Essay 2

Rachel Sickels

ENWG 1101

Rasheda Younger

1 March, 2015

When to Break Silence

            “Be quiet, you don’t want to make a scene.” Parents often say that to young children acting up in public places. They do not want people to get annoyed, or make judgements, they want people to just go on their way silently. And in instances like those, it’s okay to be silent. Major public scenes make it seem like the one causing the scene is spoiled, bratty, and immature. However, for life changing issues, like the ongoing tensions between the Middle East and The United States, staying silent on the matter is not okay. Silence needs to be broken on the issue. A famous speech that broke the silence on the wrongful violence of war is Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “Beyond Vietnam.” Even though he was condemned for speaking on the issue by most of his usual political supporters and friends, he broke his silence because the issue went against what he stood for. That is the time when one needs to break the silence, when it goes against personal principles, whether it is immoral killing everywhere, or whether it is basic injustice.  The irony is in how people react when the silence is broken, whether too early or too late.  The timing affects how much support breaking the silence will gather.  Interestingly, silence never seems to be broken at just the right time.

      Breaking the silence when you feel strongly about something requires bravery. Vietnam was one of America’s worst wars in history. America was unprepared for the strong resistance that Vietnam put up, unprepared for the lack of support from its own country, and unprepared for the lack of funds for this war.  All in all, it was a terrible war for America. But the government still continued to fight in it, losing many lives along the way.  People began realizing this, and realized that it was time to break the silence. They began to realize that they needed to get the American troops out of there, and they gained support through many protestors, including Martin Luther King Jr. In his speech, “Beyond Vietnam”, he stated, “as I…break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart…I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam” (Martin Luther King Jr.). People questioned him on why he was moved to talk about the war when he was a civil rights activist.  Some people even said he was betraying his cause by talking about the war. But they didn’t realize that at that point,  for Dr. King, it was time to break the silence because it went against the nonviolence principles that he deeply believed in. “…for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment, or my calling” (King Jr.).  While his friends thought he shouldn’t have spoken on this subject, Dr. King felt it was too late, that he had betrayed his principles.  It was time to speak on the large matter at hand.  Unfortunately, protesters were often subjected to being beaten by police, sprayed with mace, and other violent means of crowd control.

            Another situation that moves people to break the silence is when there is merciless killing and destruction. Vietnam was infamous because of its brutality, not only to the soldiers of the opposing army, but to the civilians as well. America poisoned their water, napalmed their forests, killed their crops, and bombed their homes. To American troops, who were acting under orders from the government, it was move out or suffer the consequences.  American citizens realized that this was happening, and decided to break the silence with public protests. Even American soldiers over there realized that it was time to stop the war. According to King Jr., “a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution” (King Jr.).  America was starting to be perceived as evil in a sense, making it time to break the silence.

            Recently, there have been incidents where ordinary people felt it was time to break the silence and fight back. On August 14, 2014, a young black man named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Wilson was chasing him down for being a suspect in a robbery at a liquor store. While there are conflicting reports on whether he charged the officer or whether he slowly walked with his hands up, there was one constant throughout every testimony- Brown was unarmed. But he not only said Brown was armed and coming at him, Wilson shot him 7 times, six of which were considered fatal.  Brown suffered four hours of bleeding out, with no help coming, before finally dying. The grand jury later said that Wilson would not be charged for the murder of Brown. This caused people to speak up, to break the silence. It was stated that Brown was unarmed but was still brutally murdered, and his murderer got away scott free. People began protesting, having demonstrations and speaking out against this injustice.  As a New York Times article put it, “Thousands of people have taken part in events around the St. Louis area to protest the killing of Mr. Brown and to raise awareness of police treatment of African-Americans” (NY Times).  They broke the silence, but it was too late for Mr. Brown.  Still, it needed to be broken to prevent further injustice.

      Sometimes it is not safe to break the silence.  Those who speak out may lose their jobs, their homes, their families, and even their lives.  Dr. King was assassinated for speaking about his strong beliefs.  In 1989, the United States passed a law called the whistleblower law.  The law states,  “You may file a complaint with OSHA if your employer retaliates against you by taking unfavorable personnel action because you engaged in protected activity relating to workplace safety or health, asbestos in schools, cargo containers, airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health insurance reform, motor vehicle safety, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime, motor vehicle safety, and securities laws.”  This affords some protection for those who would otherwise stay silent about injustices against them or other persons to speak out and break the silence.  One famous whistleblower is Mark Felt. Without him breaking the silence and publishing the information that President Nixon was involved with the Watergate break-in, the Watergate scandal would have not been brought to light. With the law backing him, he was able to bring to light the illegal dealings of powerful politicians, including the president.  He suffered no secret retaliation, like losing his job as an FBI agent. He knew he was safe to break the silence, because the law backed him up.

      The time to break the silence depends on the situation, and the safety of those speaking out. Ideally, it should happen before the situation deteriorates so badly that lives are lost, but in society today people get more community support with the distribution of information over the web, as well as TV and radio.  And that seems to only happen when the situation is dire. While we, as a society, are finally beginning to protect those who are brave enough to speak out, some challenges remain.   If one speaks too soon, they may not have the support necessary to be successful in making a change, or a difference, such as when Dr. King lost the backing of his friends and colleagues.  Yet Dr. King felt that the speech was held until it was too late to save the lives lost while he debated over whether to speak.  Too soon, or too late, but never just at the right time.

Works Cited

King, Matrin Luther, Jr. "Beyond Vietnam." Beyond Vietnam. New York's Riverside Church, New York City. 4 Apr. 1967. Speech.

"What Happened in Ferguson?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html>.

"Tracking the Events in the Wake of Michael Brown’s Shooting." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/09/us/10ferguson-michael-brown-shooting-grand-jury-darren-wilson.html#/#time354_10495>.

Factsheet. London: National Dairy Council, 1993. Web.

"5 of the Most Famous Federal Whistleblowers." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/07/31/5-famous-whistleblowers-from-the-federal-government/>.

The Ferguson Protests

Freedom Pictures

Freedom Essay

Rachel Sickels
ENGW 1101
Professor Young
9 February 2015

What Freedom Is

     The word freedom is frequently used to describe different rights such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the freedom to pursue justice, and the freedom to assemble. Freedom is in the United States Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (Bill of Rights), as well as many other significant historical documents. The idea of freedom is the basis of our country.

     Freedom itself is a complicated concept. What one person considers free, another considers stifling or being in chains. In the Good Lord Bird by James McBride, there are two characters that represent two different sides of freedom. There is Pie, who while she lives in luxury, has no control over her body, and then there is Sibonia, who lives in the dregs but is free to do what she wants.  While they are not technically free because they are both slaves, one is freer than the other, and that is Sibonia. Sibonia has control over her body, is not judged harshly by her peers, and she is free to speak her mind. 

     Sibonia seems freer than Pie.  She does not work in a whore house. Therefore, she does not have to worry about men touching her without her permission.  While she lives in the pen with the others, they all give her space and do not come near her or touch her .As Onion, the main character, describes it, “The Negros gather back in the pen…but that silly fool in the middle of the yard [Sibonia]…setting on a wooden box” (McBride 148). This shows that Sibonia is not afraid of people coming near her. She does not have to worry about someone coming up and forcing her to do something she does not want to do with her body either. She is only a lowly worker slave. She just does the menial tasks they want her to do like tending the animals, nothing more, nothing less. She will likely never have to worry about rape.

     Pie, however, does work in a whore house, so she has to worry about “bad touches” every day. And she does get a “bad touch.” After the incident with Sibonia, Onion looks for Pie and walks in on her “working”; however, it looks different than her usual jobs. According to Onion, “I seen my Pie in there…buck naked, on all fours, and behind her was Darg…and he was doing something terrible, just having his way with her and striking her with that whip at the same time” (175). Onion walks in on Pie getting raped. There is nothing Onion or Pie can do about it, and there is no one to go to for justice, because not only does Pie work in a whorehouse, she is a woman.  Therefore, no one will take her word over a man’s, or think she even has the right to complain. This shows that Pie has no control over who touches her body, or who touches her private places. She is not free.  She is not able to ‘petition for a redress of her grievance’.

     Sibonia may be acting crazy, but she is somewhat accepted by her peers. They all are together for tough times because they are slaves; they stick together no matter how crazy a person seems. As Onion leaves the pen, he notices that, “the Negroes gathered ‘round her again, holding picks and shovels, working all ‘round her, glaring at me….while she set on her box in the middle of’em, cackling like a chicken” (154). Onion, when he first entered the pen, said some things that made the others not trust him, things like Sibonia should be flogged for her behavior. When he found out she was intelligent, he was surprised. Her being intelligent means that she is one step closer to freedom, especially with Sibonia planning the rebellion. When he moved to leave, the Negros, as one, surrounded her like they were protecting her, and glared at Onion until he walked away. Sibonia is free of harsh judgment from her peers.  She is free to act as she wishes.

     Pie is a different story. Her peers, no matter how much she tries to deny it, are both white and black. Both races seem to hate her and judge her harshly. The whites treat Pie harshly, because she looks black, and the blacks treat her harshly because of the way she interacts with them, saying they’re trouble and disassociating herself from them whenever she can. Pie treats them terribly because she lives in the big house and they live in the pen. She treats them like dirt even though she has the same status as they do, even going as far as alerting the sheriff of Sibonia’s rebellion. The slaves do not take that well. They reject her, such as when Onion finishes talking to Bob, the other slave Darg comes by and questions Onion on why he is there. When Onion replies Pie sent him, Darg angrily says, “Don’t mention that high-siddity bitch to me.” The slaves do not appreciate the way Pie treats them, so they resent her.  They feel as though she acts superior to them.  Pie has to deal with the judgment of her peers and that chains her freedom to act as she wishes.

     Sibonia speaks her mind. She does not have to guard what she says, because no one will listen to her anyway. Since she is a pen slave, not many people notice her, or what she says. People notice Sibonia even less than the others because she acts crazy all the time, screaming things like pretty yeller or making mud balls in the middle of the pen, which allows her to say what she wants at whatever time she wants.  It also acts as a cover for her true mission-a rebellion.  Later, Onion watches as Sibonia is arrested for rebelling, and is put in a jail cell. The minister, because he felt close to her, goes to find out why Sibonia planned the rebellion.  She says “Reverend, it was you and your wife who taught me that… in His eye, we are all equal. I was a slave. My husband was a slave. My children was slaves. But they was sold. Every one of them. And after the last child was sold, I said, ‘I will strike a blow for freedom’” (166). Not many slaves would feel able to speak that way to a reverend when they were to be hanged. Most would either just accept it and do nothing, or beg for their life.  Sibonia speaks her mind on the matter. She feels free to speak the truth.

     Pie needs to guard what she says, though.  She is at the mercy of many others.  Because she works in the whore house, and lives there too, her job and her safety depend on keeping everybody happy. If she wants to keep living there, and not in the pen with the people that hate her, Pie needs to avoid upsetting the customers in any way. This includes saying only what she is allowed to say, and keeping her mouth shut when told to, no matter what happens. She cannot even speak against the brutal rape she suffered at the hands of Darg, for she is a slave at the whore house and if she is accused of “lying” she’ll be kicked out into the slave pen before morning.

     Freedom is complicated. What one person considers free is another person’s version of slavery. Sibonia is freer than Pie, despite living in the pen, because she has control over her person and actions. She is able to do what she wants without anyone bothering her.  She is able to speak the truth as she sees it. While Pie may not consider Sibonia free because she lives in the pen, in reality Pie is the one who is in the most chains. Sibonia reaches her ultimate freedom though, when she is hanged for trying to help free her people. And Pie is still stuck in the whore house, chained to the role she created for herself.

Works Cited

 McBride, James. The Good Lord Bird. New York: Riverhead, 2013. Print.

"The Bill of Rights: A Transcription." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.