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Richard Voragen
Ms. Giovannetti
13 December 2016
As Aung San Suu Kyi, a minister of the president's office, one said, Freedom must be demanded
and defended, by those who have been denied it and by those who are already free. Thanks to many
people such as Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, Charles Euchner, and Abraham Lincoln who
have dedicated their lives to the fight for freedom, we are more free than ever; but the question is still
around on weather we are still free. Freedom should be demanded, not just given to some people; in our
current time freedom is sometimes threatened, not given, or even taken away from people for various
reasons such as crime and race, but the truth is that freedom should be an inalienable right not just an
opportunity for some. This is because freedom can sometimes not be given, freedom can be taken away
Freedom needs to be demanded because it wont be given. Martin Luther King, the man who
gave the I have a Dream Speech and the man who dedicated his entire life to fight for freedom, was
quoted as stating, Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the
oppressed. By saying this King wanted to show that freedom will not be given unless it is demanded.
This shows that King, just like many others, demanded his freedom. Another piece of evidence is in
Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address speech which exclaimed, From these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion. (Lincoln 27).
During the time when Lincoln gave this speech America was fighting for freedom so the cause that
Lincoln mentioned in the quote is freedom. This is important because many people died to demand
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freedom for all. As a result readers can conclude that freedom will not be given unless it is demanded.
One reason why we must demand our freedom is because our freedom can be taken away. A
musician named David Allan Coe experienced his freedom being taken away when, at the age of nine, he
was sent to a variety of correctional facilities in which he spent 20 years of his life, later to spend 3 years
of his life in the Ohio Penitentiary; he later gave the statement that, Freedom cannot be given It can
only be taken away. This shows the reader another point of view on someone who experienced his
freedom being taken away just because he was sent to a penitentiary. It is important to note this because
most Americans dont really know what goes on in correctional facilities and penitentiaries. Another
example of how freedom can be taken away is in the essayNobody Turn Me Around by Charles
Euchner who wrote, White priests wouldnt take assignments in black churches. (Euchner 65). This
expresses how the freedom of religion can be taken away just because of the color of people's skin. This is
important to note because in a church, an area where everyone should be accepted, when people are
discriminated their freedoms of religion are threatened. So based on this evidence, readers may conclude
To better understand that freedom must be demanded, it must be declared that freedom is not
given to all people. According to Martin Luther King Jr. the blacks are not free if, The Negro is the
victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. (King 49). What King was trying to express was
that not all blacks are given freedom therefor freedom must be demanded. This is important because by
definition freedom is, the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or
restraint. So when many people are silenced by the government and police the question must be asked if
we are really free. Another example of people not receiving their freedom is expressed in the speech A
Eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Kennedy in which Kennedy affirmed that, Martin Luther
King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he dies because of that
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effort. What Kennedy ment is that King dedicated his life to freedom for all who werent granted it yet.
The truth behind freedom is that it should be an inalienable right, not just an opportunity for some.
The opposition may say that, in America, we are granted our freedoms and rights at birth. These
freedoms include the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of press. While this
may be true who is going to stop the government from not giving or following these rights. In 2003, 120
protesters peacefully protested against the Iraq war, although later on police came in and started taking the
protesters possessions, including scarves, coats, and wallets, which completely goes against our first
amendment, which states that we have, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances. The issue was that nobody was able to stop the police from their
actions; who is going to police the police? The point ties down to, even if the government gave us our
freedom nothing would stop them from taking it away or not enforcing it. This is why freedom should be
demanded as an inalienable right. So it conclusion, stop thinking that just because America is a free
country, freedom is just handed out. If freedom is needed, go out and demand it.
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Works Cited
Euchner, Charles. from Nobody Turn Me Around: A Peoples History of the 1963 March on
Washington California Collections. Ed. Kylene Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William
McBride, Erik Palmer, and Lydia Stack. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. 55-68. Print.
Kennedy, Robert F. A Eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. California Collections. Ed. Kylene Beers,
Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William McBride, Erik Palmer, and Lydia Stack. Orlando: Houghton
King, Martin Luther, Jr. I Have a Dream California Collections. Ed. Kylene Beers, Martha Hougen,
Carol Jago, William McBride, Erik Palmer, and Lydia Stack. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin
Lincoln, Abraham Gettysburg Address California Collections. Ed. Kylene Beers, Martha Hougen,
Carol Jago, William McBride, Erik Palmer, and Lydia Stack. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin
"Martin Luther King, Jr.." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2016. 13 December 2016.
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth125901.html
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/davidallan204299.html
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http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2003/shannonJAN.html