Section A02
Week 7
The article, “Berkeley Free Speech
Movement: Paving the way for campus activism”, by Robby Cohen talked about a
movement done by UC Berkeley students against the university’s president and
deans over their freedom of speech and their basic right to end racial
discrimination and segregation in America. This movement took place in 1964 and
it was inspired from the civil rights movement. This movement was started by a
few students who joined to protest for what they believed was their rights.
After a student, Jack Weinberg was arrested and put in the back of a police car
for refusing to take down his “Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) table, thousands
of other students joined in unity around the police car refusing to let
Weinberg get arrested. This protest was then settled with the campus president
agreeing to not press charges against Weinberg and with agreeing to hold a
“joint student faculty-administration hearing” to go over the regulations
regarding campus political activity. However, these promises were not kept.
Which lead to another outbreak when the Free Speech Movement leaders were
charged for “violating university regulations”. The end of this outbreak
finally sparked a change. I think it is very important to look back to the
history of how our free rights came to be. Reading this article made me very
grateful that somebody was not afraid to fight for what they believe in. I also
think that this protest was inspirational because it was not a violent protest.
It showed that actions are possible without violence and that we do not need to
be aggressive to solve a situation.
Question: How can
we inspire people to use non-violent tactics when regarding the political
sphere?
References:
Cohen, R. (2012). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the
Way for Campus Activism. OAH Magazine Of History,, 1(1).
Mekemson, C. (2014). 1964 Free
Speech Movement at UC Berkeley | Wandering through Time and Place. Wandering-through-time-and-place.me.
Retrieved 12 May 2017, from https://wandering-through-time-and-place.me/tag/1964-free-speech-movement-at-uc-berkeley
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