Opening statement -

The first amendment is the right to freedom of religion, press, speech, expression, and assembly. Let us not forget that The United States government added amendments to the constitution to protect basic human rights. If you take away one right, you might as well take away all.

Critical Race Theory -  

The banning of critical race theory eliminates the necessary discussion between teachers and students about African Americans' systemic oppression in this country. The ban of critical race theory eradicates and diminishes the freedom of speech regarding historical contexts of the United States. Therefore, inhibiting the first amendment right of teachers or any educational staff on molding minds. "Idaho, for example, passed a bill in May banning teaching in any public school that "any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior," which, according to that bill, was often found in "critical race theory." Tennessee has banned teaching it, too. Locally, the debate has surged, as well. In Florida, a teacher is suing a local school district for allegedly retaliating after she spoke up about racism and hung a Black Lives Matter flag." When we take away the freedom of speech from teachers teaching the impactful contents of critical race theory, we neglect the history many minorities faced in society. The semantic definitions of those words impact the past and present tasks we face, allowing us to recognize how we should change and model our society. If it were not for the demeaning words many faced, we would not be able to acknowledge their significance. Past disgrace leads to inevitable grace as history allows us to redefine the future and our American culture. Taking away from necessary teaching and washing our history away does nothing for us as we progress in society.

Filming of police - 

Countless minorities and people of color are victims of abusive police practices. The disparity in law enforcement between minorities and predominately white communities has been seen in the United States over the past couple of years, decades, and movements. In the Latino community, specifically during the Trump administration in 2016, when advocating for building the wall, allowing for the random checking and stopping of Latinos when driving to see if they are a citizen of the United States. Evidence -"Traffic stops of Hispanic drivers by the sheriff's office in metro Phoenix were more likely to last longer and result in searches or arrests than those of white drivers, according to a new study eight years after the agency was found to have racially profiled Hispanics in immigration crackdowns". Not to mention the consistent deaths of African Americans at the hands of police brutality. Names like Eric Garner( Staten Island, New York, 56 years old), Tamir Rice (Cleveland, Ohio, 12 years old), George Floyd( Minneapolis, Minnesota, 46 years old), Breonna Taylor ( Louisville, Kentucky, 26 years old), etc. The list goes on. Filming police and filming of public places is protected under the first amendment and often gives evidence to many of the cases African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color deal with. Taking away the first amendment would mean taking the chance of getting justice for now-departed members of my community.

Protest and activism: -  

The First Amendment protects your right to express your opinion. The right to join with fellow citizens in protest or peaceful assembly is critical to a functioning democracy and at the core of the First Amendment. However, law enforcement officials sometimes violate the right to free public expression. For example, civil rights movements drew upon several first amendments freedoms – to protest racial injustice and promote racial equality. The right to assemble can allow people to gather peacefully and for lawful purposes. More recently, in civil rights activism were the Black Lives Matter protests that brought a voice and change to the impeding Jurisdiction of Derek Chauvin, a former abusive police officer who killed an African American, George Floyd. Due to these protests, law enforcement created the George Floyd Policing Act, which even Senator Schumer advocates in our federal and state governments. The George Floyd Policing acts allow for those who choose to have a career in law enforcement to address systemic racism and hold them accountable for misconduct when enforcing the law. This change happened because the first amendment allowed citizens of the United States to engage in a peaceful protest. Justice gets served with this amendment, and if we were to take the amendment away, justice goes along with it. We wouldn't want to say goodbye to justice, would we?

Flag burning -  

People burn their country's flag to show their resentment towards their country, what the country stands for, or the denigration of what their country is today. They do this as a form of expression and protest. Burning the flag shows a form of symbolic speech. The rights of people to protest are protected by the first amendment and should remain that way. The American flag represents freedom; that being said, you have the right to do what you please with it. The first amendment states that we have the right to petition the government. By opposing flag desecration, you oppose the state of the constitution, which we all hold sacred in our lives. This form of protest is a freedom of expression. Expression is an innate human right. If you take away expression, you maximize oppression. 

Freedom of Religion - 

Freedom of religion is protected under the first amendment, and after the acts of 9/11, the United States government and society tested it the most. The actions of 9/11 made nearly 3000 lives die, but many people in the United States of America discriminated against hundreds of thousands of Muslim lives due to their religion. Islamophobia made it incredibly hard for Muslims to practice their religion safely. Evidence, "Hafez is of the generation of Muslim Americans who grew up amid a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in the aftermath of the attacks orchestrated by the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaida. He remembers hate crimes against Muslim friends: houses spray-painted, car windows broken, women and girls' hijabs, or headscarves, torn from their heads by strangers. His local mosque built a fence, installed cameras, and hired security guards in response to threats." The abolishment of the first amendment would protect none of these lives and their religion. If the United States government were to take away the right to freedom of religion, the number of people who practice religions different from Christianity and Catholicism deaths and prosecution would surmount to an even greater amount. Mosques have been terrorized over the past couple of years, and Muslims have been labeled as terrorists. Taking away the first amendment would inevitably take away their lives, practices, and faith. The United States is not a monolith of people but a melting pot. Taking away the different religions would take away the people among us. Who are we if we are not our differences?

Don't Say Gay Bill -

Recently Florida has been trying to pass the Don't Say Gay Bill. Passing the bill means that" 'Don't Say Gay' bills will effectively chill the consideration and teaching of LGBT issues in public schools because students and school personnel are prohibited from discussing any aspect of homosexuality even when the discussion is relevant to a lesson." Removing this part of speech will stigmatize homosexuality and increase bullying along with setting us as a nation back as a whole. Speech is not just hate speech. Speech is education, expression, enlightening, and demonstrative of who we are as a person or society. When you remove speech, you remove who we are and the preservation of our characters. You can not control what people say or do. Passing this bill also means that LGBT students can't express themselves to their guidance counselors, teachers, and social workers when dealing with their problems as they learn more about themselves. Removing this part of speech removes the community many of my peers, and I are in and advocate for. Saying that the First Amendment is obsolete means that I am obsolete, you are obsolete, and what we fight for is obsolete. 

Freedom of Press - 

 News and influential networks allow us to engage in conversations we would not know about had the press not been involved. Recently, with the war in Ukraine, the media televising it allows the rest of us in the other half of the world to engage and help a topic we would have known anything about. Due to the first amendment, we can see the tragedies that are going on in Ukraine and in the destabilization of the Middle East. This allows for petitions, protests, and fundraisers to advocate for the struggles many of us would not know. Taking away the first amendment would take away informational news and topics many of us need to discuss to bring clarity to our world. Also, freedom of the press allows us to criticize government officials like Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, decreasing New York City's homeless aid project and pushing anti-homeless projects. Without the freedom of the press, not only would many of us not know about this big push, and none of us would be able to voice our opinions. Freedom in the press is the freedom of information, fact, knowledge, and human right. Without knowledge, who are we?