Aleia Wiggins

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Journalism and Mass Communications Student

1st Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Even though this is pretty much the first Amendment everybody learns first, its the first

Amendment for a reason. It oversees every other amendment. If it wasn’t for this one, It’d be

hard for any citizen to abide by any other. This amendment was made for equal rights and justice

not for judgment and ridicule. Thats something to truly be appreciative for.

This is why the first amendment is so important to me. We as a human race tend to forget

that’s what we are first. We forget that we are an extra large extended family, so we end up

treating each other with less and less respect. If everyone would allow each other to be their most

authentic self and not judge, we’d be okay. The positives would then start to cover the negatives.

Everyone feels like power is the ultimate source of happiness and it isn’t. Its the power of love

and compassion. That includes respect, kindness, and care with some sort of sympathy. We all

have our own thoughts, opinions, and relations. We don’t ask the world for permission, so why

do we expect anybody else to?

One of the most important pieces to the amendment is Journalism and Mass

Communications student needing the freedom of the press. Freedom of the press allows

journalists to post their opinions on topics without government censorship. This is really

important within my career because of the content I create. Even what I produce and what I
allow to be aired can fall under this amendment. The first amendment alone is our first right of

passage and citizens of the country need to believe and exercise the meaning and weight it

actually holds.