Coretta Scott King Speech

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, King asserts that the war in Vietnam is a “symptom” (7) of a much larger disease that affects the “American spirit” (7). The disease King mentions is causing destruction where ever it is found, and in the case of the Vietnam war, it has led to their oppression and the death of people. In the section, Strange Liberators, King states, “They move sadly and apathetically as we heard them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs” (8). King believed that the disease was leading the United States to take drastic actions against the Vietnamese people. The U.S.

Freedom is a word we all know; we all hear it ring in our ears, but what is freedom really? The dictionary definition is “the condition of being free of restraints”. We are all fettered by something whether it is a cell phone or bigger like an addiction; we all have something that makes us feel a little restrained at times. Other times however we get so caught up in wanting to do whatever we want that we don’t see that is not really freedom. Another definition of freedom from the dictionary is that it is “a right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference”.

Racism has always been a major problem in America. However, it was known to be the most problematic in the late 1950s. On August 28 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his infamous speech “I Have a Dream” to America. His dream highlighted the injustices of segregation and discrimination of African Americans that took place in this nation every single day. Dr. King inspired thousands despite the color of their skin, to take a stance against racism, with his powerful way with words. In his speech MLK efficaciously uses, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos by using allusions, developing credibility, in his speech to persuade all Americans to be aware of the problems with racism.

As Philip Randolph said, “Freedom is never given, it is won.” Philip was a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement and the American labor movement. We have historically had to learn from our mistakes, such as the Spanish-American War. In the Spanish-American War we were trying to protect people, so we thought, so they fought against us and they fought back. We deserved to right to do what we want after what happened here, we proved ourselves. To me, freedom is learning from you mistakes.

Freedom is the right to act, think, speak and write without fear of punishment or coercion. I feel that living in a civilized society ensures freedom because a civilized society has laws to keep everyone 's rights safe, our government is a democracy since we were once under a tyrannical government, and it keeps order. Three famous writers known as Henry David Thoreau with Civil Disobedience, Niccolo Machiavelli with The Qualities of a Prince, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau with The Origin of Civil Society wrote about a civilized society versus a tyrannical government. Sometimes their views agreed with mine and other times they did not.

To me freedom is like a gift. Not everybody wants it but a lot do. The people who want it really bad, so bad that they will fight for it. It the same way with a gift, not everybody wants it but some people do and they

MLK Jr. was one of the most peaceful protesters I know. Abraham Lincoln was more violent but he started the bonding of equality. These two people have a lot in common because they both wanted equal rights. There time difference made them different but their hearts were still in the right place.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C on August 28, 1963. The speech is one in which has gained much recognition over the years and virtually won Dr. King the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent approach towards racism. Mahatma Gandhi was one of King’s prominent inspirations for his nonviolent movement. Gandhi, decades before Dr. King, practiced non-violence acts and civil disobedience. The will and strength that Gandhi possessed while advocating for peace and non-violence during the terrible events that had taken place in India moved Dr. King to find the path he had to take during his own strides to create a better America, primarily for African Americans. Although

Dr. King Jr was born Michael King Jr on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was one of the most inspirational leader in the African-American Civil right movement. He is known for his nonviolent disobedience because of Christian beliefs. Dr. King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1995. King help found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference n 1957and served as the first president. He got his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American History.

Freedom is something that many people take for granted. Having freedom allows you to make your own decisions. Many people abuse their rights by making bad choices. It is important to appreciate the rights you have because not everyone around the world has freedom.

President Kennedy said that “… the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened and I believe this is true because if it can happen to someone else why could it not happen to you?

Coretta Scott King, a civil rights activist, once said “Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” I agree with King; freedom must be won repeatedly.

Freedom has a large range of meaning. The encyclopedia Britannica defines freedom as “the quality or state of being free, and the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” (Britannica). In the American society there is a lot of emphasis on freedom, and the right to be free, but one must question to what extent we are truly “free”.

Freedom means living life as one wants, everything else is a form of slavery. If a person is not allowed to make his or hers decisions, if he or she is not free to live life as he/she wants than he/she doesn’t have power over his or her existence. If freedom was not essential for every human being than no one would have found so fiercely for it. If it was not important than today we would not be still fighting to keep and extend our freedom.

The constitution of the United States of America gives me the right to freedom because I am a United States citizen. I consider "freedom" to be my right to express myself in any way I choose. Freedom is defined as "having liberty of action or thought, independent". "Self-governed or not controlled by an outside party" is another definition of freedom. Freedom has a different meaning to each individual thus making it hard to find a clear concise definition.