Martin Luther King's Argument Against Flag Burning

As of now you are the future president of The United States of America. With that title comes the responsibilities such as controlling foreign affairs, economic issues, and upholding civil rights. With all that said, you can see why it took many by surprise when you used “Twitter” as a means of spreading the message that in a situation where the burning of the American flag takes place, consequences like being jailed for one year and being striped of citizenship should be inforced. Although having pride in one’s nation is important, the act of flag burning should not be punishable; therefore, flag burning should be respected as a form of free expression.

To begin it is important to note, that flag burning is and has been since the beginning, protected by the U.S Constitution. The Constitution is best known for its protection of freedom of speech, religion, and peaceful protest. With that in mind, would it not be contradicting the Constitution

Some have stated that there are other methods of protest to convey the message in a less disrespectful and violent inducing way. Although those are valid points the question is, whose fault is it for the sense of disrespect and violence? Much like Martin Luther King’s protest, flag burning is often nonviolent, but people’s reaction to it causes violence. The point of flag burning is to express political feelings, the violence and feeling of disrespect are side effects opposers create. Also, as previously mentioned, some dislike the method of protest used in flag burning. It is clear to see that flag burning causes tension, good tension as MLK would call it, that causes attention to be drawn to a topic and forces people to acknowledge the problem. Destroying the American flag is a powerful method of protest that says “This flag is useless because America is not what it is supposed to stand