Equality before the law

French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac once said, “Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” Racism in America between 1877 to the 1930’s was an example of Balzac’s words. Although African Americans deserved to be equal socially and politically, reality showed them that the White man will always be racist. If they ever tasted success, it would be met with more racial hardships. In The Piano Lesson the fictional character’s represent the…

Bathrooms - The Current Fight for Equality With the new law in North Carolina stating that you can only use public restrooms that match your birth gender, the public has now latched onto a national debate of whether or not trans people can use the bathroom they identify with. This topic is being hotly discussed as the fear of rape and assault is commonly brought up to as why these sort of laws make sense. In this day and age, this is just another battle for equality. Transgender people should…

Brown v. Board of Education Before, During, and After Rich in history, the case Brown v. Board of Education began a change in the direction of education for students and families. This made it possible to see the promise of educating all students equally. Brown not only changed the course of education, but also served as a vessel to begin closing the social gap between races. This paper 's intent is to bring understanding of the history prior to, during, and after Brown v. Board…

Marriage Equality One of the most controversial topics in today’s media is same-sex marriage and the equal treatment of those in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community. I am in support of marriage equality for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, because everyone should have the right to marry their significant other. The United States of America is the supposed “land of the free”, but in some states that statement is merely a phrase and not a practice. Many…

While true equality may be unachievable, it is an important virtue and a strong core around which a thriving system of government can be fair and efficient. When The Politics was written, equality had a limited place in government. In a state such as Athens, where slavery was not uncommon and women’s rights were extremely constrained, equality was a complicated idea. In Aristotle’s time, equality was emphasized in government mainly to buffer the antagonism…

during the Jim Crow era. In evaluating these events and their effects it is helpful to first understand what Jim Crow laws are. In the 1830s a man named Thomas Dartmouth Rice, a white entertainer performed a character in blackface. When in character Rice performed a popular act with dancing and singing as a slave, named Jim Crow. In 1890 Jim Crow laws were implemented. Under these laws many were victim to segregation between Caucasian and African Americans. This took place at restaurants,…

Guadalupe Hidalgo, the treaty signed between the United States and Mexico to end the border disputes in California and Texas, left the Mexicans vulnerable to the land laws in the United States. At first glance, this may be mistaken for a practice of equality because everyone was subjected to the same laws. However, these land laws gave the Anglo Americans advantage over the Mexicans who owned lands without clear boundaries. Lacking these clear boundaries, it became extremely difficult for any…

backgrounds and ideologies as we do. With no specific terminology in the Charter that includes employment law, we must look between the lines and find the connections that lay within. The Charter provides the roadmap for Canadian principles and social values; it lays out the rights and freedoms we have as a people, and promotes the protection of those human rights through its laws. Employment law is not addressed directly in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, however, our…

If Everyone is Equal, is Anyone Unique? The founders of this great nation had many goals when creating the government. One of those goals was equality, and even though people had to fight to secure those rights, that begs a question. What if everyone were totally equal? Harrison Bergeron is a story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr where everyone is truly equal. Everyone is equally weak, dumb and ugly. In this story, the main character is killed after attempting to overthrow the government. Out of all of the…

rights, so they found a legal way to prevent the African Americans from using their rights by creating literacy tests and poll taxes. Poll taxes required individuals to pay a tax before they could vote, and if they could vote they had to take a literacy test, which tests that African Americans were forced to take before they could vote. For example, the Texas Poll Tax had an extremely large amount of money for people to pay, but on this receipt, it was 76 dollars, which is equivalent to around…