Slavery And Discrimination In The Crossing By Ruben Martinez

Improved Essays
Many people associate America with being the “land of the free” or the “land of opportunity”. The general idea about America is that there is equality for all people. A person can be whomever they want, with little to no restriction. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to protect the rights of American citizens. This appeals to many people, who may not be generally accepted in many parts of the world. But, there is still the question: Is there truly equality in America? Many people would answer yes due to the fact that slavery and discrimination has been outlawed and now every citizen, regardless of race or ethnicity, is covered under the United States’ Constitution. This is true; under the law everyone is considered equal. Even …show more content…
Before 1965, there was an immigration quota. The US government would put limit the amount of people they let immigrant to the United States based how the nationality is being represented in the US Census figures. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 repels the quota since many people thought that it was discriminatory against Greeks, Poles, Portuguese and Italians in favor of Northern Europeans. Many immigrants come to America seeking a new and better life. Many Americans end up treating immigrants who come here seeking a new and better life as less than humans. In the story The Crossing by Ruben Martinez, he tells the story of the time he meets a person trying to come to America in the hopes of having a better life and ends up turning the person into the authorizes for illegally sneaking into America. Throughout the story, he feels a lot of guilt over deciding whether or not to turn over the person because there is a law that punishes people who help illegal immigrants. This story shows how America treats people who are trying to immigrate here. This is very unfair because many people aren’t moving to America for illegal and criminal reasons. Many move to the United States for all of the freedoms, like those stated in the Bill of Rights, that each citizen enjoys every day. They want better life for themselves and their families. It would be irrational to think that America can take in all immigrants, but America should give immigrants equal

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