“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord” are lyrical words that echo in my mind when I think about my America. “Trampling out a vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored” commands tireless work to keep the foundation for which my America is built. I am reminded by the old spiritual hymn, each day is a “Battle of the Republic” to “be jubilant, to “be swift,” and to “die (to myself) to make men free.” Envisioning an America that encompasses the freedoms that our forefathers imagined must be foremost in the eyes of all Americans, or else the “march” will end, and we will suffer. What ammunition does a young person bring into battle for the war on apathy and ambivalence, on detachment, and divisiveness? How does one stomp, …show more content…
For two and one-half centuries Americans have endured horrific struggles and are still confronted with hatred and malice for the color of their skin, religion, and sexual orientation. There is wisdom in the old Native American proverb,”A person should walk in the moccasins of another man to really understand his journey.” During the Roman Empire a soldier could legally ask a citizen to carry his bags for a mile; it was the admonition of Jesus who encouraged the citizen to carry the bags an extra mile to demonstrate compassionately a greater understanding of the other’s lot. My vision is to accept each American as an equal under the Constitution and to have greater compassion for his …show more content…
I must not take for granted being able to speak freely, to own a firearm, to choose my spouse, to worship, to assemble, to petition for a cause, to have a fair trial, to choose my own destiny, and to be treated with dignity and respect. As the spiritual hymn challenges us to “...live to make men free,” I, too, follow the words of Peter Marshall, twice-appointed chaplain to the United States Senate, as he instructs, “Give to us a clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for - because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for
Individuals’ right to keep and bear arms in self-defense should be further restricted. For example, George Zimmermann – neighborhood watch citizen responsible for the teenager Treyvon Martin’s death
As modern America has progressed, it has had many advancements. Those advancements in turn have only compounded the problems they were meant to solve by adding copious amounts of obstacles. Progressive movements in people’s rights have been met with opposition, the country has become scared due to terrorist threats and local attacks such as: bombings and shootings, and now America is worried about the future. America’s zeitgeist is easily offended, frightened, and concerned.
One reason we must have the second amendment is to protect the freedom for which our country fought so hard to win. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”[1] However, if these rights were ‘self-evident’, why did the founding fathers need to grant them to the states? We might as well ask why man is the way that he is, imperfect. We all wonder about this sad truth, but the fact remains that man is fallen. These rights are self-evident, obvious to human reason, but because humans are fallen, we are sometimes blinded to these apparent truths and we err in our rationality. King George was blind to these unalienable rights, as were Na...
The Pledge of Allegiance, created over a century ago, contains one of the most problematic statements in society: “liberty and justice for all”. Despite the remote attempts of the government to alleviate the obstacles that Richard Wright, an advocate of civil rights, endured in 1937, Michelle Alexander, another advocate of civil rights, in 2012 unveils that up to this day the obstacles are nearly the same. In essence, disregarding the 125 years of difference the situation has not changed radically, thus allowing the challenges of inequality to remain under the table. In particular ways, the United States is moderately becoming more racially just and ethical, with actions taken by the government such as affirmative action and the abolition of
Although our present day society still questions whether the rights of the Individual should outweigh the public order or the social order of our country should outweigh the individual rights has enlightened me to a distorted vision and a compromised system and questionable Leadership. “African- American men comprise less than 6% of the U.S. population and almost one-half of its criminal prisons.” Quoted by the Bureau of justice statistics. When research is conducted by another other than oneself yield such great crippling results, it does hold truths to be true to that which began before our awakening
Unlike many other countries America has freedom of speech. Even in other countries in Europe people are not allowed to use “hate speech” and they can be sent to prison for it. Fortunately, the American constitution defends people’s freedom of speech, no matter how controversial it is. Political correctness diminishes people’s free speech. It may not be direct but even indirectly the knowledge that someone might have adverse consequences; such as losing a job as a result of their speech is unacceptable. People have the right to state their opinions without others infringing on them, it was the principle in which America was founded. The first amendment of the constitution of the United States declares that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” (US Const. amend. I, sec. i). While the first amendment only affects congress’s control over free speech, it indicates that free speech is a right that people must have. Some people are of the opinion that if something can be found offensive
Since the beginning of American history, citizens who resided the country lacked the basic civil rights and liberties that humans deserved. Different races and ethnicities were treated unfairly. Voting rights were denied to anyone who was not a rich, white male. Women were harassed by their bosses and expected to take care of everything household related. Life was not all that pretty throughout America’s past, but thankfully overtime American citizens’ civil liberties and rights expanded – granting Americans true freedom.
Imagine living in a society which takes away your most important right(s). Put yourself in that position where; You have no freedom, You cannot properly live your life, nor can you own any sort of property, All because of the color of your skin. Even the government is corrupted by this belief of skin color defining your class and will deny you by all means based on this simple yet cruel discrimination. How would you feel? What would you do? In life humans must learn how to cope with each other and overlook this simple discrimination. The 14th amendment is important because it is the essence of Human life in terms of treatment and respect. This was not the United States the founding fathers had envisioned.
We started this Government and Politics class with reading a speech from Barack Obama during his campaign for presidency in 2008 that was a response to comments made by the minister of the church his family has attended. Barack says, “It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress had been made.” President Obama was regarding the state of the treatment of Black people in the United States. He took a stance that is present in many white people throughout the U.S., and one that I believe definitely needs to be acknowledged in the discussion over the treatment of Black Americans. But on the other hand, I truly believe that there is a problem with the treatment of Black Americans in our country, and to deny that would be a denial of various statistics. The combination of the huge amount of police discrimination towards black people (which leads to the various brutality cases) along with massive socioeconomic gap between White Americans and Black Americans are both major issues plaguing the United States that need a solution for the betterment of the nation. This is where my opinion comes in. I agree
Good Morning Miss. Mendez, it was a pleasure listening to you and your group members share the research that you all completed on Historically Black Colleges and Universites: Relevancy in Post-Civil Rights Era America. It was very mind blowing to hear the results that you all found . It was interesting to have learned that Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) graduate more black students overall and the black males that graduate from Historical Black College and Universities (HBCUs) are more likely to further their education due to the supportive and nurturing environment of their HBCU. The lack of support that blacks have at PWIs play a major role in their academics and it is noticeable . If you look at several different PWIs majority
“Contemporary Americans” have a lot to earn from Thurgood Marshall here. In his eyes The Constitution does not deserve the high-praise that it gets. He uses context, logic, and emotion to convey his message, and his presentation facilitates
You are an African American on your way out the United States for a business trip and the plane crashes. You look around for survivors, but you see no one and hear no one. First thing you do is call for help, but you get no responses. Then as you look over you see a flag: red background, a blue x, and on that x you see white stars.
It’s Justin, your beloved and most handsome grandson. How are you doing back home in California? Do you still drink your banana split smoothie in every day? Remember grandpa, it’s not good for your health if you drink it everyday, because at your age you need to watch what you eat. How’s grandma by the way grandpa? Can you tell her that I miss her alot and her delicious apple pie. I have some good news for you guys, I am coming back home really soon and I can’t wait to see you guys again. Anyway, you must be wondering how my life has been over the past few year in Texas. Well, let me tell you, it wasn’t great, but I manage to survive. Have you ever heard of the term Civil Rights? It basically mean that every citizens have the rights to political
In our generation we are full of progress, technologically and socially. Razor phones are now Iphones, desk computers are now macs, gas hogs are now electric cars, and mixed race people are normal. Now with that last statement, that doesnt mean that racism is gone. Unfortunately we still deal with racist issues today, although we have come a long long way in the last 50 years. The older generation of hard set minds are dwindling down and a new open minded generation is taking over one by one. With cases like fergisun and Eric Garner going on right now, it has our country in chaos. This issue has people turning on each other and buildings getting burned down in protest, and our question is how do we end racism in the US for good? Many white people believe that racism has basically vanished, a lot of african
Black Lives Matter is not a bandwagon to hop on, nor is it a hashtag or a slogan. Black Lives Matter is a movement. To not support the movement or to think that the movement does not need support is outright depraved, demeaning and degrading. We too often think that retweeting, tweeting or sharing a photo on social media is supporting the movement and it’s not! This is no longer the 1960’s. We have gained our rights: that is no longer the fight. The fight is receiving justice for our black people, so no effective protesting is no longer sitting at countertops, it is no longer peaceful marching and it is no longer bus boycotting The new protest is to educate ourselves, to show respect, to get involved in the justice system, to raise black lawyers, to vote and to do jury duty. All of these things are needed to benefit the movement in stopping the corruptness in our justice system.