The Power of Gathering: Why the Right to Assemble Still Matters

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to More Human, More Kind.

My name is Heather Hester, and this is the final episode in our Foundations of Freedom series.

And today we are exploring a part of the First Amendment that doesn't get nearly enough attention yet it holds so much power, the right to peacefully assemble.

Today we're going to talk about why the right to peacefully assemble is more than just a protest sign or a march.

It's actually the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.

We're going to talk about what that means for you and your right to peacefully assemble.

We're going to talk about when that started in history, the difference between lawful assembly and unlawful activity, how marginalized communities have used this right to push for equality, and how that's being challenged and even taken away today.

And then what you can do to protect this essential freedom and use it for meaningful impact.

We have talked about speech, the press, religion, and the right to petition, but none of these exist in a vacuum.

They're strongest when exercised together.

And the right to gather, to show up side by side with others, is what brings our values to life.

Think about the last time you stood in a crowd for something you believed in, felt the heartbeat of those around you, of the collective action, that energy just coming from all the people around you.

Maybe the last time you saw people come together to protest or to grieve or even to celebrate, and.

And you felt this surge of emotion, even if you were watching from afar.

So today we're going to unpack where this right comes from, how it's been challenged and is being challenged, and why it still matters, maybe now more than ever before.

So, like we have in every other episode, let's start with the language from the Constitution.

Amendment number one says, congress shall make no law, abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Notice the emphasis on peaceably.

So let's take a step back and understand where this powerful right, this right to peacefully assemble, actually comes from.

The concept didn't actually originate with the American Revolution.

It really goes back centuries to English common law, where the idea of people gathering, especially for public discourse, was always treated with suspicion by the Crown.

In fact, the Unlawful Assemblies act of 1661 made it a criminal offense for groups to gather if their meeting could potentially, quote, unquote, disturb the peace.

There was a deep anxiety among monarchs and elites about ordinary people joining forces, because when the public comes together, they can challenge power.

Even peaceful assemblies were sometimes treated as dangerous threats, especially if they had a political tone.

And that fear didn't disappear with colonization.

In fear fact, it followed the English settlers to the American colonies.

So let's fast Forward then to 1773, one of the most iconic acts of American defiance, the Boston Tea Party, which was, at its core, a gathering.

Citizens of Boston assembled in protest of British taxation policies, specifically the tea act, which gave the British East India company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies.

So disguised as Mohawk people, colonists boarded ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

It wasn't just a rebellious stunt.

It was a carefully organized protest, a performance of resistance meant to rally support and spark dialogue.

This act of civil disobedience led directly to the British government's intolerable acts, which included restrictions on public meetings.

So even then, you can see the pattern.

Protest leads to repression, which leads to a demand for rights.

The Boston Tea Party wasn't just about taxes.

It was about the right to assemble and say, this is unjust.

By the time the constitution was drafted in 1787 and the Bill of Rights was added in 1791, the founders had these lessons in mind.

They knew that if people couldn't gather, they couldn't organize.

If they couldn't organize, they couldn't resist.

And if they couldn't resist, there was no real democracy.

That's why the First Amendment protects not only individual expression, speech, press, religion, but also collective expression.

I'm going to repeat that because this is so amazing and cool, and I want you to remember this.

The First Amendment protects not only individual expression in the form of speech, Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, but also collective expression.

The line, the right of the people peaceably to assemble isn't an afterthought.

It's a recognition that freedom doesn't live in isolation.

It thrives in community.

The founders, especially James Madison, wanted to ensure that the government couldn't criminalize dissent just because people gathered to express it.

So while the modern mind might jump to protest signs and marches, the root of this right is deeper.

It's the freedom to come together, to build movements, to share beliefs, to organize for a better future.

This right is embedded in our DNA as a nation.

And it's not just about protests.

It includes rallies, vigils, marches, mutual aid meetings, and community gatherings.

It's about people coming together to be seen, to be heard, and to be counted.

So how has this been held up legally?

Well, here are a few court cases that I thought you might find interesting.

In De Young vs Oregon, the Supreme Court ruled that A Communist party member couldn't be punished simply for attending a peaceful political meeting.

That was huge because it confirmed that even unpopular views deserve protection.

In the NAACP vs Alabama, the court protected the privacy of NAACP members, affirming that being part of a group is part of assembling, and the state couldn't demand a list of names to intimidate activists.

And finally, in Gregory vs.

Chicago, the court said demonstrators couldn't be arrested just because others responded violently to their peaceful protest.

But there are limits.

Governments can impose what are called time, place, and manner restrictions.

You might need a permit, you might not be allowed to block traffic, but these restrictions have to be neutral and not targeting a specific group or message.

Peaceful assembly is not just about the right to gather.

It's about the power of gathering.

It's how people make themselves visible, how they raise their voices in chorus, how they ignite transformation from the ground up.

Let's look at how this has played out across time, across movements, and why it matters today more than ever before.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.

That moment sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a 381 day protest led in part by a young Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

It was a peaceful, powerful example of community led resistance.

People walked miles each day to avoid segregated buses.

Churches became hubs of planning, resilience, and support.

And then, in 1963, over 250,000 people gathered in the nation's capital for the March on Washington for jobs and freedom.

That is where Dr.

King delivered his iconic I have a Dream speech.

A moment made possible because the people assembled peacefully to demand racial and economic justice.

These weren't spontaneous uprisings.

They were planned, organized, disciplined.

They used the right to assemble, not just to protest, but to build a movement.

Now let's look at LGBTQ rights.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a queer bar in Greenwich Village.

Raids were common, but that night, the community resisted.

For six days, people gathered outside, protesting police brutality and harassment.

This was not a peaceful protest in the traditional sense.

It was a rebellion.

But it was born of years of targeted violence and marginalization.

And what followed was even more profound.

A movement.

Out of the ashes of Stonewall came pride marches.

Beginning in 1970 and growing into global celebrations of visibility and demand for equal rights.

From act up, die INS to marriage equality marches to Trans Day of visibility events, the LGBTQ movement has relied on gathering to exist because being seen was itself a radical act.

Moving on to women's rights marches for equality and autonomy.

In 2017, the day after Donald Trump's first inauguration, an estimated 5 million people around the world participated in the Woman's March, making it the largest single day protest in US history.

People marched for reproductive rights, pay equity, racial justice and gender equality.

And more recently, the Roe v.

WADE reversal in 2022 sparked waves of protest in cities and towns nationwide.

People assembled outside courthouses, in front of state capitols, at clinics, and online.

These protests were expressions of grief, rage and collective resolve.

For from suffragettes chaining themselves to fences in the early 1900s to intersectional marches today, women have always used assembly as a force for change.

Next, I want to look at the Black Lives Matter and modern movements, Other modern movements.

After the murder of George Floyd In May 2020, over 15 million people took to the streets across all all 50 states.

It was the largest protest movement in American history.

And while these protests did turn violent in certain cities, Chicago being one of them, where there was sustained looting and property destruction, the vast majority of these demonstrations and protests were peaceful.

People knelt, people grieved, people held signs.

They marched in silence, they chanted.

And they demanded that black lives be treated with dignity and justice.

And it wasn't just about police brutality.

These gatherings made space for conversations about intersectionality, the overlapping identities of race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability.

The protests highlighted how systems of oppression connect and how liberation must be collective.

So I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the difference between assembly versus insurrection.

On January 6, 2021, a violent mob stormed the US Capitol.

It was not a protest.

It was an insurrection, an effort to overturn a democratic election through violence, intimidation and destruction.

People attacked law enforcement, desecrated government property, and attempted to block the peaceful transfer of power.

Contrast that with the hands off moment on April 5, 2025.

That day, just a few weeks ago, tens of thousands of people across the country assembled peacefully to defend bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom, and trans rights.

There were no weapons, no violence, just presence, collective, unified presence.

People stood in city squares.

They held signs, gathered at courthouses and churches.

They grieved, they demanded.

They stood shoulder to shoulder, bound by a shared belief in dignity, choice and freedom.

The difference between January 6 and April 5 is the difference between assembly and insurrection.

One was about protecting democracy.

The other was about dismantling it.

Here's the truth.

Most of these movements didn't begin as massive spectacles.

They began in someone's living room at a town hall on a college campus, in a group chat.

Peaceful assembly is the seed.

Movements are the forest that grows.

Every candlelight vigil, every poster board sign, every silent march.

These are not just acts of protest.

They're acts of hope, acts of refusal, acts of connection.

Democracy is not just voting.

Every few years, it's gathering, listening, showing up, speaking out.

Let's talk about where these things stand now.

Because while the right to assemble is foundational, it's not invincible.

We've seen recent crackdowns that raise real concerns.

Think about standing rock in 2016, when indigenous water protectors and allies gathered to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline.

These were peaceful gatherings rooted in prayer and ancestral connection to the land.

Yet they were met with militarized police, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons in freezing temperature.

It's not just about physical presence anymore either.

Technology has quietly entered the scene.

Surveillance of protesters is real.

From facial recognition software that can identify you in a crowd to geofencing warrants that let law enforcement track everyone near a protest site using their phones.

Our right to be present is being digitally monitored.

This has a chilling effect.

People start asking, will I be watched?

Will I be flagged?

Will my presence be held against me later?

And if that's not enough, we've seen the rise of anti protest laws.

Over 30 states have passed or introduced legislation since 2017 that criminalizes protest tactics like blocking traffic, picketing, or even protesting near critical infrastructure like pipelines.

Some of these laws increase penalties dramatically, or even shield drivers who hit protesters with their cars.

Pen America has done extensive reporting on this, and it's a trend we cannot afford to ignore.

What is even more troubling is the shift in rhetoric.

Peaceful protest is increasingly conflated with rioting or domestic terrorism.

You'll hear terms like anarchists, outside agitators, or threats to public safety thrown around, often to delegitimize movements for justice.

This kind of language isn't neutral.

It sets the stage for suppression.

And this erosion isn't just happening here.

In authoritarian regimes, the right to assemble is often one of the first freedoms to go.

Think Russia, Iran, China, Hungary.

What makes democracy vibrant is not the absence of conflict.

It's the ability to disagree, to show up, to be visible.

And when that ability is threatened, we have to pay attention.

Now, I want to pause here and make something really clear.

Gathering isn't always about protest.

Yes, we absolutely gather to resist, but we also gather to grieve and to celebrate and to build.

Think of a vigil.

People holding candles, quietly standing in solidarity after a tragedy.

It's sacred, it's solemn.

It says, we see this, we remember, we Care.

Think of a Pride parade or a Juneteenth celebration.

Joy is resistance.

Celebration is visibility.

When marginalized communities show up in public to honor themselves, it's revolutionary.

And then there's the quiet, consistent power of mutual aid groups, community teach ins, solidarity circles.

These gatherings may not grab headlines, but they're where change is grown.

Slow, steady and rooted.

We gather because it heals something ancient in us.

We are not meant to navigate injustice or even life alone.

Protest is the beginning of a conversation, not the end.

It's an invitation to listen, to learn, and to grow.

So when we talk about assembly, let's remember it's not just a political act.

It's a human one.

Okay, so what now?

You may be wondering, what can I do to support the right to assemble, especially if I'm not always in the streets?

Here are a few grounded, powerful ways to take action.

1.

Know your rights before you show up.

Know what's protected and what to do if your rights are violated.

The ACLU has an excellent Protesters Rights guide, which I will put in the show notes to.

2.

Show up.

You don't have to be on the front lines every time.

Showing up can look like attending a rally or a vigil.

Sharing accurate information online, making a donation to support protesters or bail funds, amplifying the voices of community organizers.

There are many ways to show up, many ways to be present physically, virtually, vocally.

3.

Protect others.

If you have privilege, use it.

Be the person who records, who observes, who checks in.

Be the one who helps others get home safely or.

Or who just says, I'll go with you.

Your presence can create safety and accountability.

4.

Support the protectors.

There are organizations doing this work every single day.

The aclu, the National Lawyers Guild, Protect the Protest, which is a coalition defending protesters and the right to dissent.

And I will have links to all three of these organizations in the show notes as well.

Support them.

Follow them, volunteer if you can, and donate if you're able.

Because the right to assemble isn't something we can take for granted, but it is something that we can protect.

The right to peaceably assemble is one of our most profound and beautiful freedoms.

Assembly is a separate, sacred tool of democracy, the heartbeat of social change.

It's the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with others and say, we believe in something better.

While this wraps our Foundations of Freedom series, the real work continues.

Defending our rights isn't just about knowledge.

It's about action.

So I'm going to leave you with this.

I want you to reflect on what cause would move you to show up, Check out the ACLU Protest Guide.

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Until next time, stay curious, stay kind and keep showing up.