FREEDOMS IN AMERICA

This blog post, I really dug deeply into a “freedom of speech” concern that dates back decades to how the ideals of our freedoms have changed and how we use the First Amendment in different ways depending on our generation. I decided to take this post as a way to explain a story. Below is my story: 

LINK: https://www.ted.com/talks/kavita_ramdas_radical_women_embracing_tradition?language=en 

I took a small step down onto the patio where my white (I promise the fact that they’re white and old will add to this story later) grandparents were enjoying a southern cooked meal. My grandma made sure I knew that she cooked it all herself. I could not help but notice her fresh manicure and designer shoes she wore, even in her own home. Her hair is blonde and perfectly blown out and she smiled and looked me up and down when I walked in apparently underdressed. The TV was on and playing a little too loud about the most recent Trump debacle (it was FOX news if that tells you anything) with Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, a successful politician serving in the House of Representatives. When her face flashed on the screen, my grandma winced and exclaimed with explicit confidence “take that damn towel off of your head, this is America!” 

Exactly. This IS America, a place where once, all of our descendants were mere immigrants and we began what used to be known as the melting pot. I decided to rewatch a TED Talk, by Kavita Ramdas, one of my favorites because I really needed some inspiration, and at that moment and after my discussion with my grandma, I found it. 

I know typically this assignment is not for storytime, but the inspiration I felt from Ramdas really struck a chord for me to discuss.  Ramdas lays out from the beginning, the Burka is not the problem and takes an angle about how women are oppressed, but we are also changing the world. Women lead radical nonviolent moments and push the status quo (cue the High School Musical song). Women do NOT have a single story, our story is not just about oppression, but rather about how we preserve, we help, we lead, we change, and we redefine tradition. She lays out that “women are not just flowers, we are sparks for change.” And the change she discusses can apply to many cultures that hold tradition from centuries past. Tradition is merely an excuse for oppression, this is the 20th century people! As important and true tradition is in creating the cultures we cherish today, it also has to be ratified to fit the culture we live in now. Ramdas also discusses her inspiration for her activism coming from groups who are oppressed the most: Muslims and lesbians. This fully relates to the First Amendment and how we exercise our rights.

 Ramdas’ TED Talk, really lead me to draw a lot of conclusions about our world and how cultures fit into it. Also how we connect the way we interact because of the First Amendment. My grandma, for example, consumes and believes bias media, as well as lets old traditions, pave way for her current lifestyle/ opinions. She refuses to ratify her thoughts and keep with tradition that her mother taught her and up the generation scale. This is a problem, and even though Ramdas was not directly mentioning this, the theme stood out to me. In order to progress, we have to remold our brains and realize there are things changing every day, and not stay ignorant of other cultures. This week we read a lot about other cultures and how women are oppressed within them, Ramdas discusses her inspiration and how her life shaped her into an activist. 

She used her freedom of speech, as did my grandmother. Was it either right or wrong?