Achieving Equality in America There has long been a debate on whether or not America has the ability to achieve true equality for everyone. This does pertain mostly to race or ethnicity, but also applies to gender and social class. Many will agree that we have come a long way from the point of owning people as slaves as far as equality goes, but will not admit to America’s true fault of ongoing racism. There are people who are bluntly racist, but there are not as many of those people around in modern times. So many people are silent judgers and treat colored people differently simply because it is something they are not used to. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People
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We all want our moment to shine, to stand out and be told that we have done something amazing. Some of us will get this feeling through hard work and dedication, but everyone else will put someone down so that they can feel like they are above them. “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” (Gandhi). Gandhi’s quote applies to equality because he is basically saying that trying to get revenge on someone or trying to prove that you are their equal, will only lead to more inequality in the world. If a black wants to prove that they are human too, then there will always be that one, cruel white man waiting to show him all of the reasons why he is not equal. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus once again goes outside the box and says that you cannot determine how someone feels until you know what they’ve been through. “‘You never really understand a person until you consider it from his point of view - ‘Sir?’ ‘- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’” (Lee page 39). Atticus is telling Scout not to judge until she knows the whole story; until she can acknowledge their reasoning. This is kind of like teaching her not to judge until she has felt the same or equal to him. So, if we all were to think and teach like Atticus does then true equality would be a simple achievement for America, but we refuse to open our minds so we are stuck in a world of quiet
We all want our moment to shine, to stand out and be told that we have done something amazing. Some of us will get this feeling through hard work and dedication, but everyone else will put someone down so that they can feel like they are above them. “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” (Gandhi). Gandhi’s quote applies to equality because he is basically saying that trying to get revenge on someone or trying to prove that you are their equal, will only lead to more inequality in the world. If a black wants to prove that they are human too, then there will always be that one, cruel white man waiting to show him all of the reasons why he is not equal. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus once again goes outside the box and says that you cannot determine how someone feels until you know what they’ve been through. “‘You never really understand a person until you consider it from his point of view - ‘Sir?’ ‘- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’” (Lee page 39). Atticus is telling Scout not to judge until she knows the whole story; until she can acknowledge their reasoning. This is kind of like teaching her not to judge until she has felt the same or equal to him. So, if we all were to think and teach like Atticus does then true equality would be a simple achievement for America, but we refuse to open our minds so we are stuck in a world of quiet