Written by Olivia Ali
America is a country that beat the odds. America rose against the oppression of their motherland, declared their own freedom, wrote out a citizen’s rights from birth, and became one of the strongest countries in the world. However, America seems to be back tracking, as one of the rights stated in the very first constitutional amendment is being ignored. Our freedom of speech is a constitutional right, yet people don’t seem to understand what this actually means.
People, whether they are of authority or not, are bending the words of our country’s founding fathers. Freedom of speech means “the right to express opinions without censorship or restraint.” For some strange reason, this does not seem to get through to the people of authority. This especially applies to authoritative figures who “rule” students. For example, a 16-year-old civil rights activist from New Jersey named Bethany Koval had her first amendment rights severely limited. Her posts on Twitter about the Palestine and Israel controversy were found offensive by a classmate and she was subject to forceful interrogation, suspension, and harsh reactions from her peers. Her tweets were not hateful towards her peers or the conflict itself, but it was an “unpopular” opinion, and therefore her school decided this was unacceptable. After this incident, she has continued to suffer from the intense consequences of sharing her opinions online. Nowhere in our constitutional rights does it say that freedom of speech is limited to the popular agreement.
America is beginning to trample on the policies we were built on, and history is being made with the corrupt decisions of the authority of the current generation. If our education systems allow teenagers speech freedom to remain so limited, where will we be in 20 years? 50? The hypocrisy must end.
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