Please help on this essay ( Pre revolutionary America )

Read the excerpt from "declaration of conscience" by margaret chase smith. the exercise of these rights should not cost one single american citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. who of us doesn't? otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. otherwise thought control would have set in. this excerpt contains an example of

Mr. underwood's editorial defending tom robinson is surprising because he's described as not wanting to be near negroes it's a dangerous stance to take at that time he had been neutral during the trial he wasn't in the courtroom

In the song mallam sile sings in lines 113 through 130 the knife probably represents