It's because they are human beings

Sitting down at Barnes and Noble, or Starbucks, with a coffee and a tasty blueberry muffin, doesn’t seem so complicated. A problem that might arise, is there an electrical plug nearby to plug in the lab top just in case the battery gets low on power? Simple enough, the coffee is just right and the internet is up and running. What better morning could there be? Such simple freedoms everyone takes for granted, never a second thought to whether this is allowed? Who can purchase food and drink here? Is the color of my skin the right color? Stopping to consider what are my civil rights? How did we get here, a point in time where an individual has civil rights? Looking back do we realize the hard work of those who stood up to injustice was for a reason? So, the future generations could enjoy their lives, families and their right to be treated as human beings.

Now try to fit into the mindset of the 50’s and 60’s. Up to this time the African-American’s personal rights were different that the white people around them. They were expected to do everything separately from white people, including dining out, going to the restroom and sitting at the back of the bus. Up until this time, the majority of the black Americans’ kept in their place, not liking it, and not knowing how to change the status quo. In the beginning it took personal courage for the individuals who started the movement to civil rights. This courage was shown on February 1, 1960 when four students from a local college in Greensboro, Alabama went into the Woolworth and sat at the lunch counter and waited to be served. They were refused service, which began the sit-ins, sparking the beginning movement to their human rights.

Historically, the African-Americans ...

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... helped King produce the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which was the African-American’s answer to the “Statement by Alabama Clergymen”. King spoke for all who sought equal rights, he spoke for the young, the elderly, the men and women of African blood who now were citizens of the United States, but were still considered non-human. King was the right man, at the right time, which made all the difference.

In the present, where are we at now? Although civil rights exists, the United States still has issues of equal rights. We now have not only the black Americans, but the Asian Americans, the Mexican Americans, and of course the Native Americans. As the minority slow becomes the majority, the white contingency now expresses their issues of equal rights or the lack there of. Can there be a definitive answer that solves the equal rights issue? No, there is not.