There’s No Minimum Age for Free Speech
by Lysander Ploughjogger
Perhaps the most common political tactic when arguing from a defensive position is to discredit the other side. With rising support for stricter gun control measures in the aftermath of yet another mass shooting — and polls showing that even about three-quarters of NRA members support background checks — that organization and its allies have resorted to shooting the messengers.
But while real guns are plentiful, it is harder to rhetorically aim one’s fire at teenagers who have just seen classmates cut down. In the wake of Parkland, we are seeing a new tactic: claiming that the opinions of those under 18 simply do not matter.
Last week, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, a once-reasonable conservative who has gulped down the Ailes-Ade as Bill O’Reilly’s replacement, argued that those under 18 are “not citizens” and have no right to speak out about “my gun laws.” And after millions turned out across the U.S. on Saturday to call for tougher gun laws the NRA charged “gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites” with “manipulating and exploiting children.”
According to these folks, young people either don’t count, or don’t think. Some even accused student activists of chicanery. After students walked out of school across the nation, Cheryl Chumley of the Washington Times wrote, “Were these protests truly heart-felt shows of political dissent — or simply excuses to cut class?”
Malala Yousafzai simply wanted to go to class. She was 15. Did her opinion not count?
In May 1963, thousands of Alabama children marched for civil rights, and were attacked by police with batons and powerful water blasts. Were they just trying to get out of school?
Environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez addressed the UN at age 15 and is now one of the 21 people who have sued the federal government and President Trump for failing to act on climate change. He is not yet old enough to vote.
Sisters Melati and Isabel Wijsen were 10 and 12 years old respectively when they founded Bye Bye Plastic Bags in 2013. The organization now has a 25-person staff and operates in 15 countries.
Marley Dias, then 11, launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign in 2015, with the goal of donating 1,000 books with black girls as the main characters to other black girls. (She told her mother that she was “sick of reading about white boys and dogs.”) Forbes magazine put her on its “30 Under 30” list.
Sophie Cruz won the Define American Award for Activist of the Year award last year for her advocacy on behalf of immigrants. She spoke at the Women’s March on Washington on the day after Trump’s inauguration. At the time, she was six years old.
Those on the pro-gun right are attempting to discredit all young activists because those speaking out at the moment have different goals. They weren’t so quick to shush Coreco JaQuan Pearson, a black conservative teenager whose videos went viral in 2015. They cheered for then-13-year-old Jonathan Krohn at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2009. (Both Pearson and Krohn have since shifted their views.)
During my days as a Catholic high school student, my peers would regularly take part in anti-abortion demonstrations. Their sincerity was not questioned, nor is that of California high schooler Brandon Gillespie, who is currently organizing a national anti-abortion walkout for April 17.
Young people across the spectrum are engaging in public affairs, and demanding to be heard. It is shortsighted of professional pundits like Carlson and Chumley to try to discredit them, since the next generation of activists on their own side are also just getting started. Youth participation in public discourse is something to be applauded, not denounced.
Lysander Ploughjogger is a media analyst, freelance writer, and parent residing in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @LysPloughjogger.
Top graphic image: Shutterstock