Wellsville protest a success, and the history of the right to assemble
A COLUMN By Kathryn Ross, photo by Andrew Harris
For 234 years the law of the land has stated “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
It is the very First Amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, which are the first of ten amendments to the Constitution. Included in those first ten amendments, but take note, not in the first Amendment, is the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, Amendment II.
Is there a significance in which these two very fundamental amendments are ordered? Did the founding fathers believe that the freedom of speech, the press and to assemble were more important than the right to bear Arms? I don’t know, but in lieu of conducting a study of Constitutional authorities and knowing that these authors and ratifiers of the Constitution had just fought a war for independence, it would seem they did. They believed that the right to free speech, a free press and to assemble were more important than bearing Arms, otherwise, why would they have listed them first?
So, the thousands of peaceful demonstrations that have been taking place around the country over the last five and most certainly the last four months, are our right as people. Note that if you read the First Amendment, it doesn’t distinguish. It does not say that only Americans or citizens have the right to assemble. It says people. It gives that right to people.
Across the nation people are assembling on the streets and in the parks most weekends to protest what they feel are the reams of injustices that are being heaped upon them – violations of their right to privacy, body autonomy, due process under the law, free speech, history, banning the press from the White House newsroom because they won’t agree to change the name of a 600-year-old landmark.
We are being bombarded with rhetoric that was last heard in the 1800s, when Manifest Destiny was this nation’s goal. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the main reason for threatening to take Canada or Panama by force or buy another nation (that is not for sale) is just because of their abundant mineral resources and as an afterthought their strategic value. Hey, doesn’t the US already have a military base in Greenland for security reasons and doesn’t the US pay a fair share to use the canal? We didn’t conceive or plan the Panama Canal, we just finished it. Part of it had already been built when the US got involved. As for Canada. As a state, it would dwarf the 50 states combined and “eh,” they don’t want to be a state.
But I digress. The historical similarities overwhelm me? This proposed land grab has me reeling. It is like Communist Russia’s forceful annexation of part of another country, or Germany’s attempt to acquire parts of Europe in World War I. Haven’t we evolved from those imperialistic behaviors? The United States is enough. It’s perfectly located between two oceans that have kept us mostly safe for 250 years. It’s time to take care of what we have, the lakes, rivers, mountains, forests, fields, and people – the “wretched refuse and tempest tost” that came and come here.
What is happening across the country is people standing up for their rights, and the rights of others, for the country, the land we love and the air we breathe. It is our right and our duty as the sons and daughters of this great Republic, this democratic society.
That is what happened in Wellsville last Saturday. While others were fishing or doing their Saturday things, 30 sum people stood in front of the Fassett Green Space and across the street. It was cold. They held signs the wind sometimes tore from their hands. White-haired, gray-haired, purple and green-haired women and men exercised their right to assemble and redress their grievances. The next time we learn of an assembly in Wellsville, Olean, Hornell or Corning, the rest of us, who fear our rights are in danger need to join them.
Saturday, they stood up for the land, the air, the water, for others and for US.
