Making my way through the American public school system, I was always taught about the triumphs of the United States. America came into existence because a group of underdogs fought for their rights from people who oppressed them. Lucky for the men who first fought for America’s rights, they were a winning combination of male, white, heterosexual, and Christian.
For the past 240 years of American history, those underdogs-turned-leaders have held power and a certain level of privilege simply because they were male, white, heterosexual, and Christian. Every once in a while, events like the Civil War, the Suffrage Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement have allowed people who don’t have all of the same demographics as those in power to speak up.
Women and people of different races, religions, ethnicities, and sexualities have had to work hard to gain rights that America was founded on. We learn about their triumphs in our history courses in school. We learn that America is accepting, revolutionary, and has made a name for itself as a “Melting Pot” that is welcoming to all kinds of people. We’re lead to believe that we’re on the forefront of equality and quality of life. Sadly, we’re not doing as well as we thought.
2016 has proved to be a difficult year. The United States has shown that we still have a long way to go before we achieve equality. Instead of pushing forward on the road to a society that shares basic rights for everyone, the country is being driven in the opposite direction. Those in the driver's seat? More often than not, they’re politicians or leaders that are, you guessed it, male, white, heterosexual, Christian, or all of the above.
Perhaps the easiest example to cite is the current presidential race, especially considering the GOP candidates. While most think of Donald Trump when they think of bigotry nowadays, Ted Cruz isn’t much better. Donald Trump has been spewing some of the most racist rhetoric seen in decades. Ted Cruz is very open about his Christian faith, but allows his faith to affect his views on marriage equality.
What’s scarier than these views still being present among politicians these days is the fact that people are rallying behind them. These candidacies, fueled by hate and intolerance, are making a beeline for the White House. People are embracing bigotry in a way that is reminiscent of Antebellum America. Some have even painted parallels to the Nazi movement in Germany during the early twentieth century.
The presidential race isn’t the only place in American politics where equality is being set back decades. North Carolina recently passed a “religious freedom bill” that permits the discrimination of LGBT citizens solely based on their sexual orientation. Mississippi is following suit, with the Republican Governor being the last person who has to give the bill a check for it to become law. These laws mean that businesses and religious groups have the right to deny the LGBT community the services they provide, as well as protect these groups from punishment as long as their discrimination is coming from a place of “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.”
As an American citizen, I’m saddened to see how things are going, but I’m not going to be complacent and just accept it. Despite what political leaders are doing, despite what some members of our country think, bigotry should never be accepted—especially in a nation that was founded to provide its citizens with rights they were being denied by their oppressors. So, what can you do? Fight against the wage gap between men and women. Speak out against racism and sexism when you hear it. Inform yourself as best you can and vote to put leaders in office that want to help move America forward, not plunge it back into the darker times of our history.
