In Southern Hills, one would better spend their time searching for a kangaroo than a police car. In conjunction with the majority of white suburban neighborhoods, crime was virtually non-existent, facilities well maintained, and school children always had a full lunch bag. In simple terms, life was good. Living in such a community meant I never felt as though my basic human rights were ever being violated because of my skin, gender, or religion. The extent of my knowledge regarding human rights, while limited, derives from my concessions nature, that I acquired from typical Southern Hills schooling. Being fortunate enough to have been born in a community safe from world atrocities has allowed me to view the world in a much broader sense while simultaneously providing me the understanding of how anyone, regardless of upbringing, can begin to change such daunting issues. Two blocks from my house was Slavens k-8, one of the fastest growing and top rated schools in all of Colorado. For 10 years, I was the beneficiary of an exemplary teaching and an overwhelmingly caring environment. However, Slavens did lack one fundamental aspect of a continually expanding world: an utter lack of diversity. For proper prospective, the 90’s show Friends was worlds more diverse than Slavens. Such is a crucial reasoning behind my initial views on human rights. As far as I could tell, not only was the entire world Caucasian, human rights were guaranteed, their ability to be harmed was never in
As a whole, minorities from all religions, races, and sexualities have reached numerous high points in life. These high points have resulted in the establishment and entitlement to minorities having the same rights as whites. However, the right of blacks as in being equal is always up for debate. Statistics show and prove that for every dollar a white household brings in, a black household only brings in 61 cents. Some people like to say that the white household is more skilled or has a higher education, however, this is not the case in most situations. These facts can be accurately traced back to the issue of discrimination against blacks. Most people agree that this type of discrimination is
Some people define race as if it is something solid or concrete, but what they don’t see is that it is a “social fabrication”(Mathew Desmond, Mustafa Emibayer,2009;2). Race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined, for example, by the most apparent trait; skin color. Inequality emerges when people living, whether on the same sovereign terrain or across continents, are not treated with the same amount of respect and not given the chance to engage their rights in a free and fair manner. Race and inequality are often linked together because of the “issues that began in the 1800s”(NFB;Journey to Justice;2000) such as racial segregation. Over the years issues of race and inequality have
We have all sat through multiple history classes and learned about slavery, segregation, and the Civil War. We have all seen brutal movies and presentations based on racial injustices and the lack of equality. So often, we forget that these issues are still so present in our community. Slavery is illegal in the United States but other forms of racial profiling, insensitivity, and racism continue to be a recurring social barrier. Racism is still very much alive. The United States is “equal” yet somehow segregated. There isn’t quite a quick fix to this problem. Clearly, this has been an ongoing issue and requires major progression in our personal global
Currently, human rights in Australia are protected in different ways. Unlike most other similar liberal democracies, Australia has no Bill of Rights to protect human rights in one single document. Instead, some rights can be found in the Constitution, our common law and legislation which includes acts passed by the Commonwealth Parliament or State or Territory Parliaments.
In recent years racial and socioeconomic differences have grown more prevalent in our society, and many wonder why. Growing up in Ethiopia, the concept of race was never popular or significant, as there was little to no racial diversity. Coming from a country where I did not even look at the color of my skin to a place where the only thing people saw was my color, astonished me. Living in the United States and learning about slavery in middle school, I thought of it as something that was long gone, something I would never have to worry about, but as I grew older I began to see the lingering shadows that remained. A petrified twelve-year-old me once asked my mother why we were moving to America and to that question she replied “America is the land of the free; the land of opportunities”. America did feel like an embodiment of her statement my first few years here but as time passed I began to see some clear differences in how society viewed me. I wondered, if this really was the so called “land of the free”, why are minorities incarcerated at a higher rate? And why are there such significant socioeconomic and educational gaps?
In today’s day and age, the United States of America is seen of as the land where every human being is treated fairly. However, it was not always like this and America was considered to be one of the most racist countries in the world up until the 1980’s. From 1885 to 1968, when the Jim Crow laws were in place, black people were segregated from whites and were treated like second class citizens. However, black people fought for equality all throughout the Jim Crow era and finally succeeded after the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. Blacks in the American South sought to improve their lives by supporting and helping white people that had helped them before, by joining the American military, and by protesting against segregation and their rights.
Born in California and raised in the deep south, I grew up in two conflicting societies. The cultural geography of both areas differs on a magnitude of levels and complicated my development into the cultures around me, however in retrospect influenced me to be a multidimensional and considerate person. At a young age my parents introduced me to progressive values. During the developmental toddler stages, I immersed myself in two different cultures: what I experienced at school and what I experienced at home. Charleston, South Carolina embodies small-town society though the Greater Charleston Area expands rapidly each year, pulling migrants, including my family, to the growing city. The overwhelmingly conservative views of Traditional Charleston
For years, African-Americans have been mistreated, criminalized, and socially persecuted. Though the conditions of the African-American community have improved since the 19th century, African Americans have recently become increasingly criminalized and profiled by police officers. These injustices have given rise to many passionate and righteous political movements, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement. Black activists have been righteously voicing their solutions and impositions of such said injustices through essays, articles, books, and other forms of literature.
Immersing myself into a diverse and racially-integrated center has allowed me to see the moral necessity behind abolishing slavery and segregation. This objective is important to society for the simple fact that no one should be dehumanized due to race or gender. The U.S. promises equality to all citizens, and the historical
Race is an ongoing discussion that has been a prominent topic since the beginning of the United States of America. It is difficult to understand the issues that rise from a factor that people cannot control like their color of their skin or the family ties with religion. Being open and understanding can be difficult if one is not willing to learn and be open towards new ideas that are different. Some of these issues were raised during the 1940’s when the world was at the start of a war. People were uncertain of their future and held themselves apart from the rest of their community because they were scared for the possibilities of something happening to their way of living. The Sleepy Lagoon Trial
Despite everything we do, injustice can be found everywhere. It could be through a form of discrimation against race, gender, age or religion preference. In 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks descided enough was enough. “No.” this one word uttered by an African American who changed the public transportation and American society. Her refusal to give up her seat in the coloured section to a white passenger because the white section was full, her courage to stand up for herself and her race for not being treated equally and with respect and dignity brought hope to African Americans all over the world then and it still brings hope to people in my generation as a reminder telling us that we all have an opinoun and should not be afraid to express
Justice for Trayvon Martin. No justice, no peace. Hands up, don’t shoot. The first time I ever visited UC Berkeley I heard these chants, saw these signs, and felt the anger as I protested that black lives matter alongside students and locals. Two months later I return to UC Berkeley for a debate tournament and make it to the elimination rounds for the first time in a Lincoln Douglas event. One year later and I attend an empowering women of color conference that sparks my passion for social justice and my love for learning about race and gender inequality. Eight months later and I show my cousin around the school that I find to be beautiful and inspiring. A week ago my former classmate gave me a tour around the school and I realized that this
Our nation struggles with many things, including internal strife as well as external physical brawls. America is known for its ever increasing debt and housing many struggling Americans. However, there is one thing we persistently fail to change: racial injustice. Try as we might, age old sentiments have ingrained themselves into the minds of many, preventing the change we require. It is a war we have fought for many centuries, hoping to see a change that has yet to occur. As time has gone on, some ideas have never left despite the progress towards moral justice.
Prejudice and discrimination have created huge problems in history and still impact societies today. These horrible problems stem from the things that children are taught, or introduced by parents, educators, and the society in which they live. As James Baldwin discusses in his speech, “A Talk to Teachers,” the beliefs are shown in how whites and blacks are taught to see one another, how they have different ways of living, and are thought of in a variety of different ways. These things are issues that we still face today. Since the beginning, whites have believed they are the more entitled race and that it gives them the right to treat blacks like “animals.”