"FREEDOM IS NEVER VOLUNTARILY GIVEN BY THE OPPRESSOR; IT MUST BE DAMANDED BY THE OPPRESSED."

   "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." This powerful quote was said by Martin Luther King during one of our countries most difficult battle with equality. Following a constant theme of desire within all our readings and verbal interactions in class, this quote does not stray far away from similar topics we have been discussing. The desire to be an equal, the desire to have justification and recognition by your peers and others is covered by different literary devices in class. What the Pastor was attempting to say to my understanding is to fight for what you desire. That we must portray as a whole the hopes that one day all men of different colors will be able to live in a world where egalitarianism is far more than hopes and dreams, but a reality.

   Taking into consideration the dark times for our nation’s African American culture which gave birth to this influential quote and many of the Pastors words that touched a nation whole, I feel it would be appropriate to use "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, to bounce ideas and examples around. The time period taking place around The Yellow Wallpaper was a time when, similar to the civil rights movement, women did not have many liberties as well. "I don’t like to look out the windows even - there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of the wallpaper as I did?" (The Yellow Wallpaper 327) This is an extremely intense quote demonstrating her self being in relevance to the lady in the wallpaper. Realizing that there are so many women out there still stuck behind this traditional image of their life, this wallpaper. The author does a fantastic job relating the patterns in the wallpaper, and the lady stuck inside these patterns, to the day in the life of a woman during these times.
   

   Along with this physical slavery and the concepts discussed in this paper, mental slavery is also a very scary idea. To not allow oneself freedom to dream and believe, or set goals and even converse your own thoughts as you wish to portray, is devastating. Bob Marley once said “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves could free our minds.” This is such an emotional quote that could reflect upon any person who lays ears to its words. It is more than just how we think or feel, but to be truly free internally and externally; it is one’s own responsibility to have to confidence and determination to not allow others to tell them what they can think or feel, what to say or even what to believe in.