Introducing the First Amendment #yourvoicematters

The First Amendment is one of the most important amendments. It allows you to have freedom of speech, religion, and press. This also applies to peaceful assembly and the right to petition. However, you can't just do whatever you please. There's a limit to knowing what you can and can not say. For example, “I am going to kill the President” will get you locked up in an instant. Not all speech is free.

In referring to freedom of religion, America has a hard time adjusting to this. Not everyone has the same religion, but Christianity is seen as the “dominant” religion. There have been many football teams who have been under fire for praying on the field. A coach was being held responsible for leading a prayer with his players on the field. NPR stated, “The U.S. The Supreme Court on Monday sided with a high school football coach who claimed the right to pray on the 50-yard line after each game, joined by those players who wanted to participate.” (Totenberg, Paragraph 1) Many were assuming that they were trying to force this onto the players, but it was an optional prayer. The issue with this is that the coach was fighting for “freedom of religion”, but this ties into knowing what you can and can not do. The issue was trying to combine school and religion which has not been allowed since 1962.

One thing that comes to mind regarding freedom of speech and peaceful assembly is the Black Lives Matter and Roe v. Wade protests. In the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter began to grow fastly in the media. The brutal murder of Trayvon Martin created this movement. The two police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked wildfire across the nation. The #blackouttuesday was a day where all social media was blacked out for the day for both of these deaths. The protests started and ended very peacefully. In my hometown, we held marches every Tuesday and Thursday where we walked around downtown Newnan protesting. The police stood on guard but never interfered. However, things in Atlanta took a turn for the worse. Breaking into shops and setting cars on fire caused the police to intervene. Others began to grow tired of waiting for the police responsible for Breonna and George’s death spawned #NOJUSTICENOPEACE. Many people commented that the protests went from Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcolm X. It felt like we were going back in time with the Civil Rights movement. With Roe v. Wade in talks of being overturned, many women and others began to speak up. #SaveRoe started to trend on social media. However, efforts seemed lost when it was overturned on June 24th, 2022. Protests for both movements still continue to this day. They both have countless petitions you can sign to help out.

The First Amendment holds a lot of power, but you have to use it wisely and smartly.

 https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/1106290141/supreme-court-high-school-coach-right-to-pray.