9/18/16

“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.” As mentioned in the Declaration of independence, it
is the United States’ duty to protect and grant its citizens their rights. The citizens of the
United States are to be equal despite any characteristic they possess. The United States is to
provide its citizens the rights they were born with: their citizens are to have rights such as
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Within the democratic system that the United
States has set up for its citizens, the people of the United States are to live equally amongst
one another. Although the “land of the free” has indicated that it would deliver equality
and freedom, has it really? A world where the promises that the United States are actually
carried out to its citizens would be a world where racism doesn’t exist, freedom is actually
practiced, and protest against unjustified actions would be permitted as a society. The
Unites States hasn’t provided its citizens the Rights they deserve!
All lives matter, but do they really? In 2016 alone, the police has killed 136 Black
people. Now, many would agree that the police were just doing their job to protect the
citizens, but do they not know that according to statistics black boys, ages 15-19, are 21
times more likely to be to be shot and killed by the police than young white boys. Not only
are Black people more likely to be shot and killed, 39% of those killed by police were shot
even though they weren’t attacking. The United States has become a racist society even
seen within the government. Candidates running for president, such as Donald Trump,
have suggested a ban on muslims entering the United States. Minority groups, everyone
who isn’t white and rich, within the United States are constantly facing racial
discrimination. Muslims are being targeted at the airport as harmful people, cops are
killing people of color just because they’re colored, and a Presidential candidate is running
a campaign purely out of racism and hate is the county of the Unites States. In a country
where all are equal, racism doesn’t exist. As a society and country, the United States is
flawed when presenting its citizens their rights.
Freedom is being able to marry the ones you love, do as you want with your body,
and determining what happens to your body concerning your health. So if the United
States was free from the time of the Declaration of independance, wouldn’t have gay
marriage been allowed prior to 2015, wouldn’t the right to abort exist in all states, and
wouldn’t the right to inject marijuana for health issues be permitted? In 2015, the right to
marry the person you love, despite their gender, became legal. Not only is a person not able
to marry the one they love in the “free country”, they can’t control the experiences of their
bodies, such as being pregnant. The right to abort in the United States is flawed to the
extreme that there are so many laws creating obstacles in the way of aborting. An example
could be that 43 states prohibit abortions, and accept them when necessary to protect the
woman’s life or health. Many people would say that freedom isn’t aborting an unborn
precious child, and freedom isn’t wrongfully marrying someone with the opposite gender,
but those are religious values not factual evidence. The Declaration of independance is
made to give everyone freedom to their rights, not to follow religious values. We live in a
country where the right to take the medicine you need to survive doesn’t exist. Only 25
States have marijuana legal for medical reasons, resulting in citizen’s deaths in States
where the right to marijuana doesn’t exist. The rights of the citizens are not honored in the
United Sates like it should be, according to the Declaration of Independance.
Protesting unjustified acts is a Right, so why can’t the citizens do it without
disruption? Collin Kaepernick has recently been seen protesting police brutality used
against minority groups in the U.S. be kneeling down during the National Anthem. It has
been seen disrespectful in the eyes of many Americans because they believe the United
States has provided him enough rights in order for him to respect the country, but it
hasn’t. The United States is seen racially discriminating minority groups throughout its
days of being a country, and he has the right to sit down during the National Anthem. It is
even stated in the anthem that the black slaves are to remain slaves, how free? The right to
protest should exist despite how wrong the protesters are, unless they become violent. Also,
recently a pipeline was ordered to be built around the sacred Native American land and
those who were protesting it were attacked by dogs that the guard released on them. The
ones who were attacked by the dogs instructed by the guards of the United States were
women and children. How are the rights of United States’ citizens protected when our own
government hurts us when practicing our rights?
A world where the promises that the United States are actually carried out to its
citizens would be a world where racism doesn’t exist, freedom is actually practiced, and
protest against unjustified actions would be permitted as a society. The United States has
and seems like it would always be flawed when providing our rights. It had always never
really provided its citizens their rightful rights, from slavery to discriminating against
minority groups. In all honesty, the citizens live in a so called democracy but yet are ruled
by a racist and hateful government. People say slavery doesn’t exist but we are all slaves to
the government, we exist to command and obey the government despite our views. To
actually be free in the United States the citizens need to stand up to the government that
has created lies to blind them on what’s really happening. The citizens need to stand up for
their rights, or they would never really be free.

Resources:
● By House 96-51, by Senate 21-13. "25 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC -
Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept.
2016.
● @jbwtucker. "The Ultimate White Privilege Statistics & Data Post." JBW Tucker.
N.p., 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.
● "An Overview of Abortion Laws." Guttmacher Institute. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 Sept.
2016.
● Sports, USA TODAY. "Colin Kaepernick, Other NFL Players Continue National
Anthem Protests in Week 2." USA Today. Gannett, 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.
● @TFTPROJECT. "As Protests Spread Nationwide, Federal Court Halts Pipeline
Construction Near Sacred Native Land." The Free Thought Project. N.p., 2016.
Web. 18 Sept. 2016.