History has shown that America’s sense of freedom has grown with every war, abolition, and movement. Because of what history has accomplished, women have the right to vote, the Jim Crow laws have been abolished, and gay marriage is legal. Some would argue that this is all America needs to be considered a free country. Freedom to say what you want to say, freedom to practice any religion, freedom to bear arms. But liberty is much more than that, and being the “land of the free” has limitations where there shouldn’t be.
If the year of 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that history is being made all of the time and the fight for freedom shows this. Women of all colors may have gained the right to vote, but the Women’s Rights Movement, intersectional feminists all around the world, and the nineteenth amendment alone shows that there is still work to be done. Women earn less than men when working the same job, they are seen as sexual objects and unfairly questioned when harassed, they are expected to get married and have kids, and the rights that they have over their own body is constantly at risk. Statistics show that there are more women in the United States than men. How can a country call itself the “land of the free” when over half of the population is oppressed?
The outburst of the George Floyd riots and protests have shown me that freedom is very limited towards Black, Indigenous, people of color. Police brutality is prevalent in all fifty states of America, people of color are constantly being undermined and seen as unintelligent and incapable, and as a population they make less money than White men. The very existence of racism threatens America’s freedom that we are so quick to celebrate.
Ever since Obama’s presidency, gay marriage has been legal. This obvious win does not grant immediate freedom to members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Transgender men and women have to constantly live in fear of their life, President Trump has explicitly confirmed that he does not support gay marriage which puts their very rights at risk, and he proposed to ban trans-women from homeless shelters and even advised different techniques to identify them. The very idea of having to “come out”, gender reveal parties, and women’s clothing versus men’s clothing affects the freedom of, not only the LGBTQIA+ community, but everyone.
Politically, America is a free country. Yes, we have the right to vote, say what we want to say, and practice any religion we choose. But socially, there is still work to be done. It’s not just a crumb, it’s everything. Because lacking only a little bit of freedom is still lacking all of it. History a hundred years ago has shown we’ve evolved. History today shows we still have evolving to accomplish.
*This article was initially written for my Composition class with a writing prompt asking to analyze how freedom has evolved throughout history.*
Yorumlar