I’ve never been more proud of Boston than I was on August 19.
Never have I seen so many people gathered for an event that did not include Adele, John Legend, or Kendrick Lamar.
It was beautiful to watch black *and* white counter-protesters march together against the threat of a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Unfortunately, I realized soon that this moment will not be the last time when good men and women of all races will have to stand together against future tides of pro-whiteness. It happened in the time of our grandparents, the time of our parents, and is now happening in ours.
The white terrorism in Charlottesville and the Free Speech Rally that occurred here in Boston clearly exhibit the fight for equality, dignity, survival, and that a hate-speech-free world is far from over.
The reason for that is two-fold: One, people are complicated and two, change is hard. Documents, on the other hand, are neither. They can be edited, partially or fully, or rewritten completely. After witnessing the Free Speech Rally in Boston, I found myself swimming in a sea of “why” this and “why” that.
Then, it dawned on me: I was asking the wrong questions. Soon, I went from angry (“Why do racist white people hide behind the First Amendment?”) to calm (“Why don’t we change the U.S. Constitution?”).
What the First Amendment should have granted, but failed to deliver, to *all* Americans was the right to speak our minds *without* espousing hatred to, or for, or against, each other for whatever reason one could muster under the sun.
The right to what I call, “open hate-free speech” is what we should’ve had these last 228 years. The unadulterated one we’ve only ever known wasn’t well thought out by predecessors. Because of this, we are now seeing the repercussions as we pay for the mistakes of our forefathers. Fortunately, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 gives us the precedent of a group of people coming together and writing a substitution for existing law.
Let me be clear: they didn’t revise the Articles of Confederation. No, they trashed it and replaced it with something better. The same can be done again: to replace the existing Constitution with something better. Anyone who denies this does not believe Americans are a free and sovereign people. Even I believe that, and if you’ve been reading my articles for any significant length of time, then some of you know how I feel about certain things in this country.
This is pulled directly from the Declaration of Independence: “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.” Allow me to translate: we should not throw off the yoke of the existing Constitution merely because it is outdated or because we’re pissed off with the way things are going. We should do it because every American recognizes that replacing the old Constitution is the natural right of the living nation. Of course, this isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. But today isn’t forever.
The millennial generation, really and truly, should be developing a new Constitution with a stronger Bill of Rights and whatever other new provisions make sense (to and for them) in the 21st Century and beyond. Also, they should patiently develop these ideas and wait until the hostile, older (Greatest & Boomer) generations have passed on. Then, they can proceed to adopt a Constitution that seems to them, based on careful and responsible consideration, a better way to…
“Form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to [them] selves and [their] Posterity.”
The Constitution is the operating system of our government, similar to when Apple sends us those upgrade notifications. Our iPhones need to be updated so they may keep operating at a level of affectivity that is respectable to us – the customers. And so, as we hold our phone carriers to a certain standard, so must it be for our central government.
America: this is your upgrade notification…
Please, for the love of whatever deity you pray to, let us unite and update our Constitution. Let’s put pressure on our state reps to call and convene for a Constitutional Convention. If doing so for the betterment of the forthcoming generation is of no concern to you, then do it simply so we may, never again, have to listen to over sensitive and dramatic civilians shouting things like, “All of my constitutional amendment rights are being trampled on!!!”
Then again…
Who am I kidding? Those people crack me up!