Human Rights Essay:
Human rights is defined as a right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person no matter their race. America hasn’t always been accepting, fifty years ago racism was a common thing and so was gender inequality. If you were black you had the possibility of being terrorized or even killed. Women would not be hired for certain jobs because they were not seen as capable. Few identified as being in the LGBT community in fear of how they would be treated by fellow Americans. Many of those problems are no longer relevant because the past fifty years have changed human rights significantly.
Now the LGBT community is being noticed and people are openly supporting them. The LGBT community was barely supported fifty years ago. They were shamed, harassed, and even killed sometimes just because of their sexuality and beliefs. That was fifty years ago though, nowadays people are supporting the LGBT community and accepting them. “The U.S. will use both diplomacy and $3 million in foreign aid to help the global fight for gay rights” (Macnicol 3). Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. will be using $3 million dollars to help fight for gay rights all over the world. Fifty years ago that would never happen, but now it has. The government is openly supporting gay people and their rights all across America and the rest of the world.
Public figures have started sticking up for minorities. Fifty years ago minorities were barely supported and typically never protected. The KKK, The Ku Klux Klan, was a group of white people would shame and kill thousands of black people, even the sheriffs that were supposed to protect the people were apart of the KKK. Groups like the KKK are barely even relevant anymore, that’s because America would not stand for it and made a change. “But the Judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, found that the Police Department resorted to a policy of indirect racial profiling” (Goldstein 2). In New York City there was a stop and frisk policy, if a police officer suspected someone was hiding something they could stop and check the person. The policy looked like it was working well, but really it was just indirect racial profiling. Most people that were stopped were black and hispanic men, very few white men were stopped. Judge Scheindlin found that it violated the people’s right and declared it unconstitutional. That Judge stood up for the minorities instead of just letting the “unintentional” racism continue.
In the 1930s blacks were terrorized and killed just because of their skin color, nowadays that problem is barely relevant. During the 1930s in the south there was a lot of racism and disrespect towards black people. Many black people were killed or sometimes even tarred, just because they gave someone a funny look or they spoke up. The police were very rarely called when there were incidents because they would barely do anything. So many white people would do unspeakable things and never pay the price for their actions. Those horrible actions taken towards blacks are very rare now, and even if something unspeakable did happen to a black person the perpetrator would not go unpunished. “Poured the blackest tar they could find all over him, then plastered him with chicken feathers” (Taylor 74). In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry there is a girl named Cassie, she lives in the south, its the 1930s and she’s black. Cassie experiences some of the awful things that people would do to black people, like pouring tar on them simply because they back talked someone. Nowadays you never hear about tar being poured all over a black person, that’s simply because it doesn’t happen. In the book the man who had tar poured all over him never went to the police or spoke up about what happened to him, even if he had spoken up nothing would have happened. That’s not the case anymore, black people have the same human rights as everyone else.
About fifty years ago segregation was still a very relevant problem that affected many people, now America is completely desegregated. Much of America desegregated in the mid 1950s but now there is no segregation whatsoever. It’s the things that don’t seem big but are actually are, like black and white children going to school together, everyone using the same bathrooms, and everyone being able to eat at the same places. Although racism still exists in our country it isn’t nearly as prominent as it was 50 years ago. “Teams from two historically black colleges, Jackson State and Grambling, desegregated Veterans Memorial” (Freedman 3). The desegregating of Veterans Memorial Stadium happened in 1967 which was a huge step because segregation was still popular then. The fans at that game were mainly black, but they were using a very well known white athletic stadium. That opened the door to many colleges and schools being desegregated.
Some people may argue that human rights and women’s rights have not changed over the years. In some professions women and men will do the same job and still get paid less. Gender equality shouldn’t be an issue, men and women should be treated exactly the same. Women have had the right to vote for over ninety years, that’s almost a century and women still aren’t treated as complete equals. “It’s the 21st century, and our daughters may still earn less than men for doing the same work” (Richards 1). Many parents are concerned that their daughters will face issues in the workplace when they are older. That concern is justified because many people face that problem today. There was a single woman who worked at a company, a man who was married with kids that did the same job as the single woman and got paid more than she did. That is gender inequality and it is a very real problem.
In America human rights have greatly changed for the better. People of different races are just judged by the color of their skin. The LGBT community is getting the support that they greatly deserve for all of the terror they go through all over the world. In some professions women still earn less than men but people everywhere are working to close the gap so that isn’t a problem for future generations. America as a whole is working together to make it a better country where human rights shouldn’t been seen as rare but as common.
Human Rights Outline:
C: Some of those problems aren’t relevant anymore because the past fifty years have changed human rights significantly.
RC: In America human rights have greatly changed for the better.
Works Cited
Freedman, Samuel. “A Mississippi Stadium, A Civil Rights Crucible.” New York Times Online. New York Times. November 22, 2014. Web. Available:
Goldstein, Joseph. “Judge Rejects New York’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy.” New York Times Online. New York Times. August 12, 2013. Web. Available:
Richards, Carl. “Fighting The Gender Pay Gap.” New York Times Online. New York Times. September 8, 2014. Web. Available:
Macnicol, Glynnis. “Here's The Historic Speech Hillary Clinton Gave On Gay Rights Yesterday.”Business Insider Online. Business Insider. December 7, 2011. Available:
Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Penguin Group, 1976. Print.
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