Editor’s note: As I struggled with how to write about my feelings regarding the Charlie Hedbo/kosher market attacks in Paris, I stumbled across this piece by syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts. Though I seldom agree with Pitts, he is dead on target this time. His work appears weekly at ajc.com.
Dear Terrorists: OK, you win. We surrender.
Never thought I’d say that, but then, I never thought I’d see gunmen burst into the offices of a satirical magazine as happened last Wednesday in Paris. Never thought I’d see 12 people killed — most were employees, two were police officers — because a magazine published provocative cartoons mocking extremist Islam.
"Freedom of expression is like the air we breathe, we don't feel it, until people take it away from us.
For this reason, Je suis Charlie, not because I endorse everything they published, but because I cherish the right to speak out freely without risk even when it offends others.
And no, you cannot just take someone's life for whatever he/she expressed.
Hence this "Je suis Charlie" edition.
- #JeSuisCharlie"
Or who can forget Winston Churchill's "NEVER GIVE IN"