Summary: U.S. Independence Day Special:<br> We do not any of us have freedom if we do not all of us have freedom.<br> ⁓The Voice before the Void<br> “Stanzas on Freedom”<br> James Russell Lowell<br> Men! whose boast it is that ye<br> Come of fathers brave and free,<br> If there breathe on earth a slave,<br> Are ye truly free and brave?<br> If ye do not feel the chain,<br> When it works a brother’s pain,<br> Are ye not base slaves indeed,<br> Slaves unworthy to be freed?<br> Women! who shall one day bear<br> Sons to breathe New England air,<br> If ye hear, without a blush,<br> Deeds to make the roused blood rush<br> Like red lava through your veins,<br> For your sisters now in chains,–<br> Answer! are ye fit to be<br> Mothers of the brave and free?<br> Is true Freedom but to break<br> Fetters for our own dear sake,<br> And, with leathern hearts, forget<br> That we owe mankind a debt?<br> No! true freedom is to share<br> All the chains our brothers wear<br> And, with heart and hand, to be<br> Earnest to make others free!<br> They are slaves who dare not be<br> In the right with two or three;<br> They are slaves who will not choose<br> Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,<br> Rather than in silence shrink<br> From the truth they needs must think;<br> They are slaves who fear to speak<br> For the fallen and the weak.<br>
