As Much As I Want To Believe That America Has Always Been Great, History Might Not Fully Agree
Hey there guys!
So before we jump into this blog post I just want to share with you that this post can be political. I normally don't write political posts, because I don't like arguing politics with anyone. We all have our own beliefs on each party, and I have seen different views drive a wedge between people.
So now that you have read my little disclaimer, lets dive right into it.
As much good that has happened in America, can we really forget about all the bad?
That is a question that we should ask ourselves as we see all the red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats wandering around. Yes, our country is a powerhouse and has always been one of the few countries that everyone wants to live in.
As a woman, I’m proud to live in America because if I were living in another country, let’s say Yemen, I wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house without permission of my husband – or if I were to live in Saudi Arabia or Morocco and I became a victim of rape, I could be charged with the crime instead of the actual criminal. I can’t imagine living in any other country where I don’t have the same equal rights of man.
America, from the very beginning, has always been a country of immigrants from every part of the world. It started back in the Colonial Era where Europeans sailed over from England to settle into Jamestown, Virginia.
During this time, colonist were able to settle their agreements with the local Native American tribes regarding where they could live, but slowly we began to take more of their homelands from them. Then about a decade or two later we began to bring people over from Africa and making them into slaves, which thus started slavery in America.
After two hundred years of European American’s holding African Americans as slaves, the practice is outlawed by the likes of the Emancipation Proclamation Act of 1863, followed by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Our country, thanks to President Lincoln, finally did the right thing by making African Americans equal to everyone else. Unfortunately for every action there is a reaction, and with Lincoln ending slavery that costed him his life.
These generous, good acts that made America great – also made America a place of gloom. There appeared to be an invisible scale that constantly needed to be balanced, instead of allowing better opportunities to take place in this country than bad. Within the next one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation Act of 1863, American’s still seemed to find ways to put down African Americans – to make them appear to be less than equal than what they should be. The South, specifically, issued Jim Crow laws – which segregated all public facilities from African Americans. By law African Americans were still considered equals but the former confederate States, had issues accepting the equality of different races in this country.
As we fast forward through one hundred years, we come upon another man who strived to make great equal opportunities for this country, especially within his community and culture. In March of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., gave his I Have A Dream speech at Lincoln Memorial Center to bring attention to the Civil Rights Movement that had been taking place during the 50’s and 60’s. He was determined to point out the segregation that was happening in the South, and making it come to an end.
Within the following year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed – finally ending the segregation in the South. This was a major victor for the citizens of America, but unfortunately once again a life was taken because one single person didn’t like the change that was taking place in this country, and decided he was going to do something about it. The loss of another great man in America, because people didn’t appreciate the change that was taking place.
Looking back on our early history of this country, we were the people who stood up for what was right and fought against what was wrong. We fought in WW1 and WWII to make the world a better place for humanity. We stood by our morals that had been passed down to us through our culture and society. When laws were passed, they were passed for the right reasons. We created technology to help advance our society and studies, not to argue and name call each other on Twitter.
As a country we need to look back on our history and learn from the mistakes that were made by our ancestors, then proceed to do better than before. Our country used to be a welcoming country where we held out our arms in support of those looking for refuge and to make a better life for themselves – not to separate the mothers from their husbands and children. Not to lock up innocent lives in detention centers like we do now or back when we held the Japanese in concentration camps in California.
This country has had so many ups and downs that have shaken this society to its core. We went from being a humane society – caring about one another when times were hard, to now we enjoy kicking people when they are down. When I look at those red MAGA hats, I don’t think about how great our country used to be, I think about how we were a country built on the judgment of a person’s skin color. I do think that America can be better, but for that to happen, our society needs to be better. To look at history and all the mistakes we made and be better than our ancestors.
We have that power to make a change. We have that power to make this place better than the past.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and as always please feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks,
So before we jump into this blog post I just want to share with you that this post can be political. I normally don't write political posts, because I don't like arguing politics with anyone. We all have our own beliefs on each party, and I have seen different views drive a wedge between people.
So now that you have read my little disclaimer, lets dive right into it.
As much good that has happened in America, can we really forget about all the bad?
That is a question that we should ask ourselves as we see all the red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats wandering around. Yes, our country is a powerhouse and has always been one of the few countries that everyone wants to live in.
As a woman, I’m proud to live in America because if I were living in another country, let’s say Yemen, I wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house without permission of my husband – or if I were to live in Saudi Arabia or Morocco and I became a victim of rape, I could be charged with the crime instead of the actual criminal. I can’t imagine living in any other country where I don’t have the same equal rights of man.
America, from the very beginning, has always been a country of immigrants from every part of the world. It started back in the Colonial Era where Europeans sailed over from England to settle into Jamestown, Virginia.
During this time, colonist were able to settle their agreements with the local Native American tribes regarding where they could live, but slowly we began to take more of their homelands from them. Then about a decade or two later we began to bring people over from Africa and making them into slaves, which thus started slavery in America.
After two hundred years of European American’s holding African Americans as slaves, the practice is outlawed by the likes of the Emancipation Proclamation Act of 1863, followed by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Our country, thanks to President Lincoln, finally did the right thing by making African Americans equal to everyone else. Unfortunately for every action there is a reaction, and with Lincoln ending slavery that costed him his life.
These generous, good acts that made America great – also made America a place of gloom. There appeared to be an invisible scale that constantly needed to be balanced, instead of allowing better opportunities to take place in this country than bad. Within the next one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation Act of 1863, American’s still seemed to find ways to put down African Americans – to make them appear to be less than equal than what they should be. The South, specifically, issued Jim Crow laws – which segregated all public facilities from African Americans. By law African Americans were still considered equals but the former confederate States, had issues accepting the equality of different races in this country.
As we fast forward through one hundred years, we come upon another man who strived to make great equal opportunities for this country, especially within his community and culture. In March of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., gave his I Have A Dream speech at Lincoln Memorial Center to bring attention to the Civil Rights Movement that had been taking place during the 50’s and 60’s. He was determined to point out the segregation that was happening in the South, and making it come to an end.
Within the following year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed – finally ending the segregation in the South. This was a major victor for the citizens of America, but unfortunately once again a life was taken because one single person didn’t like the change that was taking place in this country, and decided he was going to do something about it. The loss of another great man in America, because people didn’t appreciate the change that was taking place.
Looking back on our early history of this country, we were the people who stood up for what was right and fought against what was wrong. We fought in WW1 and WWII to make the world a better place for humanity. We stood by our morals that had been passed down to us through our culture and society. When laws were passed, they were passed for the right reasons. We created technology to help advance our society and studies, not to argue and name call each other on Twitter.
As a country we need to look back on our history and learn from the mistakes that were made by our ancestors, then proceed to do better than before. Our country used to be a welcoming country where we held out our arms in support of those looking for refuge and to make a better life for themselves – not to separate the mothers from their husbands and children. Not to lock up innocent lives in detention centers like we do now or back when we held the Japanese in concentration camps in California.
This country has had so many ups and downs that have shaken this society to its core. We went from being a humane society – caring about one another when times were hard, to now we enjoy kicking people when they are down. When I look at those red MAGA hats, I don’t think about how great our country used to be, I think about how we were a country built on the judgment of a person’s skin color. I do think that America can be better, but for that to happen, our society needs to be better. To look at history and all the mistakes we made and be better than our ancestors.
We have that power to make a change. We have that power to make this place better than the past.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and as always please feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks,
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