The Importance Of Civil Liberties

In America, something we hold dear to us is our freedoms, rights, and liberties. Thanks to the Bill of Rights, we are all familiar with many of our rights; such as the right to bear arms, freedom of press, religion, and speech, as well as assembly. With twenty-seven amendments in the Bill of Rights, we would like to believe that we are well protected, and so are the rights listed in it. However, that isn't the case; well, not exactly. In multiple instances, the government has compromised our liberties in effort to “protect” us, the people.

To begin, let us start with the First Amendment; this states that we, the people, have the right to freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press. Yet, those of us with something to say that happens to go against the government or expose the United States as cruel or disorderly… are silenced. For example, Florida high school, Cambridge Christian, has threatened to sue Florida's athletic association due to the fact that they were DENIED the right to pray over the loudspeaker at a football game. This took place in December of 2015, when Cambridge and University Christian School went head to

This amendment says that nobody is to be held in custody without a strong reason and hard evidence. However, this is often times IGNORED in cases like Sandra Bland. On July 10, 2015 Ms. Bland was arrested for a minor “traffic violation”. Three days after her arrest, Sandra was 'found' dead in her cell, her death was ruled a suicide by hanging herself, which was physically impossible due to her 'living arrangements' and frame. Ms. Bland was not charged with a crime before her death. Also, Ms. Bland should not have been arrested, let alone be kept in police custody over the course of two nights and three days; but if you ask the officer, he will tell you he was assaulted… the videos that had surfaced say otherwise. Social media has become the new