"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." By: Darlene You10/18/2016 The Declaration of Independence states that, "we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I believe that our country as a whole have not been living up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. The excerpt from the writing, "all men are created equal" is not true, it is a deceitful statement.
Gender roles are not equal. For example, there is pay gap between men and women. Women are still paid less than men in the work force. Women make about $0.80 every dollar men make. In 2015, statistics show that women were paid 80% less than men. The gap between the gender roles only begins there. Next month, there is going to be a newly elected president. The two popular candidates are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The next president could potentially be a woman. From watching a video of a reporter going to a "Trump Pence" to question people why Donald Trump is a better choice for this country rather than Hillary Clinton, one of the supporters said: "Women shouldn't be in office. They're too emotional and tempered. They can get a hot flash and easily start a war." Not only was that statement misogynistic and ignorant, it shows that we are living in a period where discrimination between the gender roles are apparent. Donald Trump has received numerous accusations towards his mistreatment to women, some are even taken to court. His demeaning statements about women and superiority he thinks he has over them has affected his campaign tremendously. There are news, videos, informercials, commercials, skits, parodies etc., of him and his infamous sexism. He is known for his derogatory statements towards women, one of the many examples include, “They said, ‘How are you going to change the pageant?’ I said ‘I’m going to get the bathing suits to be smaller and the heels to be higher then that would be better’ (The Telegraph UK). Not only has there been a discrimination between gender roles, but recently, there has been a BLM Movement (Black Lives Matter). The recent events over the couple years has led to this movement. The University of Vermont created a flag at the school that said "Black Lives Matter" on it. This generates controversy as it is placed right next to the American Flag. The last couple years there have been popular, angry, and problematic cases of "black people" being hunted down--even prisoned/jailed--by "white police officers." It is claimed that, "It is evident police officers are harsher than usual to colored people. People started recording clips of black people being beaten, yelled at for the most easily solved things. Instead, they are jailed, prison, and even found dead (The Washington Post). For example, people are still asking for justice for Sandra Bland. Sandra Bland was arrested for a minor traffic violation on July 10th 2015. The policemen said after he arrested her, an escalating conflict followed it, he said that she had "molested him" and it was "caught on his dash cam." Just 3 days later she was found in her cell room, dead, it was declared that she hung herself. This case sparked controversy everywhere. Questions were asked by her family and by people on social media. The story didn't add up. There had been thousands of hashtags in her name, including #JusticeForSandraBland, at least 12 protests for her by the jail she was in, and many more critical responses. Her case is one of the many that makes me question if we, as a country have been living up to the statement that, "all men are created equal...with certain unalienable Rights...Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, " Many, many similar cases and protests have happened just in this year alone for the justices of black people involved in police cases. Another example is that Donald Trump supporters believe the country "needs to be better again, just like old times." (Donald Trump Supporter on Daily Show). Considering Trump wants to build a wall and take out all the illegal immigrants in the US, we're speaking of old times such as (which is vague but includes), slavery, segregation, white superiority, conflicts between races, etc, makes me wonder if this country is going forward or backwards because of the evident inequality apparent in gender roles, the discrimination towards other races, and the movements made for colored people. As a whole is our country equal? Does everybody in our nation have the same equality? No, I believe that our country, as a whole, have not been living up to what the Declaration of Independence has stated. SOURCES: Reynolds, B. (2015, August 24). Behind BLM. Retrieved October 27, 2016. Noah, T. (2016, August 18). Putting Donald Trump Supporters Through an Ideology Test ...Retrieved October 27, 2016. Graham, D. A. (2015, July 21). Sandra Bland. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
4 Comments
Michael Pollatos
10/31/2016 08:39:35 pm
Even though I don't agree with some of your views on some issues, you have a lot of evidence from the world today to support your argument. Trump 2016
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Marjorie Amaya
10/31/2016 11:06:03 pm
I totally agree on your arguments also you added lots of detail into them, you know what your talking about good job!!!!
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Erin Cassidy
11/1/2016 04:12:32 pm
I agree with the argument you are making and the examples you used are very good!! The details like quotes and stories are awesome and really good at backing up the argument! Great job :)
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Mr. Ray
11/5/2016 09:17:48 am
Darlene,
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