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Professor Michael Eric Dyson

7/17/2016

The Renaissance of Freedom (An essay originally written Feb. 5, 2011)

7/1/2016

The first and last time I ever wrote to a president was to Ronald Regan. I remember the Iran hostage crisis. I was a child then. I remember hearing of President Carter negotiating the hostages release. I remember the hostages being released just hours after Ronald Regan was sworn in. Not thinking that was fair at all. I wrote him telling him it was not fair he receive credit for all Mr. Carter's hard work. I received a magazine about the White House.

I remember the Cold War, the riots of the Middle East and having to eventually stop writing my pen palls because of war or censorships. As a child this was my escape from my own troubled world. It was confusing to me, how the governments called for peace but could stop my new friends and I from communicating.

Way, way, way before the internet was a program on Tv that use an iconic mascot of a globe to encouraged children everywhere to be pen pals. It was exciting to get letters from around the world. This program taught me there were more people in the world besides my own little world and life could be a grand adventure if I had the courage to reach out to people outside my community. As time went on I understood that the world was my community. The loss of these friends I had never met but communicated with was just as great my best friend moving away. The fear for their safety was just as great as any I had for my own at any given night. Image as a kid getting a letter from your pen pall that was all drawn through with black marker and the teacher explaining that government censors had read the mail and "removed" information.

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Professor Michael Eric Dyson

The Renaissance of Freedom (An essay originally written Feb. 5, 2011)

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