The Six Mile Post is sponsoring First Amendment Awareness Week, celebrated Jan. 22 to Jan. 28. As a student newspaper, exercising our First Amendment right is important. The Six Mile Post is nothing without freedom of speech.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression and Congress is prohibited from making laws restricting it. This has not stopped states from finding ways to censor citizens under the disguise of protecting students from harmful misinformation.

Many states started this attack by determining what students can and cannot be taught about slavery and the role racism has played in history. American history is rooted in slavery and racism, so this is censorship at its finest.

Many books are being pulled from public school libraries, notably books that promote anti-government control, pro-LGBTQIA+, women’s awareness and anti-religion.

Florida has taken it as far as requiring training for public school librarians to limit “harmful materials” from entering classrooms. Many of these books are critical for student development and banning them gives students no choice but to seek this knowledge elsewhere.

There has been a rise of the “anti-woke” movement which is really a guise to silence ideals people in the movement do not like.

The banning of race-related content in Florida schools is an example of this. They believe that these books are brainwashing, but that’s because it does not align with their viewpoints.

The recent First Amendment violations are censoring knowledge and expression for no good reason. Both sides of the aisle are more interested in getting their ideas across and using children as pawns to do so.

Citizens should not feel as though they can’t express themselves and their ideals. America has always been prided as the “land of the free,” but our freedom of speech is in more jeopardy now than ever.