We Have a Voice
- Jackie Harris
Flags, fireworks, picnics.
Here we are in July and celebrating Independence Day. I believe this month when we consider freedom is a time to pause and reflect on our right to free expression as part of our evolved communication.
Let us look at some history on the first amendment, which is one of ten amendments making up the Bill of Rights written to protect civil liberties in U.S. law. The first amendment, in part, protects our right to free speech.
Freedom of speech gives Americans the right to express themselves without having to worry about government interference. However, even the Constitution’s framers were guilty of violating the First Amendment they had so recently adopted in 1791. In 1798, during the French-Indian War, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act, which made it a crime for anyone to publish “any false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government.”
Throughout the 19th century, sedition, criminal anarchy and criminal conspiracy laws suppressed the speech of abolitionists, religious minorities, suffragists, labor organizers, and pacifists. In Virginia, prior to the Civil War, anyone who “by speaking or writing maintains owners have no right of property in slaves” was subject to a one-year prison sentence.
The 19th century statesperson, Fredrick Douglass, wrote on the eve of the civil war that “liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.” Later when confronted about his willingness to talk with slaveholders, Douglass said, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” Shades of Ernest Holmes.
In 1912, feminist Margaret Sanger gave a lecture on birth control and found herself arrested. Peaceful protesters expressing their opposition to U.S. entry into World War I found themselves imprisoned. Were these violations of their First Amendment rights?
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” After winning an award from the Freedom Forum in 2017, John Lewis said, “I don’t know where this nation would be, I don’t know where I would be today without the guarantees of the First Amendment.”
Douglass, Franklin, and Lewis recognized the importance of hearing all sides, good and bad, in order to be a well-informed citizen.
I agree with them. The ability to express our opinion and speak freely is essential to bring about change in society.
No matter appearances, let each one of us affirm we all have a voice!
Listen, learn, and then speak. With freedom comes responsibility. Let us evolve our communication.
