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Persuasive Essay On The Kneeling Movement

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Since March 3, 1931, the Star-Spangled Banner has been instilled in almost every citizen in America as the National Anthem. It is ingrained that every person should show respect to the flag and the nation. In almost every classroom, students are told to stand facing the American flag with a hand over their heart and recite the pledge, or during any sporting, event fans are asked to stand to face the flag as a guest performer sings the National Anthem. This is an American tradition that everyone is expected to follow. However, what happens when someone decides to sit or take a knee during the time of the National Anthem? American citizens should be able to express their civil rights by choosing to sit or take a knee during the National …show more content…

Peaceful protesting has been a form of displaying a person’s civil rights through the history of America. There have been several demonstrations of non-violent protest and violent protest in America. For an example, during the Civil Rights Movement, there were plenty of protests that were not violent such as sit-ins, boycotts, and marching. The equivalent to those protest in the present is kneeling for the National Anthem. No one is being harmed during this demonstration, it is simply people expressing their civil rights by kneeling for a cause they believe should be bought in the limelight of America’s attention. However, there have been violent protests in America. In 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, a riot was provoked by bombings that targeted black leaders who fought for racial justice by the Birmingham police who were apart of the Ku Klux Klan. After the attacks, the African-Americans in the area began to riot because of the police involvement, so the bombings were repressed by the Birmingham Police Department. There as has been several violent riots that would follow but the more recent ones in today’s time would be the riot in Ferguson. After a jury decided that Darren Wilson, a police officer in Ferguson, was not guilty of killing the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, riots were sparked by the

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