The Importance Of Equality In The United States

The United States was founded on freedom so we are technically supposed to have all terms of political equality. We do have political, social, and economic equality to an extent. Social equality for example, differs in states and with certain people. Things like race riots and killings of colors still happen today like recently in Ferguson. Our social equality has improved from the eighteen hundreds, but for for 2015 we could improve immensely. I do wish we had perfect social equality though, because I believe everyone should actually be treated equal no matter the race, age, or sexual orientation.

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.” US Representative, John Lewis said this in his return to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he spoke on 54 years ago, during the March on Washington. Racism has been around since the beginning of time, but it is not human nature. Racism is something that is taught, and given the amount of time that has passed since To Kill A Mockingbird and the March on Washington, one would think that racism wouldn’t be a serious issue any more. Although race relations have improved along with other social issues from the time of To Kill Mockingbird, racism and discrimination are major problems in today’s society.

Together we have learned and grown to see that everyone is a person that deserves his/her own rights. This does not mean that we have achieved racial and gender equality though. It is a fact that racial and gender biases are still in existence. These racial biases include individuals walking the other way when a black man is approaching them, making racist remarks, not approving of our African-American president, etc. Gender inequality is also an issue with women not getting paid equal wages as men for the same job, are portrayed as weak, men are held to certain stereotypical society pressures such as being physically and emotionally strong, etc. Obviously, there are still certain things we need to learn and

Equality is something Americans strive to provide and maintain. It has become an integral and necessary part of our mosaic culture. Even now to the point that when people think of America, they naturally think of freedom and equality. People of many different races, disabilities and creeds have come to the United States seeking the impartiality upon which this country was founded. The institutions of this country have relied upon it, just as it was the created by the events in the laying of moral foundations. The expression of America's citizens plays an extremely significant role in the history of equality in American society. In the pursuit of equality and the "American Dream," people have authored inspiring

In America, the land of the free, people believe that it’s the greatest place to be. And America would probably be what everyone believes, but it has a very serious problem that could eventually destroy the country as whole. America is built upon Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but it has a strong equality issue that has to be taken care of. Equality is a social contract in America and unfortunately it is a broken one. A social contract is an agreement amongst the members of a society, but equality is a serious issue. Equality poses the biggest problem to America simply because in any country the people make the country, and if the people can’t get along either internal conflicts occur, or people eventually leave. Throughout America everyone regardless of race, color, or sexual orientation has experienced inequality in some part of America. Words are exchanged, fists are thrown, and in serious cases lives are lost because people are racists to one another. Equality is a broken social contract in America that will eventually be its demise if not attended to.

On July 2, 1964 a world altering act was passed by influencing figures in society. The passing of the civil rights act, which outlawed discrimination based upon things such as race, gender and religion, seems like it would have ended racism, right? Contrary to that statement, Racism has not ended since the Civil Rights Act has been put in place, although it might not be as apparent as it was back then. And it’s not just adults that are victims of such racism - it is the younger generation as well. People need to know that racism is often not seen or heard and often goes silent.

Racism has been a part of our country since the early ages. Historically, racism and equality have been central issues that have divided our country. Many actions from the past such as the decision in the Plessy versus Ferguson case, and present day actions like The Mississippi school system case have been the ongoing battle in today 's society. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation that is now considered racist in the Plessy versus Ferguson case.

Equality is something controversial, is it an ideal? Or is realistic? Never in the history of America has everyone been equal. For centuries African Americans have been beaten, tortured, enslaved, and killed, because they are “different”. We live in a world that it run by white men. Though many strides have been made for the African American community and many other minorities like them, America still has not achieved equality. The real question is, can we ever truly obtained total equality?

Based on the Constitution, it is possible for individuals in society to achieve equality because the I, II, VII, and XIII Amendments give citizens of the United States freedoms that were not originally given in the Constitution. Amendments I and Amendments II allows us to bear arms in order to protect ourselves from any violence and from criminals. Amendment I also gives us the ability to believe whatever religion without anyone saying what we should worship. It also gives us the right to speak freely and to peacefully protest. Amendments VIII and Amendment Xlll gives us the ability to protect ourselves from any government tyranny and it also gives us the ability to speak freely on what is unfair. It also gives us the right to be respected and it also protects us from being enslaved from another person. Although not many people believe in the Amendments II and VIII, these Amendments still are used to today and protects us as U.S. citizens. Lasting Thoughts: What is the last thing you want to tell me about your views on equality?

August 28, 1963 (Eidenmuller) marked a very important day in history that had an impact not only on America, but the whole world. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well known I Have a Dream speech that aimed to eliminate racism, inequality and discrimination. He strongly believed that one day people would put their differences aside and come together. So, what happened to that dream? Along with other equality initiative ideas, they rarely make it past the idea stages or end in the actual eradication result. It is clear to us that even after 51 years, our societies still struggle with accepting full equality. Within those 51 years we have made a mass amount of progress but, a common thought would be that after this long the issue should have been eradicated. Two essays that can be used as an example of proof that racial inequality still exists in our society are, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples and Who Shot Johnny? by Debra Dickerson. In these essays, both provide solid evidence to support their main goal with the use of different writing styles, tone, and rhetorical devices to display how African Americans are perceived and treated by society.

American history is a long complex story that cannot be told without mentioning the influence of slavery, racism, and the discrimination of Black people. However, progress has been made since then. The Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery and after slavery was abolished (History.com). Later on in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, banning discrimination in public places, jobs and schools (Kennedy 643). All of the progress made has been embodied by laws or acts, yet true progress towards African American equality would be the elimination of discrimination, de facto racism, police brutality, and the stereotypes associated with African Americans.

One can say that life today is more pleasant than that of the 1950s. However, it is crucial to note that racism is far from eliminated in society. Although the major step of equal rights has been set, judgment of people based on the color of their skin still exists.

Today many people believe that we have obtained racial equality. However there are multiple reasons and statistics that contradict those arguments . For decades African Americans has been deprived of basic rights, “If America had racial equality in education and jobs, African Americans would have two million more high school degrees…(Raines)”. There are many drastic racial gaps from education to owning property. Throughout America’s history blacks have been limited, when it comes to education, property, and other things. If people truly believe that after four hundred years of enslavement and limited rights, can be fixed within one generation they are wrong. The African American community has faced

Even though the Civil Rights was so long ago, some still question whether our world has overcome the problems faced back then. The U.S. has changed significantly since the Civil Rights in both positive and negative ways, but the majority has clearly been positive. Obviously, there are still improvements we need to make as a society to banish all racism. However, if we work together as a whole, we will definitely be able to achieve these goals.

We are currently living in an incredibly awkward time in the course of human history. Society has changed so much in terms of progressivism and equality that it would be safe to say that inequality doesn’t exist anymore, right? The answer, despite all the benefits of the Civil rights movement of the 20th century, is a resounding no. While the Civil rights movement gave people “legal” equality for factors they cannot control, it does nothing to remove the barriers that lead to discrimination in the first place. Here lies the fundamental issue with the Civil rights movement: While it did in fact give people universal equal rights under Federal Law, it still does nothing to remove people’s prejudices toward certain groups of people. From a social standpoint, it only served to further divide classes of people as “protected”, furthering their separations and in fact reinforcing their inequality. Discrimination has not gone away whatsoever because of the civil rights movement, and that persisting separation is exactly why. Many aspects of the civil rights movement have only served to further divide people simply based on the way they were born. This flaw is something that must be addressed, as all humans, aside from a few minor differences, are exactly the same. “If you cannot find this common other ground, then there is no reason not to discriminate against them, because in fact they are different creatures than everyone else.”(-147 Francis Fukayama.) Francis elaborates this