Equality in the US-- A Cultural Debate

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When asked the question, "Is everyone treated equally in the US?", my response would be a solid "no". Though the United States may be ahead in the push for racial and gender equality it is more of an ideal that has been inflated by Americas promotion of "freedom and equal rights for all". This image may perhaps be our worst enemy in our struggle for complete equality. "Complete equality" being contemplated on a grander scale because it is hard to even fathom total equality. Such a thing would involve a consistency in perception across the US and that would be impossible because no two people will ever perceive the same. So when I refer to equality in this blog, I am refering to equality as the laws say it should be, not from human to human.

Imagine America as a vast body of water. On the calm smooth surface there are women and men of all ethnicities voting, working the same jobs, dressing how they want, and living how they want. It's the reflection of our society "dressed up" in all of its "equality". Have you ever tried to look past your reflection in the water? It is very hard to see what's underneath. Every once in a great while someone will come along and touch the surface. When it breaks, the ripples reveal a world of conflict underneath. An example of one such touch might be "the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom". This was the March when Martin Luther King Jr, famous civil rights activist, gave his "I have a dream" speech. Near 250,000 people of all ethnicities and backgrounds attended this event. So as a mass movement by the people it could be looked at as a movement of the perception of America. There was no media controlling what was said, there was no law being passed by a goverment who was speaking for all-- it was a gathering of people who were witness to a revolution in ideas and so it was a window for change. It was also non-violent. MLK Jr was a firm believer and advocate of Gandhi's teachings of non-violence and in 1959 he met with Gandhi in India. He said afterwards, "the method of non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity". When someone dares to touch the surface, often with much harm to themselves (both Gandhi and MLK Jr were assassinated), inequality is revealed and the fact is, there is not enough progressive thinkers to keep it rippling. The problem is, America's surface becomes stagnant with a set of truths or a certain societal make-up because of the human desire to be safe and structured. Modern assimilation occurs when people accept their place in a social and economical setting and stop questioning their rights.

Thanks to the womens suffrage movement, equal rights for women got a real nudge in 1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. However, women still face gender bias in the work place and in their comparison to men. I have worked for a restaurant that would not allow women to cook. I worked there for three years and could have easily worked the cooks station with no probelm. Even if they were short-handed they would have a young boy who had been washing dishes there for only a few weeks take over the cooks station. Business was not exactly booming and customers would still get burnt steaks. Income would go down and it didn't matter. Women don't work the grill. Now, there are laws saying that I, as a woman, have every right to work that job position, but could I really? No. It was all dependent on my managers who were ultimately following their superiors who owned or managed the restaurant chain. It all depends on individual bias, which is based on how that person was raised by their family and what they were exposed to. So how can any law trully help the individual?

Racism is much more violent then gender discrimination and is also still extremely prevalent. By extremely I mean it exists in a limiting way, on a large scale. There have been horrible racial hate crimes in America's history, but their numbers break even with the number of day to day crimes. September 11th could be considered amongst the list as the most extreme (est. 3,000 people died), but when you look at numbers, just as many people die from racial hate crimes in one year in the US. These crimes happen far and wide and between all communities. Where I live in Pennsylvania there are large Hispanic, African American and Middle Eastern populations. There is violence between these communities just as much as there are conflicts with the white community. Less than twenty years ago, there were a number of suburban areas in my home town where African American families were not allowed to move into. Though it is not that way today, there is still an unbalanced ratio of Caucausian to African American and even more so with Hispanic and Middle Eastern. If you look at the types of jobs the Hispanic and Middle Eastern population is fulfiling they are all low paying, over full-time labor jobs. Because of the limited job access based on "background" and not on "race" these families make lower-incomes and have higher stress levels. This leads to many family problems and less opportunities for their children.

I am not dismissing America's obvious opportunites, which do help many people. I am saying that there isn't equal opportunity for all due to existing racism and gender bias. These problems will never be solved fully with laws because there are already laws in place and these problems still occur. It takes the movement of the individual to help the individual. There will be true equality when we as people recognize, actively generate and promote equality in everyone. Alot of these problems have to do with awareness and how we choose to perceive people and accept our differences.

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Comments

[mac nelson]

Racism in THE US? Yes. But Obama will win
and that will make a flawed nation come closer to its grand ideals. How splendid to see the Top Nation, usually thought of world-wide as a White power enclave, choose a person of color as its leader. And we will. I am enjoying your blog, and Hello Chritsta!! -- Mac