Has our government learned from its past?

Civil rights has always been a hot topic in the United States in the past hundred years. There is a constant discussion if a person based on their specific characteristics, race, and/or religion should have certain rights. The constitution nor bill of rights has a statement of equality in them. Government continues to try and assert their dominance over the american people when they do not coincide with their past ideals. Over the past 100 years, our government has granted civil rights to women, African Americans, and LGBTQ citizens. The most recent was LGBTQ which just occurred in the past few years after many years of battle. In the debate today civil rights for people in the Muslim religion and people of Hispanic descent are in the hot seat. There is a divide in America whether or not these people should have full rights as the other citizens. Current discussion are building walls to stop Hispanics and banning Muslims from other countries from being able to travel to the USA. The government shouldn’t be the one who separates the people based on laws they create but we have seen in the past that it is their rule that creates this divide. It is shown in Plessy vs Ferguson which was one of the first supreme court hearing form African American rights. Today, we see it in cases such as Trump debating the ban on Muslims to travel and migrate to the United States and the crack down on illegal Hispanic immigrants. There is a divide in Americans from the government considering these ideas. According to a poll by Politico, 57% of Americans are in support of Trump’s Travel ban. This is evidence that the government has not learned from its past of discriminating a group of people based on their religion and this spills over to the American people. Part of the reason people originally migrated to America was for religious freedom, but now the government wants to ban certain people from traveling to America based on their religion.

The debate that our government hasn’t learned from its past continues into the laws pending to discriminate against the Hispanic race. According to PEW research, Americans state that Hispanics are one of the most discriminated groups of people in America today only behind African Americans. The current trend today is that all illegal immigrants are Mexicans. Its creates a predisposition in Americans that just because someone is of his panic descent they must be illegal. With this said, there are pending laws that are set to create a bigger barrier to Hispanics being treated equally. Illegal Immigration is a topic discussed through court cases, Trump’s plan to build the wall, and the increased numbers and presence of the ICE unit. This created a mass public opinion of the american people that all Hispanic people are assumed to be illegal. However, according to PEW, people from Mexico may not be the single largest group of illegal immigrants. America went through the discrimination of immigrants with the Irish and German immigrants in the 19th century, yet we are still trying to create laws to make them seem separate from other Americans and create predispositions that because they come from Hispanic descent they must be part of this group that is deemed “bad” by government. Most Americans are not in favor of building the wall, yet government is still moving forward with the construction.

America has struggled with the constant discrimination against a group of people because they are not like the “true american”. Government has continued to create this separation by passing laws and bans that single out specific groups and individuals based on religion, characteristics, and beliefs. Today, millennials are concerned with civil rights and creating more equality. This is seen in their political motives and outspoken posts. The government has not learned from its actions in the past and continue to make the separation of groups in america. Laws like affirmative action have essentially gone against what it is supposed to do because it still singles out a specific group based on their religion or race. By passing a law to not be more discriminatory, you are still being discriminatory. One realization the government should see is that they are creating laws that create more separation and discrimination and contradict their actual intents. They need to learn from their past when moving forward in the future.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/05/trump-travel-ban-poll-voters-240215

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/24/most-americans-continue-to-oppose-u-s-border-wall-doubt-mexico-would-pay-for-it/

4 Responses to "Has our government learned from its past?"

Kendall Crispin says:

November 30, 2017 at 11:01 am

It is crazy to me that we allow some immigrants full rights, and not others, just because of their skin tone. I think everyone deserves to be apart of this country if they are contributing to the success of it. The Guardian shares that Donald Trump has very different opinions than I do on this. He accused all Muslims as harboring terrorists. I think this encompasses why our government isn’t doing enough to give everyone equal rights. I just think that if the government were more aware they would see that everyone deserves the chance of success. In addition, if people are more educated they are less likely to turn to extremism or do things that hurt the country. It is actually the contrary, because the more educated you are the more likely someone is to better society and truly help America reach its full potential.

The fact that Trump is building a wall, although most Americans don’t want it, is a prime example of a failure of our democracy. We are supposed to be represented and the government should be following our wishes, not blatantly ignoring them. Unfortunately, it is going to take a lot for everyone to be exactly equal. Our world is one with constant discrimination whether it is intentional or not, and we continue to judge and make decisions off of race, and we can’t stop that. This is seen in White Privilege. The “True American” should be defined as anyone who supports our economy, believes in our values, works for our schools, finances, laws, or medical centers. Not anything based on race, religion, or ethnic group, and I hope someday our country will see that.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/08/donald-trump-america-muslim-citizens
Alyssa Holt says:

December 2, 2017 at 4:02 pm

I definitely agree that the divided, discriminatory social culture in the U.S. is fueled by the political climate. With Donald Trump now feeding a fear of foreigners while strengthening the meaning of the American Identity. His comments made surrounding the NFL national anthem protests were designed to frame the protests as an attack on national identity and pull support towards his opinion. He did not simply oppose the protests that originated to draw attention to police brutality and racial injustice, instead he even further divided the country. Those that were protesting were labeled un-american and the meaning of the protests was twisted. There’s a similar strategy taken towards immigrants. By portraying them as a danger to americans, they are discriminated against even more and society splits further apart.
Christopher Barry says:

December 2, 2017 at 6:02 pm

You raise an excellent point in regards to the state of civil rights for Americans of various groups and communities. It appears that America has not learned from its past. Despite making strides and achieving successes for a variety of groups, Americans continue to discriminate and limit people and their voices in the form of limiting their civil rights. As a whole, this would mean that the United States is not following through on its democratic ideals and principles that were defined during the American Revolution and continue to be redefined and confirmed as progress is slowly made. We do not understand that progress and granting civil rights to one group should mean it goes to everyone.
However, I would argue that this is actually part of America’s general trend of moving very slowly towards progress and change in every aspect of political culture, including civil rights. America has a long history of finding a group to target and then marginalizing them generally through violating and obstructing their civil rights. Eventually, through political activism within and outside of the “system,” civil rights are granted and the group is considered American, specifically within the political sphere. This happened with African Americans and women and is currently happening with the LGBTQ community and Latinos. The foundation of the United States, both historical and in the foundational documents of the United States, assists in this process. Change through both laws and amendments are intentionally long, difficult processes and require a significant majority of the United States to have the same consensus. Vocal protests, usually outside the “system,” are ways to accelerate the process for progress and change by pushing and changing minds and voicing a population’s opinion. However, the acceleration is not by a dramatic size. Our government is learning from its past and adapting to the changing public opinion and views on civil rights; however, the learning is slow and intentionally by our Founders takes times in ensuring that it is what the American people want.
Margaret Castelli says:

December 3, 2017 at 4:25 pm

I think your investigation of this topic is great and very interesting. The changing rhetoric surrounding the Latinx community and Muslims is absolutely frightening in my opinion. The past opinions and treatments of racial and gender minorities clearly have caused no change in the current and potential treatment of those seen as ‘lesser’ in the eyes of the U.S. government and American citizens in general. The Washington Post article, “Why are people still racist? What science says about America’s race problem,” explains this idea that Americans still don’t treat minorities well. A quote from the article states, “People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them,” personifying the idea that Americans are still learning intolerance in relation to minorities in our country, whether it be African Americans, Mulsims, Latinx or others.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/08/14/why-are-people-still-racist-what-science-says-about-americas-race-problem/?utm_term=.48cd9a55c3fd

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