America is known as the land of the free, from granting its citizens freedom of speech, religion and so much more. But recent events lead me to believe that Americans no longer practice what they preach. So the question is, are Americans truly free? Do Americans truly get freedom of religion? Do Americans truly get the freedom to be who they are?
The shooting in Orlando is a main example of what I am trying to say. America has come a long way with accepting different races and people's sexual preferences. Although, nowadays it seems as if Americans have forgotten about the freedom and equal rights these people have. When 49 members of the LGBTQ community were murdered for being themselves it makes me wonder when we (Americans) stopped accepting people for who they were and when we went back to our old ways of shunning and eliminating anyone who does not fit the straight, Christian mold. The man who shot these 49 people not only stole the lives and freedom from them, but he also stole the freedom from the rest of the LGBTQ community. Now members of the LGBTQ community may feel threatened or as if they cannot be themselves. Now they may not be able to walk outside or go to a club without fearing someone out there does not accept them and wants to hurt them. How would you feel if you could not be yourself? Or how would you feel if everywhere you went you felt threatened?
Although, not accepting the LGBTQ community is not the only problem seen during this shooting. After the shooting people were afraid it was a terrorist, so now people have been shunning every Muslim. People are being brain washed to think that if you are Muslim then you are a terrorist. But that is not true. This is a prime example of how Americans are no longer accepting of different religions, even when we have religious freedom. These people are taking freedom away from people in other religions and forcing them to be afraid of hate crimes just as the LGBTQ community are. You wouldn’t want to be shunned for your religion, so why would you shun others for their religion?
America has been shunning LGBTQs and Muslims, but it does not stop there. Just recently there has been the movement called Black Lives Matter. But the movement should be all lives matter. Yes there have been murders in the black community, but that does not mean it was a race thing, or that it was a hate crime. I will agree that some of the murders may have very well been because a police officer over stepped, but not every one of them was about race. The fact that people feel the need to say black lives matter is crazy, because all lives matter. Not just one race. I am not just saying this as a white person, I am saying this as a person who cares about every race. Not one race is more entitled or more powerful than the next. I have been in several situations where being a white person has not benefited me, and I do not feel as though I should be held higher; I believe we should all be equal.
From LGBTQs, to different religions, to different races, we as Americans can start to see diversion, segregation and more hate crimes. Instead of stealing everyone’s freedom and placing fear in everyone’s life, we should be coming together to show other countries what this freedom really is. America is the land of the free, and we as Americans get the luxury of being free, so why would we steal that from anyone? So once again, we need to come together as Americans, and free people. Show the world that in America we accept people for who they are, and no matter who you are, you get to be free.
All lives matter, all religions matter, all people matter.
