Fighting for a Voice

Throughout history, many different groups have fought to be heard. For a country that prides itself on freedom and independence, we sure have a lot of issues with diminishing voices, from that of people of color to women. Young people are another group historically ignored in social and political conversations—but that doesn't stop them from being at the forefront of activism.

In 1965, some students at a public school in Des Moines, Iowa participated in a silent protest against the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands. When planning the protest, they were warned with suspension by their school principal on the grounds of disruption of the learning environment. And when the students evidently persisted in their protest, the principal kept to his threat and suspended the students.

This punishment was not just brushed off. The suspended students' families sued the school for violating the First Amendment— the children's right to the freedom of expression. The case (Tinker v. Des Moines) eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, resulting 4 years later in a majority decision in favor of the students. The Court ruled that students maintain their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression even at school and that "distraction to learning" is not a valid reason to violate that right.

Campus protests against the Vietnam War were quite common, as the the anti-war movement was mostly started by college students. Many people disagreed with the violence and devastation of the war—and with American troops dying in the hundreds of thousands, they had had enough. Activists worked to have their voices heard by the nation.

Decades later, we are still trying to have our voices heard with the #MeToo movement. This movement was founded in 2006 but went viral and reached the global masses in 2017 when the hashtag went viral on twitter. The goal of 'me too' is to advocate about the issue of sexual violence. Millions of women, in specific, shared their stories online and pushed for a change in our society.

Just like the students in Tinker v. De Moines and all of the anti-war protestors, the women of 'me too' are fighting for their voices to be heard in a society that has always silenced or ignored them. Women have long been shamed for speaking out about sexual assault and the men who mistreated them, and the 'me too' movement attempts to change that. The youth need a voice and women need a voice—and because of how these two groups are often disregarded in society, both movements face the barrier of also being dismissed and not taken as seriously by society.

Despite their similarity, the movements used different platforms for their activism and protest. The students protesting against the war did not have access to media technology that we have today, so they had to utilize different means, like the black armbands. If their protest had not led to suspension and then the Supreme Court, it is unlikely that their protest would have received the public attention that it did. And this barrier of lack of exposure is faced by most other anti-war protestors.

On the other hand, the 'me too' movement had the advantage of social media to receive the attention it needed to take off and make an impact. Not only does social media provide the opportunity to reach millions of people in any place and at any time but it also makes it easy for people to interact and participate immediately.

Online activism has been very helpful in getting voices heard, inspiring and educating others on a variety of issues. Despite its benefits, online activism has also encouraged performative activism in which people get involved on a surface-level, making posts to increase their social capital. A way to participate in thoughtful online discourse could be to merely think before you post. For example, this could mean conducting some research about the topic. The youth are the future, so we should be doing our best to meaningfully engage in activism.