Blog Post #4: The First Amendment

The First Amendment states, "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." There have been many movements in the past where

People exercise the first amendment; a great current example is the Black Lives Matter movement. The BLM movement originally began when George Zimmerman, a white American Neighborhood Watch captain, shot Trayvon Martin, an African American high school student, out of suspicion of robbery. Zimmerman was acquitted for the crime in July of 2013, the public spread #blacklivesmatter all over social media after the trial.  

Even though this movement started with the murder of Trayvon Martin, it has continued to make an impact socially and more violence and additional victims of racial violence have continued to bolster support for the movement. A Forest Park coffee shop called Kribi Coffee created a special coffee blend named, The Black Lives Matter blend, last summer "in response to the killing of George Floyd." According to a New York Times article (Evan Hill et al.), "On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that Mr. Floyd had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life." The owner, Jacques Shalo, of the coffee shop who created the blend stated, "What's going on today with the disenfranchisement of our race, people of color, I see it as something that goes deep in centuries back to the continent. A portion of the sales from each bag of the Black Lives Matter blend goes to Tutoring Chicago. The organization provides educational programming for students from low-income backgrounds." Shalo's customers support his efforts to reduce inequality. He wants to help other social causes with his coffee blends in the future. 

Shalo is exercising his first amendment through freedom of the press. His coffee blends help not only spread the word of the injustice that is currently happening, but also intend to dissolve part of the issue. The customers are using their freedom of speech to spread the word of the good cause and give their feedback to Shalo. While Shalo himself has created a movement within the larger BLM banner to make even more of an impact.

This particular coffee movement is condoned under the first amendment; however, it can quickly move into unprotected territory if someone were to perform an expressive action. For example, during the BLM protests, some people got overly angry and started burning buildings, smashing windows, and setting cop cars on fire. However, an "expressive association" (the right to associate for the purpose of engaging in those activities protected by the First Amendment: speech, assembly, petition for the redress of grievances) moves into protected under the first amendment.