Black Lives Matter
On September 21, 2020 at 2:30 a.m. a white business owner was charged with manslaughter of a Black Lives Matter protester. The white business owner was named Jacob Gardener. The night of the incident James Scurlock was shot outside a bar during a Black Lives Matter protest. Gardener was said to have shot him in self defense. However the jury did not see it this way. Gardener was charged with manslaughter, attempted assault, making terroristic threats, and using a gun to commit a felony. Before he was arrested he committed suicide. He was found Sunday evening outside a medical clinic.
In class we extensively discussed the Six Freedoms of the First Amendment, Speech/Action Dichotomy, as well as the Bedrock Principles. We were assigned to look at a Black Lives Matter story that happened recently in the news. Then we were asked to look at this story and relate these ideas we've talked about in class to the news story. In this particular case the Bedrock Principles directly relate to this case. Specifically "The First Amendment is not a shield against the law of general applicability". This means that you can get in trouble for not following criminal law or traffic laws because they apply to everyone. There is not exceptions to this law. In this particular new story this applies because a criminal law was broken. This was a case of manslaughter and therefore there is no First Amendment exception to this case.
Link:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nebraska-man-charged-protesters-death-dies-suicide-73137398
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