in American cites and on college campuses more recently.
I was a high school student when protests against the Vietnam war began. I remember hearing a lot of old men in Washington claim we were fighting the spread of Communism. It disturbed me to see “students” fighting with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. My views on that war changed greatly after becoming an adult.
In college, I remember campus rallies and protests organized by political science professors at otherwise conservative Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Ironically, Miami was where the first real disturbance took place on an Ohio campus, a few weeks before the May 4, 1970, tragedy at Kent State. That April, the Butler County sheriff brought in dogs to remove students who had occupied the campus Naval ROTC building.
Fast forward to the pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place recently, especially on Ivy League campuses over the past year. Some university presidents lost their jobs after not giving clear answers during direct congressional questioning.
These protests and occupations were offshoots of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities against Israeli youth attending a music festival and residents of kibbutzes near the Gaza Strip, violence tied to centuries-old religious and territorial disputes. I question how many American-born students really understand what they are doing, other than being part of some cause.
These protests led to the recent arrest of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. He entered this country on a student visa, is now married to an American and has a green card; they are expecting their first child soon. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is attempting to revoke his green card and deport him. The American Civil Liberties Union argues that Khalil is entitled to due process.
Any demonstrator or group impeding the rights of others or making them feel unsafe, especially because of their religion, is asking to be arrested, expelled or deported. They have forfeited their First Amendment rights regardless of citizenship, green cards or visas. At least Khalil did not hide his face with a keffiyeh, unlike some born here engaging in those protests.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacres of Israelis and other Jews during a sneak attack represented the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Some defenders of Palestine criticize the way Israel has retaliated by leveling buildings in Gaza and killing thousands of people. Most of us have not lived in a country where our nearby enemies want our nation eradicated and all its people dead. I find it difficult to be overly critical on the way Israel has fought back every time something like this has happened since 1948.
Robert Paulson, the former Republican mayor of Solon, writes an occasional Plain Dealer/cleveland.com column from the political middle. (Photo by David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com)
Fifty-five years ago, fresh-faced college freshmen like me arrived on Miami of Ohio’s campus just months after that spring’s war protests and building occupation. Administrators warned that any repeat performance would result in the university being closed and sending all of us home. There was no such thing as negotiating with students.
Those in charge of our higher learning institutions today need the same backbone when it comes to taking firm disciplinary action, including expulsions and loss of student visas for the worst offenders.
Bob Paulson, the former Republican mayor of Solon, writes an occasional column from the middle.
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