Celebrating Free Speech
Jessica Predium a Bellevile freshmen, worries that she and her peers often lose sight of one of their most essential American rights: free speech.
“I think sometimes people forget their freedom because it’s easy to be swept up with the crowd and keep your opinion to yourself or resist the opportunity to say what’s on their mind,” Predium said. “Sometimes you just need to say something and here was a perfect opportunity.”
A large blank canvas stretching across the Bovee Center lawn, Monday, served as an avenue for the freshman and other passing students to express, and be reminded of their First Amendment rights.
The Young Americans of Liberty erected their second annual Freedom of Speech Wall as one of their many activism projects of the year. Anyone passing the display was allowed to write on it, free of judgement.
Americans of Liberty member and junior Victoria Dennis of New Baltimore, said the wall was filled throughout the day with comments varying from personal stories to funny quotes found online.
“People are very open with what they have to say on the wall,” she said. “Someone wrote ‘out and proud’ and that’s fantastic. Other people wrote really random things.”
John Bachor a Dearborn Heights junior, was one of the randoms. He said he found the project interesting because he’s never seen anything like it on campus before.
Bachor wrote, “roses are red, my name is Dave, this poem makes no sense, microwave.”
“Some people need a reminder about free speech,” he said. “But others know well off that we have the right.”
