Freeman Hrabowski III was 12 years old in 1963 when he was arrested and jailed for five days. He had participated with thousands of other students in the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama. During the nonviolent protest, police dogs, water cannons, and police batons were used to disperse the children. Pictures of police brutality against children demanding equality helped catalyze President Kennedy’s proposal of the Civil Rights Act, which ended legalized segregation. In 1992, Hrabowski became president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He attributes his success partly to what he learned during the Children’s Crusade.

In August 2014, protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by a police officer. Brown was unarmed. Some witnesses reported that he said, “Don’t shoot!” with his hands up. Protesters expressed their anger about Brown’s death and about many previous cases when unarmed black men were shot by police. They called for broad reform of police procedures. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that events like Ferguson highlight a “real racial problem” in the U.S. Police spokespersons responded that the police do a dangerous job and are just trying to protect all citizens.

Many parents took young children along to the Ferguson protests to learn about their right as U.S. citizens to assemble and speak freely against injustices. Parents also said their children had the right to defend their beliefs. The Ferguson protests were mostly peaceful, but there were pockets of violence. At some points, police used tear gas, smoke, armored vehicles, and arrests.

In both 1963 and 2014, parents of children and teenagers who protested were criticized, even by some people who believed that the police actions were an injustice. Critics argued that parents were placing their children in danger, since even peaceful protests can result in violence. Malcolm X, a civil rights leader who sometimes advocated violence, commented on the 1963 Children’s Crusade, “Real men don’t put their children on the firing line.” But Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the champion of nonviolence, told parents, “Don’t worry about your children; they’re going to be all right. Don’t hold them back if they want to go to jail, for they are doing a job not only for themselves, but for all of America and for all mankind.”

What do you think? Are the parents of child protesters being irresponsible by putting them in potential danger? Or are they being responsible by teaching children about their duty as citizens?