Rooms anonymous (roomsanon) wrote in rooms, @ 2014-08-24 03:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !marvel comics, *news, steve rogers |
News: Marvel
[The address, recorded on dozens of handhelds and cellphones, permeates across social media and social conscience alike; soundbytes, gifs, even full tumblr pages are dedicated to it. Captain America, in his full patriotic regalia of red, white, and blue, speaks before a crowd in Times Square where protesters have gathered to speak out about the decimation of the City and the need for support for the people, not government subsidiaries. Some have come, signs in hand (the word mutant bold upon them), to protest the lack of people being held accountable for the destruction of beloved spaces—Central Park, the World Trade Center, and so on.
He stands not above the protestors, but on level with them.]
We're afraid. Terrorized by chaos, by the brute knowledge of life beyond our planet, by illness spread. I'm afraid.
And when cities are laid waste by the hands of citizens, we react.
But we react with fear, not reason. Fear, not reason, says we should take those different from us and we should punish them now, before they have the chance to do us harm. I've seen this before, and it's not freedom. We see in shadows the promise of violence and forget we all pass before the sun. That is fear.
"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Civil liberties exist for every citizen of our nation, not just those sanctified at the moment. Men and women will be held accountable, but only for what they have done, not for what they may yet do.—To surrender those rights for others, is to do the same for ourselves. To pin the root of chaos on the shoulders of a few, men and women branded different for their abilities, is to make a mistake. Men and women will be held accountable, but only for what they have done, knowingly, with purpose—it is not the fault of the man robbed that he had his wallet in his hand as he was approached.
I know we're afraid. I know that seeing someone, to give a face to the fear, might make us feel better, but that doesn't mean it's right.
It's not.
It's our duty, as Americans,—our duty to ourselves and to each other—to ensure the respect of the rights our country was founded on, expanded on, for every person. We don't pick and choose, we don't get to change our minds in times of panic. The truth doesn't change with circumstance.
I know that, and I know most of you know that. So when you hear talk of mutants, the dangers they pose by their very existence, stand up—remind everyone that we all have a right to be here, to be innocent until proven guilty. You'll be afraid, but you have a voice. We all do, and it's high time we started to use it.