By: Ali Fowler
Acts of student protest have been a common occurrence this year as teenagers and young adults organize nationwide marches to protest gun violence in the U.S.
The 2018 ‘March for Our Lives’ was not the first example of students practicing their first amendment rights to protest violence. That story goes back to a young girl in Iowa who decided to wear a black armband to school one day. She wore the armband as a symbol of mourning and to protest during the Vietnam War.
Students, faculty and community members gathered in Kemper Recital Hall to hear Mary Beth Tinker’s story.
While her little world was fairly normal, Tinker grew up when the world was in a turbulent time. The Civil Right Movement was in full force and Lyndon B. Johnson was sending troops to fight in Vietnam. She spent her childhood watching men, women and children speak out against the violence and hate in the world.
“We were watching more and more news of the Vietnam War,” Tinker said. “On the news we didn’t see love and forgiveness. We kids saw war. War. War.”
It was movements such as the Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963 and the Mississippi Freedom Summer that inspired Tinker to protest the war by wearing the black armband that would force her into a long journey to justice.
Tinker was a normal 13 year-old when she decided, along with some of her peers, to wear a black armband to school on December 16, 1965, despite the fact that, two days prior, the school board passed a policy that prohibited armbands at school.
Tinker was a shy student who was unsure about participating in the protest. It was the support of her classmates and the advice of her father that gave her the courage to speak up for a cause about which she was passionate.
“I thought I would try to be brave,” Tinker said. “I remember my dad always said, ‘you have to stand up for you conscience.’”
Five students were suspended, including Tinker and her brother John. To their surprise, their small act of protest caused a stir in their community. Tinker’s family received hate mail and death threats while their home was vandalized with red paint.
The American Civil Liberties Union took the students’ to the Supreme Court. Four years after Tinker’s suspension, in 1969, the Court ruled in a landmark decision that students in public schools have First Amendment rights.
Tinker’s efforts paved the way for student rights. It is because of her bravery, that high school students such as Emma Gonzales and Cameron Kasky from Parkland, Florida, can use their voices to organize nationwide marches against gun violence.
Tinker now travels all over the U.S. to help students understand their First Amendment rights.
“Because of the case, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time encouraging kids to stand up for themselves and for a better, more just and peaceful world,” Tinker said.