Freedom is ringing, did you hear it? It was ringing from church
bells, from military bands in patriotic parades and from flagpoles
waving the beauty of Old Glory where all could see. But it also
rang from the halls of the Supreme Court.
Dear Editor:
Freedom is ringing, did you hear it? It was ringing from church bells, from military bands in patriotic parades and from flagpoles waving the beauty of Old Glory where all could see. But it also rang from the halls of the Supreme Court.
The music from those hallowed halls was not the tune of celebration of freedoms won but of freedom newly born. The court reaffirmed our dedication to a society where all races have an opportunity to raise themselves up no matter how low their condition of life.
That new burst of freedom was reflected in the faces of young students at the University of Michigan whose belief in the justice of America just got a brand new coat of luster. Their cheers were the chorus of our future in America.
The second verse from the Supreme Court echoed the words of the Pledge of Allegiance which states … “with liberty and justice for all. Gay and lesbian Americans were issued an invitation to the table of equity in America. Their patriotism overflowed in San Francisco when the Rainbow Flag on Castro Street came down and was replaced with the Stars and Stripes.
Another sector of humanity climbed onto the Ship of Freedom and Justice we call America. All over this world, America’s call to freedom rang louder and clearer than ever before.
Where are you in this chorus? We have all wondered what we would have done in the past. Would we work on the Underground Railroad or help catch runaway slaves? Would we have hid Anne Frank and her Jewish family and friends in our attic or turned them in to the authorities? Would we have ridden the freedom buses or torched the school buses carrying black children to formerly white schools?
We all believe we would have been on the side of right and freedom in the past and we honor “our heroes” such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Anne Frank, Susan B. Anthony and Cesar Chavez.
But are you willing to stand up today? Are you willing to join the ranks or risk takers for the minority students who yearn for a quality higher education and for the homosexuals who want only to share our motto, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …”
This is our moment to stand with the heroes or the villains of the past. Where will you stand? I urge all of you to be a hero to the Americans of the future and stand with the minorities of today who yearn to simply say with pride and joy, “I am an American.”
Geoffrey Holland,
Hollister
