First Amendment - Religion and Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Ahh, the beauty of freedom of speech in America. So patriotic. So mighty. So proud. It most certainly rings true that our Constitution allows us the protection to speak out against contentions that we deem unjust or to simply critique or state what we feel about our government. In many other countries doing so to their own government or society can land them in a jail cell.

But here in America, it protects us from the government denying citizens the ability to speak our minds.

The freedom to not be oppressed by our government.

Our nation has been known to protest throughout history and in many cases has done so, peacefully. Keyword here - PEACEFULLY. So peaceful freedom of speech and protest is allowed and is by no means against our laws. If you are offended by something someone is saying or are offended by an action someone is acting out in speaking their own mind on an issue guess what? They have every God given right to do so. Know what else? That same right that they hold is shared with you! You in return do not have to agree with what someone else is saying or doing but instead you can counteract it. You can peacefully disagree with them as well. Being respectful in the ways in which you speak your mind, act on behalf of a movement, or to disagree or even ignore the speech that you do not like to hear is perfectly fine. But to shut down someone else's right to free speech or right to peacefully protest goes against what our Constitution allows all Americans to rightfully do. Not to mention that it is well within our laws. Of course with the exception of hate speech, which is entirely different.

Hate speech is speech which attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender. These threats are not supported under the first amendment.

Overall, if you are unhappy with the way American citizens are trying to bring an awareness to a social issue in the form of peaceful protest while not breaking an actual law then please go back and reread what the first amendment to the Bill of Rights is. You do not have to agree with the 'other' but at least try to understand why they are speaking out and most of all respect that right, the same right that you also have. In the same sense the ones acting out their first amendment right also should try and understand where the 'other' is coming from in how they feel about what it means to them. Tensions run high on what is close to our hearts, we know that. But just try and think about each other. Empathy towards others will do wonders, social movements will shed needed light on situations, and the allowance of freedom of speech is all-inclusive to ALL Americans.