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Free Speech Freedom Of Speech

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The words “I have a dream,” echoed through the soundwaves of the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Washington Monument in Washington D.C on August 28, 1963. An African American male, who felt he was not granted the fundamental rights promised by his country’s constitution, led a march of almost a quarter-million people in fighting for the civil rights for African Americans living in America. However, no matter how deprived he felt of his rights, he was exercising arguably his most important right that historic day: his freedom of speech. He argued that the tone of his skin was far too miniscule to detriment him and his people of their rights, and that day would go on to change American history forever. All throughout time, from wars to revolutions, citizens from countries all over the world have fought for their free speech, but unfortunately that seems to be a lost cause today. Oftentimes, the very rights that were fought for in our country’s struggle for independence, are the very rights that are taken for granted. Whether it is in a democratic country like the United States, or a communist country like China, it is often that we ourselves diminish the rights that we are entitled to. Despite having the rights to free speech explicitly stated in the first amendment of our constitution, we have started to take this right for granted. Much like how Ursula Franklin talks about silence being taken for granted in her piece Silence and the Notions of

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