The will to fight for one’s freedom has greatly influenced humanity and many nations alike for a very long time. They give humans the power to change and fight for their beliefs of what is right or wrong. But, over time, freedom became corrupted and altered by the factors of war, prejudice, and greed among nations and humanity itself.
The idea of freedom has never changed, but the way to obtain it did. The way to earn freedom was either based upon our social class, racial ethnicity, and gender. Although people are graced by the opportunities and chances or burdened by the discrimination and prejudice of freedom, freedom in itself is a choice due to the existence and purpose of our lives, the ideas of the American imperative, and the belief of fighting for something greater than our understanding.
The purpose of one’s life is determined by the choices and decisions they made during their experiences throughout life. But, one often questions, the mere existence of themselves when facing the facts of prejudice among them and others.
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For example, in “We Wear the Mask”, the speaker explains the cruelty and unjustified actions of the American society, as he states, “This debt we pay to human guile, With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties” (Dunbar 3-5). Dunbar explains that the debt is paid by the suffering and discrimination of the black community for the opportunity to live and flourish within America. But, the people hide behind their mask or smile through the pain and hope for their savior to save them from the life they live.
For, example, in “Yet Do I Marvel”, the speaker questions god about his existence, he states that, “To catechism by a mind too strewn, With petty cares to slightly understand, What awful brain compels His awful hand, Yet do I marvel at this curious thing, To make a poet black, and bid him sing” (Cullen 10-14).
The speaker questions God for the existence of a black person to be able to have a voice, and questions God’s decisions on the purpose and existence of everything in life. The speaker describes God’s swift but anguished hand and the ideas of peace and prejudice that were brought to Earth from God’s mind.
To understand the judgment and mind of God or other deities, they must understand the mere existence of themselves. Their choices are determined by their faith in God or other deities is what pushes them to find their freedom or purpose and fight for their rights for social justice and equality among themselves and others.
People have the right to flourish and evolve in a society for the benefit of ownership and independence over the property that is rightfully theirs. But, one often loses control of the power that results in discrimination and judgment among minorities for the benefit of modern economic power and status.
For example, in “The Underground Railroad”, the character, Ridgeway explains his ideals of power within American society, as he explains, If niggers were supposed to have their freedom, they wouldn’t be in chains, If the red man was supposed to keep hold of his land, it’d still be his, If the white man wasn’t destined to take this new world, he wouldn’t own it now, Here was the true Great Spirit, the divine thread connecting all human endeavor, if you can keep it, it is yours, Your property, slave or continent, The American imperative” (Whitehead 82).
Ridgeway explains that the American imperative built on human endeavors was destined for whites to control and take what is rightfully theirs, while minorities are discriminated against and left with nothing for their benefit. The only way for them to seize control was to accept and live in American society as an inferior individual under the economic and political empowerment of the white community.
For instance, when Ridgeway talks to Cora about the American Imperative, he explains that “I prefer the American spirit, the one that called us from the Old World to the New, to conquer and build and civilize. And destroy that what needs to be destroyed, To lift up lesser races, If not lift up, subjugate, And if not subjugate, exterminate, Our destiny by divine prescription, the American Imperative” (Whitehead 226).
Ridgeway explains that his idea of the American Imperative is justified by the construction and development of the United States to a more civilized nation. But, benefit from the subjugation of lesser races for the destiny of a powerful nation. Ridgeway’s perspective of freedom is justified by the exploitation of land and the enslavement of blacks for the benefit of the country.
The blacks weren’t given the right or choice for ownership or freedom due to the ideals of slavery and industrialization of the American nation. People believed that America was destined for the choices of the American Imperative. But, many believed, it was another choice or chance to fight for their social freedom and rights within America.
The idea of freedom and independence within America has been a driving force for many people to fight for their rights against their enemies for nearly 300 centuries. Even if all hope is lost, many were willing to die and fight for what they knew was right.
For example, the speech that Patrick Henry addressed at the House of Burgess in Virginia, he stated that, “Mr. Preisdent, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope, We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth…Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hears not…whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst of it…” (Henry 2).
Patrick Henry addresses President George Washington about the indulgence of having hope against the forces of hopelessness, which was control by the British Empire during the Revolutionary War. Henry feared the sense of hopelessness of the U.S. colonies not being able to fight due to not being heard or seen.
But, he believed it to natural for anybody to uphold hope and look at the face of truth to choose to fight and lay arms for the country they seemed fit to call their own. For instance, Henry explains to people in congress about fighting the British, he states that “we shall not fight our battles alone…
God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us, the battle, sir, it not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave, our chains are forged…the war is inevitable, and let it come…Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery, Forbid it…give me liberty, or give me death” (Henry 7-8).
Patrick Henry told congress and the people that the fight will not be fought alone, but will be stood together as one against the tyranny of the British Empire. The chains that were forged on the American colonies will finally break and the war between them would be inevitable.
They against all odds had the choice to either die and suffer under the control of the British Empire or fight and die trying to gain their independence and freedom for the hope of living as not just individuals but as a nation.
