Opinion

The massacre last week at the French satire publication Charlie Hebdo was a direct affront to our freedoms of speech and expression. Sunday’s march in Paris was an expression of solidarity and the fact that we won’t cower to the terrorist acts of extremists of any stripe. As journalists, we must never allow anyone or anything to affect our right to speak and report freely and to express our opinions. Free speech and expression were a relative novelty on planet Earth at the violent birth of our republic nearly 240 years ago. Patriots who called themselves Americans even before we existed as a nation died for what they believed and we continue to believe to be among the fundamental rights of humankind. And Americans have died ever since protecting and defending those freedoms and those who enjoy them, often perhaps with little thought to the sacrifices or what their world would be like absent free speech and expression. In the wake of the Paris massacre of journalists, Jews and police officers targeted by those who murder in the name of religion, we as Americans must be vigilant, stand like steel and never surrender what is right and what so many have laid down their lives and loved ones to safe-keep for the future of this country and the world.

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