We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are

endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of Happiness It can be assumed that this particular famous line from the Declaration
of Independence is well known. Its tattooed on skin, used in songs, and written in history books.
Yet throughout various exposures to the quote, how often is the meaning of the quote focused
on. When analyzed, the meaning of the quote does mean that the one truth is that every man is
created equal, that all equal men have the right of freedom, life, and pursuit of Happiness given
to them by God. Yet looking from a realistic perspective, can Americans prove that this particular
quote ties into the American ethos? No. According to this quote, as a nation - The United States
should be a promising Utopia. According to reality, as a nation- The United States has many
issues regarding social justice. Police Brutality is extremely high, discrimination against
sexuality can still be found in legislature, and minorities in need are barely, if at all, given media
exposure. So as a nation, America is not honoring this right, as of current situations, it only
seems to apply to straight caucasian men.
Police Brutality is an issue that is not openly spoken about very often. Many situations lead
to murder, and more specifically it targets people of color. According to
mappingpoliceviolence.org police killed 102 UNARMED black people in 2015. As seen in the
bar graph most victims of police brutality are black people. The injustice is that in most cases,
nothing is done about these murders, and the police officers face little to none consequences.
According to thinkprogress.org, the police officer who brutally murdered Eric Garner by placing
him in an illegal chokehold received a 14 percent increase in pay. Yet the man who filmed the
illegal action, is in jail. Victims like Tamir Rice, a 12 year old child, did absolutely nothing but
breathe in public. Then why is it that one of our nations most famous quotes, something that
ties into the American ethos of pride, is truly so hypocritical? How can we, follow a declaration
that preaches equality for all men, gives the right of life to every man, and at the same time
allows for thousands of murders to happen due to racial prejudice within the police force. When
movements such as #blacklivesmatter arise, we sit back, kick our feet up, and in turn tweet :
#alllivesmatter. When the Declaration of Independence was written, it was clear that this quote
applied to only rich white men. However, we have reached an era where it is now, or should be
common sense that all human beings are human - which was not the common thought in 1776.
Then why does this quote still apply to the same group of people in 2016 as it did in 1776.
The Huffington post wrote that as of April 2016, there were over 100 bills created in order to
challenge the LGBT community. Wanting to legalize hate and discrimination against queer
people, many legislators will do everything in their might to allow hardships for people who are
not straight. Virginias Senator Richard Black has worked at causing much more work for same
sex marriages as opposed to woman and man marriages. His unbelievable actions reached
national news as hes been noted for passing laws that make it legal to discriminate against
LGBT people in workplaces. Even though the Declaration of Independence promises Liberty,
the promise is not fulfilled as people are being discriminated against because of sexual
preferences. Even if we look at it from the perspective of the writers of the Declaration of
Independence, the quote was originally written to ensure that all rich caucasian men have
Liberty. There are rich caucasian men who are gay in the United States of America. This further

proves that people in the United States are not honoring this right, because they are not giving
others the freedom to have this right.
As Native Americans across America have no access to clean water, people are having
twitter arguments about celebrity scandals. Popular radio stations play the same pop song 10
times during one hour, TV channels worry about whos dating who, and most magazines write
about the hottest trends and who wore it better! Almost as if there is no problems to talk, write,
or read about. Watching the news channel every morning does have its benefits. Like knowing
what to wear because 50% of the news is weather news, or knowing what stupid thing a political
candidate has said in the past 24 hours. I watched the news channel every morning over the
summer, yet never once did I hear about the crisis Native Americans are facing with health
problems because of the lack of clean water. This is not a surprising occurrence though, as all
minorities throughout the United States lack media exposure. Issues that affect people of color
especially, are rarely talked about. It is a shame that the pursuit of happiness is such a
referenced phrase, yet many dont have clean water due to the fact that media sells what it
wants. Media exposure is so detrimental as it can help so much. Most people willing to help
learn about crisis from media. So, if many crisis faced go unreported, it is less likely people in
need will receive help.
If the United States hopes that quotes such as : We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are truly descriptive of
the United States, then the nation is one, big hypocrisy. Issues that affect people of color
particularly such as deaths due to police forces, no clean water are barely spoken about on
news channels. People can still not express their sexuality freely due to homophobic legislature.
The three issues of many that plague the United States are enough to know that Life, Liberty,
and the Pursuit of Happiness are not a reality.

Sources:
http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/
https://thinkprogress.org/the-police-officer-who-killed-eric-garner-just-got-a-huge-pay-bump9d854e6e9d65#.90t8ga5ly
http://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-pac-targets-virginias-most-homophobic-legislators-in-2015-election
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-16/some-native-americans-lack-access-to-safeclean-water