POST THREE: Black Lives Matter and the First Amendment

 For this assignment, we were asked to choose a news story that involves the Black Lives Matter movement and analyze it through the many aspects of the First Amendment including the six freedoms of the First Amendment, the three bedrock principles about the First Amendment, and anything else we have learned in class thus far about the First Amendment. I decided to pick a recent article about a Vermont Roman-Catholic school that goes by the name of Rice Memorial High School. This school has banned the use of the Black Lives Matter signs and flags on their campus. 

A statement by the superintendent of Catholic Schools, Jeanne Gearon, reveals that the intentions behind this decision are not out of lack of support for the racial inequalities of the United States, however, it is to prevent any political messages on campus. They have also banned "Make America Great Again" flags and signs or anything that promotes political involvement on their campus. Looking at the situation through a lens of the First Amendment, this school is more than entitled to make this action. The very first and arguably most prominent reason is because the school is Private and not owned by the government. 

 

Instead of completely banning anything that promotes social justice or equality, the schools have created an alternative to the Black Lives Matter signs and flags that state "Racism has no home here." This alternative is also allowed due to the matters of the school being a private campus. This relates to the three bedrock principles of the First Amendment which state, "First Amendment protection is not absolute," "The First Amendment is not a shield against laws of general applicability," and "the Freedom of the Press is a fundamental personal right, and not an institutional one." The first principle ties into this situation directly, and proves that because of the dichotomy of public and private institutions that the protection of the First Amendment does not apply everywhere. 

Link to the article: https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2020/09/15/vt-catholic-schools-rice-high-school-blm-black-lives-matter-signs-promotes-racial-justice/5801957002/