A wise man once spoke of great tragedy: “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress to accept his request to go to war with Japan, one of the three axis powers that spoke to a greater power: Hitler.

Imagine if America didn’t win World War II, in an alternate universe where Hitler became an ultimate dictator and had a chilling vision. There is no such thing as freedom of speech and our statements are not protected. Children don’t learn the songs that talk about the land of the free and there is no freedom to honor our soldiers. We don’t celebrate with soaring fireworks or march down the streets waving the striped and starred flags. The First Amendment is the American people’s backbone throughout the country’s history. Freedom of speech, expression and association have historically been at the core of every effective movement for social change in America.

Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr didn’t have a dream. Black and whites would still be separated and racism would be more common.

Imagine if President Trump repealed the First Amendment, journalists would become “enemies of the people,” athletes who kneel during the National Anthem would be fired, and those who express an opposing point of view online or to a public figure could have severe consequences.

A student’s voice is just as powerful as a public figures’. The First Amendment gives the people a voice to say what they please towards the government, whether it’s about a speech on reproductive rights or someone puts a political bumper sticker on their car. There’s face to face discussions, lectures, radio and tv broadcasts that all have the ability to talk about freedom of speech. Without it, President Franklin Roosevelt wouldn’t have asked the Congress to go to war with Japan, Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t have fought for a races rights, an athlete wouldn’t have kneeled during the National Anthem, and I wouldn’t be writing this.