LatinaLista — In this day of increased global migration and more and more undocumented immigrants dying just to get into the United States, it’s easy to say that the only reason people want to immigrate to the United States is because of jobs — but that’s not the complete reason.
It’s also for five other reasons, otherwise known as The First Amendment rights. The unfortunate thing is that not enough people know or appreciate what all those rights guaranteed in our Bill of Rights are, but there is a new national campaign to educate everyone on exactly what makes the United States stand apart from the rest of the world when it comes to citizen rights.
The campaign is called 1 Amendment for All and launched July 1 with the main goal of raising awareness and underscoring why it’s important for all citizens to defend the First Amendment rights.
There are four main components to the campaign: 1. The bipartisanship; 2. The education; 3. The interactivity and 4. The focus on all five of the freedoms.
The five freedoms of the First Amendment give Americans the right to speak freely, to report about the world around us, to protest and petition, and to draw strength from freedom of faith.
The campaign includes videos of prominent Americans talking about the First Amendment rights, lesson plans for teachers incorporating the issue in their classes, information for college campuses on creating a Liberty Tree Initiative program that brings in guest lecturers who talk about the First Amendment and a special contest.
The contest, dubbed How Free Can You Be?, accepts submissions of photos, videos and stories that illustrate First Amendment liberties. The winning submissions will be part of a national campaign that includes hundreds of newspapers, websites and television stations. The contest deadline is July 31, 2010.
The First Amendment enables citizens to express their thoughts and beliefs in a free society. It allows citizens to practice whatever religion they wish — or no religion at all. Without the First Amendment, religious minorities could be persecuted, the government could establish a national religion, protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government and citizens could not mobilize for or against social change.