Declaration of Independence Essay Example

As stated in the Declaration of Independence, the United States was founded on the ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness almost 250 years ago. In spite of this, the country has centuries of history littered with hate including, though not limited to, slavery, the denial of voting rights, and segregation. Slavery was outlawed with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. The 15th and 19th Amendments, respectively, allowed black men and women to vote for the first time. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited segregation and the discrimination of people on the basis or race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. These laws were created with the intention of giving each group of people the same liberties as the rest. Despite all citizens having equal rights in the United States, the prominent problem of racial, gender, and religious discrimination continues to this day. 

The most prevalent form of discrimination is based on race or ethnicity. The paper “Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha or Jamaal?” discusses an experiment in which approximately 5000 resumes were sent to 1300 different employers, half of whom were given common White names (such as Emily), while the other half were given stereotypically African American names (such as Lakisha). The study offered shocking results, “White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. (...) For White names, a higher quality resume elicits 30 percent more callbacks whereas for African Americans, it elicits a far smaller increase” (Bertrand and Mullainathan 2). These statistics support the idea that employment discrimination is not a bygone of the past; it continues to be a factor in the world of today. Although the United States has made valiant efforts to end behavior such as this, people’s long-time habits and values persevere. 

The discrimination against people of color in the workforce does not end at the notable contrast between the amount of callbacks they get and those of their White counterparts. There is a significantly large gap between the wealth of families, determined by race or ethnicity. As stated in the article “Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances,” “White families have the highest level of both median and mean family wealth: $188,200 and $983,400, respectively. (...) Black families' median and mean wealth is less than 15 percent that of White families, at $24,100 and $142,500, respectively. Hispanic families' median and mean wealth is $36,100 and $165,500, respectively” (Bhutta et al.). This gap could be, in part, due to the fact that those who are White are more likely to receive a call back from an employer, likely increasing the amount with jobs. 

Hate against one’s race or ethnicity is one of the most inexcusable crimes as people have absolutely no control over it. The number one motivation behind hate crimes is race or ethnicity as stated in the “2020 Hate Crime Statistics” released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “62 [percent] of victims were targeted because of the offender’s bias towards race/ethnicity/ancestry” (“2020 Hate Crime Statistics”).  In a country in which one of the founding ideas is life, Americans should not fear that they will become victims of hate crimes or microaggressions based on the color of their skin. 

For hundreds of years in the United States, women have been seen as the inferior sex. Historically, they stayed at home, tended to the house chores, and supervised children; however, the modern world encourages women to operate alongside men in the workforce. This, nevertheless, has not developed in exactly the way women thought it would. Although the existence of a wage gap seems to be controversial, the reality is that there is an immense jump between what men are paid versus what women are paid. The National Partnership for Women and Families writes, “...Women in the United States are paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to an annual gender wage gap of $10,435” (“America’s Women and the Wage Gap”). The staggering difference between what men and women get paid for the same job is likely the result of women still being viewed as inferior. This gap desperately needs to be closed so women can finally earn the wages they have deserved since the beginning. 

Recently, there has been a movement to push women into fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This, however, does not come without faults. Research has been done by the  American Association of University Women stating, “Men in STEM annual salaries are nearly $15,000 higher per year than women ($85,000 compared to $60,828). And Latina and Black women in STEM earn around $33,000 less (at an average of around $52,000 a year)” (“The STEM Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics”). A salary gap of this size is enough to deter any women away from the field, even if it is what they truly love doing. Another factor that could discourage them from pursuing STEM careers is that there is an unequal amount of male-to-female hiring. Researchers Ernesto Reuben, Paola Sapienza, and Luigi Zingales studied the effects that employment discrimination would have against women, and they found, “...Without any information other than a candidate’s appearance (which makes sex clear), both male and female subjects are twice more likely to hire a man than a woman” (Reuben et al.). 

Although the freedom of religion has been protected under the 1st Amendment of the Constitution since 1791, faith-based discrimination remains to be most common forms of prejudice– especially for those who practice Islam or Judaism. In 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that around 15 percent of the year’s hate crimes were based on religion, making it the second-most common category (see Appendix). Of these 1244 reported cases, 683 of the victims were Jewish, while 110 were Muslim. If America is the land of the free, people should be allowed to exhibit their religious beliefs without having to fear that they will be bombarded with hateful speech or at risk for a physical attack. Americans need to start taking serious steps towards protecting a major part of our 1st Amendment rights. 

Following the September 11th attacks on the United States, Islam became a salient subject of animosity. Although twenty-one years have passed since the tragedy, Muslisms still face unfounded hardships, in particular, at airports. They find themselves too often subject to one of security’s “routine searches,” an idea which is supported in a news article by the New York Times, “Muslims are not the only religious group who might be subjected to extra screenings at airports because of what they wear” (Luongo). However, these random searches have not helped the general population’s view of Muslims- rather it reinforces the idea that they are untrustworthy people, and extra precaution needs to be taken. Some of this profiling can be attributed to a ignorance of what Islam is and stands for. The Pew Research Center conducted a survey in December 2016 regarding Americans’ opinions about Muslims that states, “41 [percent of the Americans polled] said [Muslims are] more likely to encourage violence” (“How the U.S. General Public Views Muslims and Islam”). As stated by the United Religions Initiative, the word “Islam” is defined as, “surrender, submission, commitment, and peace,” though the general population does not appear to have knowledge of this as they continue to believe that Muslims are trying to incite violence (“Islam: Basic Beliefs”). 

The United States still has a long way to go in societal development before it can live up to the founding ideas presented in the Declaration of Independence. Education is one of the most vital factors to improve the intolerable amount of hatred spread across the country. Citizens should learn about the religions or cultures they do not understand instead of rashly jumping to conclusions. Racial, gender, and religious discrimination are not uncommon occurrences in America today. Americans should strive to create a country in which people can embrace who they naturally are.