While a democracy is based on majority rule, minority rights must not be disregarded. One of the principles of democracy includes a minority receiving equal opportunity to become a majority, and thereby providing competition for the majority of the time. Competition has potential to force a majority to become a minority, needing the protection of its rights to provide opportunity for it to become a majority again. Furthermore, the smallest minority is the individual. By protecting minority rights from majority oppression, the individual is protected and vice versa. For example, individual rights of expression and speech are nonexistent for Cubans if what they wish to express makes the government appear inadequate. In turn, the minority group
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Washington began a speech that many would say agreed with the entirety of segregation. He began by saying “I was born in the South and I understand thoroughly the prejudices, the customs, the traditions of the South. I love the South.” He went further to say “these prejudices are something that it does not pay to disturb” and “the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing”. The point of Washington’s speech is often misunderstood. He did not, in fact, condone the permanent application of prejudices and discrimination in his speech, rather the acceptance of them where they then resided. These were simply social complications, or problems left after a government decides to protect a group legally before society is ready to accept the change socially. At that time, the social complication to the government protecting the rights of African-Americans resulted in race riots, bombings, along with extreme social segregation. The artificial forcing referred to laws by the federal government. Booker T. Washington acknowledged that the establishment of law did not eradicate all societal maltreatment. It was a foundation, not a whole house. However, it can be assumed a house without a foundation is not nearly as strong as a house with one. In this lies the government’s responsibility- to set the foundation for society to build upon. By setting a foundation of protecting minority rights, society is given the opportunity to accept the minority in all remaining
Washington began a speech that many would say agreed with the entirety of segregation. He began by saying “I was born in the South and I understand thoroughly the prejudices, the customs, the traditions of the South. I love the South.” He went further to say “these prejudices are something that it does not pay to disturb” and “the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing”. The point of Washington’s speech is often misunderstood. He did not, in fact, condone the permanent application of prejudices and discrimination in his speech, rather the acceptance of them where they then resided. These were simply social complications, or problems left after a government decides to protect a group legally before society is ready to accept the change socially. At that time, the social complication to the government protecting the rights of African-Americans resulted in race riots, bombings, along with extreme social segregation. The artificial forcing referred to laws by the federal government. Booker T. Washington acknowledged that the establishment of law did not eradicate all societal maltreatment. It was a foundation, not a whole house. However, it can be assumed a house without a foundation is not nearly as strong as a house with one. In this lies the government’s responsibility- to set the foundation for society to build upon. By setting a foundation of protecting minority rights, society is given the opportunity to accept the minority in all remaining