Martin Luter King Jr: Freedom

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” It took a while to really grasp not only the meaning of this quote, but the gravity that came along with it. Freedom is something many Americans are very used to, we can say whatever we want, we can do pretty much anything, and we don’t have to worry about suffering from any repercussions. In class, it was said that, you could not have oppression without some form of authority. Living in the United States, where the government’s responsibility is to protect its citizens from oppression, we the people, lose sight of the scary realities that are still very much prevalent in the world we live in. The wording in this quote really spoke to me, because although it can’t paint an image of what life was like for the oppressed, it highlighted one thing. People who are oppressed, don’t just ask for freedom, and get it the next day, the demanded it, and had to fight for their freedom. If you look at North Korea now, all of those people are under oppression. It is unfortunate for them because they are literally trapped, and if they try to fight for their rights as a human being, they are simply killed. The saddest part is, South Korea, basically represents their version of the “freedom fighters,” and all of the people who are stuck in North Korea, basically missed their train out of there.

In many ways, this quote can be related to the story of Antigone. Creon, wrapped up in his power high, denies Antigone her right to bury her dead brother. Regardless of ill morals, Creon values his authority above all; forcing Antigone to fight for her fallen brother, and ultimately in the end, sacrifice her life for her cause. Authority can be blinding and bias. Antigone is just one of the millions of people who are oppressed daily, and she did not earn her brothers burial by asking, and it wasn’t given to her even when Creon knew he was out of his place. Freedom is not free; it is something you have to fight for.

Although in the history of the United States we have seen the abuse of authority, and the oppression of many different types of people, Native Americans, African Americans, Women, Middle Eastern… etc. I like to believe we as a union, have moved past this. I understand it is impossible to label an entire generation of people as accepting, however I feel as though the X-Y generations are more accepting of the self. With social media connecting each other from all ends of the globe, people get to see vital pieces of different cultures, and in my opinion, it really helps build both an understanding and a level of respect for other’s values. I believe in the earlier years of the United States, it was a time of war, with more than just one country, nationalists who took great pride in their country, blinded themselves from accepting other cultures. With the issues in the Middle East, and 9/11 we saw these same tendencies. I remember reading in the newspaper; taxi drivers were being killed just because they were Middle Eastern, or Muslim. Still to this very day we see oppression of Muslims in the airports, however I believe we as a country have grown to understand this is a war against terrorism and terrorist organization’s such as Al Qaeda, and not the Muslim people as a whole. In the end, not all cultures speak eye to eye, and where there is a sense of authority we must combat the urge to oppress, because when we do not understand a culture, is no reason not to accept it.