Why Everyone Should Be Treated Equally

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Barack Obama once stated, “ We were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America”. Although America was founded on this idea, we still struggle with equality for people even today. However, it was much harder for people decades ago to get the equality they deserve. It is important that children learn the historical importance of treating each other equally so hopefully in the future inequality will not be an issue. Therefore, all of the pieces we have studied during this unit suggest the reasons why everyone should be treated equally. First of all, everyone should be treated equally because we …show more content…

In Huck Finn, since Jim is a slave, it is obvious that he was not treated as fortunate as Huck. Jim was treated inhumanly in general by being a slave. In fact the reason Jim ran away was because Miss Watson was going to sell him down South away from his family. The unfortunate treatment of another makes people sympathetic and want to treat each other as equals. Although Huck was also treated inhumanely by his abusive father, not all white homes had that issue. Additionally, in the “Letter Response to Thompson” author Frederick Douglas, shared many examples of his poor treatment as a slave and how freedom changed him. One example is when Douglas stated, “I was driven so hard, and whips so often, that my soul was crushed and my spirits broken. I was a mere wreck”. Similarly the audience reading this will feel obligated to treat each other with respect and equality. Douglas is connecting with his readers to assure them that they understand his experiences enough to feel sympathy for him. Likewise, King takes the same approach and states “When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim . . . then you will understand”. King uses pathos to bring emotion on the issue of how blacks are being mistreated. Ultimately, by using pathos, this shows why we should treat people equally because no one deserve to go through

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