The bigotry in America was aggressively displayed after the Eagles won the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.
When the Super Bowl was over, people went to the streets to “celebrate.” Cars were flipped over, a gas station was destroyed and stolen from and rioting took place in the streets. All of these things are unacceptable and shouldn’t be forms of celebration.
The Women’s March is a worldwide protest to advocate for women’s rights, immigrants, healthcare reform, the environment, racial and religious freedoms and LGBT rights. The rally was aimed toward President Donald Trump because he does not support women’s rights, immigrants, healthcare reform, environmental protection, racial and religious freedoms or LGBT rights. The Women’s March is looked down upon, and political commentator Tomi Lahren went so far as to call it “a vulgar display of hate and bitterness.” The Women’s March is a time and space for women to voice their opinions, but people don’t like when women speak up for what they believe in.
The Pride parade is a celebration of sexuality, gender and identity. No matter what you look like or who you love, Pride is a place that welcomes you. The Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same sex couples in 2015. After the court ruling, there were terrorist threats to Pride parades around the country. Even before the Supreme Court ruling, people did not support the parade and called it an obstruction of traffic. People don’t like it when others celebrate the things that make them different.
Trayvon Martin was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Zimmerman shot him because he is racist and said Martin looked “suspicious” because he was wearing a hoodie. A hoodie does not make you a danger or a threat, it is just an article of clothing. After the incident, thousands of people marched in Florida, where he was shot. The people wanted justice for Martin and vowed to protest until Zimmerman was arrested.
Sports are important to some people and equal rights and justice are important to others. Showing your support for these issues should always be peaceful. It is our First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. Flipping cars and vandalizing is not a peaceful assembly, it is terroristic in nature and shouldn’t be allowed. When women, the LGBT community and people fighting for justice are told to sit down, the last people who should be told to stand up and celebrate are sports fans. There is hypocrisy from the Super Bowl fans because a lot of those people were probably the same people putting down these peaceful assemblies.
There is blatant racism, sexism and homophobia from the police force. The police force did not try to brutally stop them like they did in Charlottesville, Va. It mirrors the Charlottesville attack as the police did not try to stop these violent white people, but instead attacked the people supporting Black Lives Matter, a very important movement. Allowing white men to get away with whatever they want needs to stop.
Ashlon Lusk is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Houston, Texas.
