Our voices are the most important gift that we have, and to be silenced is to be sentenced to death. As dramatic as it sounds, it’s true. Our voices and freedom to speak the words we believe to be true, and to fight what we believe to be unjust or untruthful.
In our current political climate, it feels like public media is constantly under attack, and our voices feel as if they keep growing smaller and smaller. But that is simply not true; our voices are stronger than we think, and the power we wield is unimaginable.
A few days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, my sister’s teacher in the middle of class made a comment calling out some of his hateful words and beliefs, calling him a “fascist.” The school immediately fired this beloved and incredibly popular teacher without explanation or further investigation into the matter. Understandably so, the students were outraged by the overreaction the school displayed, and that was when my sister jokingly proposed the idea of starting a walkout in the teacher’s name.
The idea caught on and spread to more students and families, becoming a big movement that gained local media attention. What started as an accidental comment turned into something so much bigger, and students came out in support of this teacher. The administration made statements and issued messages to the students who chose to get involved, saying that they could face consequences. Still, students stood up in defiance. Ultimately, the school decided that their decision was final, no matter how unreasonable it might’ve seemed to people. But the fact that the students were brave enough to stand up against the administration brought tears to my eyes.
Especially having my sister be one of the main figures in this mini revolution made my heart swell with pride. Seeing so many young kids use the power of their voices made me realize how incredible this generation will be when it comes to standing up for what they believe in.
Voices throughout the nation are getting silenced over and over again with the defunding of public media, public education, and cutting off popular talk show hosts for saying things that our current president doesn’t like. Censorship, while our president claims to be fixing it, still seems to be an issue that we need to work to fight against, and it’s young voices like ours that fight for what’s right and against people trying to silence them.