Teens protest gas prices

By Jean Cole
jean@athensnews-courier.com

May 24, 2008 10:12 pm

— Seventeen-year-old Jasmine Hansen got a lesson in civics Saturday. Some people frown on peaceful protests.
The Athens teenager and a few of her friends made posters and had planned a day of protesting skyrocketing gasoline prices at Delano Park in Decatur.
After protesting for about an hour in the morning, she and her friends took a break before noon to cool off. When they returned, they made more signs to resume their protest. As they began, a woman working in the rose gardens at the taxpayer-funded park interfered.
“She came up to us and told us we couldn’t be here,” Jasmine said. “I asked her, ‘Isn’t this a public park?’ She said it was and that we could protest but we couldn’t use the signs because it violated the sign ordinance,” Jasmine said.
Apparently the woman had forgotten about an even bigger sign ordinance — the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to peaceably assemble.
They discussed where else they could go to protest, but by then the mood was broken.
Compliant but unconvinced, Jasmine walked several blocks from Delano to City Hall in 85-degree heat and asked police officers if her protest was legal.
“They said it was legal and that they were all for it,” she said.
Although Jasmine said she may try her protest again, she seemed dejected.
“People just don’t care,” she said. “I hate to say it, but they just think they have to take it.”
The protest was prompted by her weariness with earning minimum wage and watching gasoline prices obliterate her paycheck.
“I have worked since I was 14,” she said. “I know what it is like to have to be on your own, to have to take care of yourself, to buy food and gasoline.”
She believes President Bush could free up some of the country’s 701 million barrels of reserve oil, use it for gasoline and take some of the burden off Americans.
“It’s like someone is holding Americans upside down and emptying their pockets,” she said. “The president could have done more, he could have freed up the reserve, but he didn’t because he is profiting from oil and so are his friends. He doesn’t know what it is like trying to make ends meet.”
After watching gasoline prices increase between 17 and 20 cents in two weeks, she says something has to give.
“If they are going to raise gas prices then why not raise minimum wage?” Jasmine said.
She would like to find a better job as soon as possible so she can make more money. Although she will earn her GED in about a month, like most young people, she lacks experience. She’s been a waitress, worked in a fruit stand and held other jobs, but would ultimately like to go to college.
“I’d like to be a social worker,” she said. “I know what it is like to hurt and I’d like to help others.”
Looks like Jasmine has the right idea. Hopefully, her fellow citizens will encourage her to exercise her rights in the future.