I just spotted this news item on a local TV station’s website (www.q6.com):
Protestors arrested on Fourth of JulySPOKANE, Wash. – Right now police are containing a group of protestors at River Front Park in downtown Spokane. Authorities have made 17 arrests on charges of Failing to Disperse and Second-Degree Trespass. Four of the arrests are juveniles, the rest are adults.The protestors were seen carrying signs with slogans of anti-war sentiments and anti-police brutality.
Now, I realize that there may be more to the story. I may find out tomorrow that the protestors became violent or threatening. However, on the surface, it sounds to me like some peaceful picketers who believe that our country is doing some things wrong used the occasion of a national holiday to speak out. Last time I checked, that wasn’t illegal. And while others may label it unpatriotic, I disagree. I consider myself both a patriot and a pacifist, and I see no contradiction in that.
One of the things I celebrate on this holiday is that I live in a country where important rights including freedom of speech are granted to all citizens. I celebrate my right to say that I believe that this country, which I love fiercely, is being led in dangerous directions by people who are not being true to the ideals that I believe our country is grounded in.
I celebrate those freedoms with less certainty this year…less certainty that those rights still exist in reality, less certainty that our government honors the rights granted to us by the founders of that government, less certainty that I can speak out and still remain safe.
It sometimes worries (and always angers) me to think that I could be jailed for speaking my mind, especially for speaking my mind about the ways in which our government’s actions make me frightened for our country’s future.
Had I known there would be a peace protest tonight, for example, I might have been one of those carrying a sign with anti-war sentiments on it. I almost feel guilty that I wasn’t–that I sat comfortably at home with my young son, watching the Washington, D.C. fireworks on TV, instead of protesting some of the troubling decisions and policies made in that city.
On the other hand, I was at home with my son, while my firefighter husband worked and hoped no one would start a grass fire in our too-dry city with illegal fireworks. My family counts on me to be at home on nights that my husband works, not in jail.
I am saddened and infuriated that I have to choose between being sure that I can be with my son, and being able to show him by example that speaking out for truth is the right thing to do.