John Tinker - Free Speech

John Tinker - Free Speech
Dec 12, 2023

In 1965, five students from Des Moines wore black arm bands to
school to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam War. Those
strips of cloth became the subject of a case that went all the way
to the U.S. Supreme Court. Because of those Iowa students, the
right of all American students to express their political opinions
was strengthened.

In the 1960s, the United States began sending troops to Southeast
Asia. The nation of Vietnam had been divided into two parts, with
North Vietnam friendly to Communist China on its northern border
while South Vietnam looked to the United States for support. The
United States feared that if communists from North Vietnam took
control of South Vietnam, communism would soon overrun all of
Southeast Asia.

Some Americans opposed sending American soldiers to Vietnam. In
their opinion, the war cost too many American lives and too much
money. In 1965, a group of Des Moines high school and junior high
students met at the home of Christopher Eckhardt to make plans to
protest the United States' participation in the Vietnam War. The
students agreed to wear black armbands the following week to
protest the deaths of American soldiers in the war.

Word of the planned protest spread. School principals were afraid
that student protests would disrupt classrooms and school
activities. They passed a ruling prohibiting armbands. They said
that any students wearing them would be sent home and not allowed
back to classes until the armbands were gone.

On December 16, five students wore armbands to school despite the
principals' rule. Three of students, Christopher Eckhardt,
Christine Singer and Bruce Clark, were from Roosevelt High School.
John Tinker attended North High School and his sister, Mary Beth,
went to Harding Junior High.

Christopher Eckhardt recalled that several students threatened him,
"I wore the black armband over a camel-colored jacket. The captain
of the football team attempted to rip it off. I turned myself in to
the principal's office where the vice principal asked if 'I wanted
a busted nose.' He said seniors wouldn't like the armband." A
school counselor told Christopher that colleges would not accept
him if he was a war protestor and might need to find a new high
school if he did not remove the arm band.

When the five students refused to remove the armbands, they were
expelled from school. They returned after Christmas break without
the armbands but wearing all black clothes.

The Des Moines School Board met to review the principals' rule.
They supported the ruling because they decided that principals
needed the authority to keep order in the schools. The Vietnam War
was becoming a very emotional issue across the country, and school
officials were afraid that there could be disturbances at school if
protest symbols showed up in class.

The case did not end there, however. In March 1966, John Tinker,
Mary Beth Tinker, Chris Eckhardt and their parents filed a formal
complaint in U.S. District Court arguing that the students' rights
had been violated. The District Court dismissed the case, as did a
Federal Appeals Court. The case finally reached all the way to the
United States Supreme Court on Nov. 12, 1968.

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of all
American citizens to freedom of speech. But does that freedom apply
to high school and middle school students in Des Moines, Iowa? The
Supreme Court said it does! The Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v.
Des Moines Independent Community School District that students and
teachers continue to have the right of free speech and expression
when they are at school. They do not "shed their constitutional
rights at the school house gate," Judge Abe Fortas wrote in the
Court's ruling.

Does this mean that school officials do not have the right to
maintain order in the schools or to prevent things that disrupt
classes? No, the Court said. Schools can still restrict students'
actions or expressions when there is enough reason to believe those
actions would disrupt the school or invade the rights of other
students. However, just because an opinion is unpopular or makes
other students or teachers uncomfortable, school officials cannot
prevent students from sharing their views. In the Tinker case, the
Court ruled, school officials had not proved that the students'
armbands would significantly disrupt classroom or school
activities.

The Tinker case is a very important decision protecting student
rights. Because five Des Moines students were brave enough to stand
up for an unpopular position, all American students enjoy greater
freedom to express their opinions.


Source

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