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10-13-2014 <br />Free Speech: A Cxitical Right <br />"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the <br />siaughter", were George Washington's words as he addressed high-ranking military officers in 1783. <br />That concept still stand today, tall and proud, like the pillars that globalized our world and opened our <br />eyes to ideas of freedom. We often take the right of freedom of speech and opinion for granted and <br />choose to ignore many incidents that take place in our everyday life. <br />Sometimes it happens to be powerful people far away in foreign countries choosing not to grant <br />their people this right, but most of the time it is closer to home than you would expect. It is certain <br />groups and individuals degrading others self worth and and diminishin� others right to feel as i�t�ieir <br />opinion matters. <br />For example, on November 17, 1961, a coalition was formed in Albany, Georgia. Its main <br />purpose was to protest segregation throughout the city. The organization held many protests and <br />assemblies, all in correspondence to the city's laws and regulations. These demonstrations went on for <br />severai weelcs until the surrounding communities got fed up and the police started arresting innocent <br />civilians. By December of that year the Albany Police Force had arrested over 500 enraged protesters. <br />The following suminer the movement was shut down and the people's voices were wrongfully silenced. <br />Another case in which people were unjustly subdued took place a few decades earlier in 1947. <br />Ten Hollywood screen producers and directors were publicly �ccused of being members of the <br />Communist Party. Known as the "Hollywood Ten", these men wer� given a hearing in front of the <br />Human Un-American Activities Committee (HCTAC�. When they refused to admit to the charges made <br />