Freedom of Speech Sort of

What can I say without being judged? What am I proud of? How do I identify my beliefs? Being completely honest answering these questions will be impossible, for myself and others. I don’t know a single person that can openly say what they truly believe and feel without being looked down on. The definition for “Freedom of Speech” is “the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint.”. We shaped our entire country around it since the beginning of the United States. It was established in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution in 1791 along with the freedom of religion, press, and the right to assemble. The division in our country has rapidly been growing and showing more as the weeks go by. We have been judging and separating ourselves because of racial, political and different classes and lifestyles. We are judging people by the single story we know and missing the full character right in front of us.

I can be wrong though. It could’ve always been like this but why can’t we change it to that freedom of speech truly will be freedom of speech? If my beliefs and political views isn’t putting people in danger then why is my views wrong? How is saying what I am, “Inappropriate”. I feel like people today are very closed minded and too sensitive to things they don’t understand. For me being Hispanic, people believe I follow the general thinking of Hispanics. I remember the day after the election of President Trump winning; proudly saying that my parents had voted for him and calling my family Trump supporters. A teacher openly said “You’re Mexican though, your family is going to get deported.” then she walked out of the class. At that moment being my 13 year old self, I was hurt but now I learned that she couldn’t respect what I believed in. Even if your family voted for Trump or Clinton, people on both side will attack you verbally, this is just one type of example of how we can’t fully say what we believe out loud. I truly feel like everyone should be acceptable and say what they want without being judged and took down. I leave you with this ‘Are we ever going to change?’. Yes, I understand that I can be thinking completely different than you but this is my honest opinion and view on our society today.