As we get closer and closer to the 2016 election this November, it becomes more and more evident that we as a nation can never just agree to agree or even agree to disagree. As a whole, it seems nearly impossible (even with the few who stick out) for Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites, police and society, even human being and human being, to come together. Granted, there have been some breakthroughs in the last week between police officers and those who were seemingly against them, but the hate still remains.
Just recently at the Republican National Convention, a woman holding a “No racism No hate” banner was blocked by others holding the American flag as they tried to also rip the banner from her hands. They used the most iconic symbol for freedom to try and block that woman from exercising her freedom. Her freedom of speech.
This begs some questions that I will present to you; why? Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? Why do we still let racism rule our country? Why do we still discriminate against the LGBT community? At the rate that we are going, our future does not look promising, so why are we still living in the era of discrimination?
The answer is simple. We all want our rights to be honored. It is as simple as that, folks. We as a society are so concerned with our own rights that we forget that sometimes our rights infringe upon other peoples.’ Take the first amendment, for example. The first amendment states “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.” This is one of the most popular amendments to get construed. Our right to freedom of speech only goes so far until we infringe on another individual’s right to freedom of speech because then that person is not having their rights honored. We are allowed to voice our opinion and also to protest peacefully. Peacefully. When the protest or speech becomes violent, that puts other people’s rights at risk as well as everyone’s lives. This is why we will never be able to agree. We consider our rights more important than anyone else’s, and that has become the ruling factor in our lives. We have lost sight of the compassion and sense of diversity that the Founding Fathers called for when they created this country (granted, they didn’t have it perfectly).
We get so caught up in the color of someone’s skin that we talk ourselves into thinking that they are inferior to us, that we are more important. The fact of the matter is, the United States has and always will be a melting pot. That is the name that we were given because we were supposed to be a place that welcomed everyone and we did. Every time, however, we tried to block certain groups from exercising their freedoms because they believed something different or looked different to what we were comfortable with. If we look even deeper into history, we will see that the world used to be a huge mix of every language, skin color, heritage, culture, you name it. Whites changed that when they decided that every country should be divided based on language and culture, in which Germany was the first to succeed at doing. Taught by both history books and history teachers alike, the world used to be one large mosaic; but the desire to divide took a hammer and shattered that mosaic. We used Social Darwinism to justify doing horrible things to people and never once considering their rights (until later on at least). We convinced ourselves that certain people did not matter because our rights were more important and we were the supreme beings, the only ones capable of thought or feelings.
Taking a look back at today’s society, we have not really changed as much as we would like. Sure, we have succeeded in allowing for same-sex marriage, a huge step for us and a much-needed one. Sure, we abolished slavery, destroyed segregation, and even got everyone the right to vote. Under all of this hope, we still have a severe hatred and fear, yes fear, of our rights being taken away or infringed upon. Think about those who suffer because of it and think about the many lives that have been taken due to this fear. Think about the current election and what the future holds for America. There should be some way that we can fix this and make our country whole again, but the fear has too much of a steel grip on us and instead we consider building walls instead of tearing them down.
It is also evident in our gun regulations, an extremely controversial topic. We can’t even prevent those on the terror watch lists from obtaining a gun, but we can prevent lesser offenders that you don’t see on television every day. We are so scared that our guns are going to be taken, but why are we worried if we have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide? The laws are not going to prevent your everyday person from having a gun, they are meant to help make you feel like you don’t have to walk around carrying one. Again, the fear of our rights being taken is so very, very potent.
We will never be able to agree as long as the fear and misunderstanding of the term “rights” are still present. As sad as it is, it is something that will take generations upon generations to learn and finally take action. The only way to do this is through today’s children and younger generations. They are exposed to so much now with social media and television that unless we teach them otherwise, they will believe whatever they see. We have to teach them that we are all equal and to pass on love instead of hate. Children naturally are not full of hateful thoughts and easily forgive; the hate and racism are taught. Until that day when we realize that there is only one race, the human race, we will always and forever be divided in our disagreement.
