Remember all those walkouts last year? Remember how the media held up those kids to the world as if they somehow were evidence that we, the adults, should automatically listen?
One of the recurring themes from educators was that the students have a right to protest, that they can’t stop them from protesting. Many of us wondered how many of them would feel differently if it were a pro-gun protest taking place.
Well, as time has rolled on, we’ve found that some educators were less than pleased that not all of their students wanted to toe the anti-gun line. We’ve outlined a few. Well, it seems we have another case worth noting.
The last person you expect your kid to be bullied by is his school principal.
But that’s exactly what Lisa Riley, the mother of a recent high school graduate from Carlsbad, New Mexico, says happened to her son.
Last year, Principal Adam García Amador of Carlsbad High School allegedly tried to “bully” Will Riley into silence as he planned a nationwide walkout in support of the Second Amendment.
Despite those alleged threats, Will Riley went on to lead a successful nationwide high school walkout, Stand for the Second. Lisa Riley wrote in a letter to the school board claiming that Adam García Amador “supported and assisted” gun control advocates in their walkout, but threatened her son with criminal charges over his planned walkout.
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Riley writes that in his first meeting with her son, Amador was “hostile and rude” to her son and even claimed, “the Second Amendment is not even a part of the Bill of Rights.” In a subsequent meeting, Riley claims Amador brought in five police officers in “an attempt at intimidation,” and threatened her son repeatedly with criminal charges, saying he would hold Will personally responsible for anything “anyone” did wrong.
So, again, we see that students have a right to protest, as long as they protest the right thing.
Folks, that’s not how freedom works. At it’s most fundamental level, freedom means the ability to do things that others may not approve. Now, there are reasonable lines to be drawn, namely when one’s actions can affect others. However, when we talk about free speech, it has to mean the freedom to say things those in power don’t like or else it means nothing.
Anti-Trump protestors take to the streets at the drop of a hat these days. Hell, some days they’ll drop the hat themselves. They can certainly do that, no matter how annoying some of their arguments may be. Free speech means saying things that Trump doesn’t necessarily like. They can do that.
But on a smaller level, Riley’s pro-Second Amendment stance was something his principal didn’t like. Amador, unlike Trump, decided to use his power to quash the use of free speech for non-approved rhetoric. He tried to threaten and bully a teen boy into silence.
That’s disgusting.
Anyone who does any such thing should be fired immediately from any position as an educator. They’re not fit to be around children. Especially if they think the Second Amendment isn’t part of the Bill of Rights (and I really hope that isn’t an accurate statement. I hope no one is really that dumb and allowed to be a high school principal). If that’s the case, they’re too stupid to teach.
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