Final: A Fight for Equality

Through decades in our American History, injustice and inequality have become an issue in our nation. Although Civil Rights have been enforced, people still feel discriminated and threatened because of their skin color, gender and/or age. Every man or woman is created equal and should be given equal opportunities regardless of their outer appearance. I strongly believe in equality and believe that no one has the right to judge or exploit another person and take away their rights as a human. We, as people, should not tolerate this hostility but rather speak out against those who see other’s negatively by making sure that no one is discriminated upon.
When applying for a job, most places claim that they are an Equal Opportunity Employer, thus meaning that everyone who applied for the job had an equal chance of getting the job. However, as a person who is a minority turns in their application to a place, I personally see some racial discrimination. Back at my old job at Starbucks, an African-American girl turned in her application. Right of the bat, my former co-worker already started to assume her personality and background just because she was African-American. If Starbucks, as a company, agrees and claims that they are an Equal Opportunity Employer, the managers and shift supervisors should make sure that all the employees follow this lead. Discrimination at work is unacceptable and to work at a place that guarantee’s no racial discrimination should take into consideration that this discrimination is not allowed. Before a person is hired, a training process to prevent such inequality should be taught. This broadens and brings out these types of issues. I do not understand how anyone could judge a person just by his or her outer appearance and believe that this topic in all environments should be stopped.
Martin Luther King stepped out of his comfort zone to help discrimination against African-American’s to be stopped. He stood out as a leader to have such hostility and inequality diminished before them. Even after all his hard work to bring peace, currently racism still exists. Regardless of the Civil Rights Movement and bringing equality, physical appearance is already of cause of how they are portrayed by society. In Gloria Naylor’s essay, Meaning of a Word, she speaks of how racism is still shown silently which can cause tension between two different cultural groups. “If the word was to disappear totally from the mouths of even the most liberal of white society, no one in that room was naïve enough to believe it would disappear from white minds” (Naylor 64). Injustice and inequality is shown daily but to think of such things is still just a bad. I believe we should look past the color of a person’s skin and deeper into their personality to see what they are truly like.
We are living in a country that sits on diversity. Many immigrants traveled to the United States to gain freedom, leave religious oppression, and hope for a better life. By coming to America, for some it was their chance to get the freedom that their country did not give. To escape from the harsh conditions of their past life and to come to the United States with racism shown to them is an infringement of their rights as humans. We are all trying to live our lives and to be shown inequality at the same time is asking for too much.
Racism in any circumstance is unnecessary and degrading. It is a threat to the freedom that our country promises and is unjust. A person should be able to not get discriminated, verbally or physically, due to their outer appearance and skin color. This is still an issue and we should take into consideration the feelings of those who are being discriminated. Trying to break this discrimination would help our country unite and bring the equality that Martin Luther King tried so hard to fight for.

Works Cited

Naylor, Gloria. “Meaning of a Word.” 75 Readings across the curriculum. Chris Anson. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 61-64.