Act For The Preservation Of Our Civil Rights
People in the United States value their civil rights; it gives them a sense of freedom. Without additional security measures to sustain that freedom, they will have no civil rights to value. The civil liberties the U.S. proudly exhibits, comes with a price.
After the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, President Bush pushed congress to pass the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act allows law enforcement to arrest and prosecute suspected people for associating with groups or individuals the U.S. classifies as terrorist. With this new act, law enforcement has “enormous leeway” in tapping phones, conducting spontaneous property searches, freezing financial assets, detaining suspects, and deporting immigrants.
Shawn Rhea, expresses concern over our civil rights, particularly our right to protest. Recently, Nelson Mandela visited the White House where he was mentioned to be a “symbol of freedom and courage.” Ironically, in the mid- 80’s, the United States openly categorized Mandela and his political group, the African National Congress, as terrorist. Rhea argued his point of view saying, “Had a Patriot Act had been in affect 20 years ago, thousands of U.S. college students who supported Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, and who were active the anti-apartheid movement here, could have been tried for terrorist activities.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said, “Members were given just two hours to review this very complex 200 page document before casting their vote.” Rhea states that the U.S. government was premature in passing the Patriot Act, declaring it to be a “controversial package of anti-terrorism legislation.”
These newly created laws might show some indication of potentially violating our civil rights instead of protecting them; but only if analyzed improperly. People should not view these laws as our government’s undemocratic effort to exploit their civil liberties. A person should not try to analyze the Patriot Act through terrorist’s perspective. If so, then they will confuse who is meant a targeted and who is meant to be protected. People need to stop thinking as though they are victims of some evil scheme, designed to eradicate their constitutional right.
However, people should feel victimized by misleading influences. If today, we decided to protest for Nelson Mandela and his followers, we would not fall under the Patriot Act. Even if the African National Congress was considered as terrorists, what defined...