Celebrating the First Amendment

As a nearly life-long journalist (or journalism-adjacent person), I have an abiding appreciation of the First Amendment.Much to my chagrin, I could only remember four of the five freedoms promised Americans by the First Amendment to the Constitution when quizzed on it today at the Newseum.The ones I got were the easy ones: Freedom of the press, religion, speech, and assembly. What I forgot: Freedom to petition the government. In fairness, no one ever remembers that one.A tour of the museum in Washington, D.C., today was a sobering reminder of the importance of these freedoms.We saw several original panels from the Berlin Wall. The side facing West Berlin was covered in colorful murals. The side facing East Berlin was powerwashed clean, with faint traces of graffiti still visible. Drab and colorless, the East Berlin side also was overlooked by guard towers, one of which sits in the museum.We saw the door to the jail cell Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned in. We saw the Woolworth's lunch counter where the infamous sit-in happened.We saw the Unabomber's cabin and the SUV that was involved in the attempted bombing attempt in Times Square in 2010.We saw the memorial to journalists killed around the world and the bullet-riddled truck Time magazine photojournalists used in the former Yugoslavia. Armor-coated, it was known as the "Metal Magnet," and none of the journalists who rode in the truck died.We do tend to take our freedoms for granted.The Newseum's homage to the First Amendment shows why we shouldn't.All photos shot by yours truly.