Racism and Equality

Ever since the death of Trayvon Martin, black people have been fighting for racial equality. But when a message promoting racial equality is slashed down for being “disruptive,” how can a community react? They could resort to violent protests, or in the case of a young Arizona teenager, they can unite and stand up for the rights of minorities—something our founding fathers never did. For the past couple years, the issue of racial equality has had a new light shed on it. From the Zimmerman case of 2012 to Colin Kaepernick sitting down during the National Anthem to show his distaste for the way blacks are treated, racial inequality is a bigger issue than ever. All of this came to a head when a student at Buckeye Union High School in Buckeye, when asked about her daughter’s decision, Roxanne stated, “She understands what BLM means. That’s why she wears the shirt, that’s why her father purchased it for her, she understands its positivity, black people should be treated just as fairly as any other race, and right now in the world, that’s not what’s going on.” While stories like this are becoming more and more common throughout the country, this one, in particular, helps to shed some light on two of the principal ideals that the United States of America was founded on, and known for: equality and freedom. The Black Lives Matter movement shares many ideas that the United States Declaration of Independence, one of the most well-known documents in American history, if not world history, contains. This famous document also contains one phrase that echoes throughout the country and outside world. “All men are created equal.” Sadly, by this point, it seems very clear that equality wasn’t the goal of Buckeye Union High School. Mariah’s “disruptive” shirt has three words printed on it, but those three words carried a lot more. Black Lives Matter states that they are “an ideological and political intervention” that strives to affirm the societal contributions that blacks are responsible for, at a time in which blacks are “systematically and intentionally targeted for demise (“Black”).” How can a shirt that spreads a message about stopping oppression, be oppressed itself? After around 350 years of institutional slavery and racism in America, and hundreds of more years of racism in world history, the movement for black equality is going to take time to truly be fixed. Buckeye Union School District superintendent Eric Godfrey has said, “This will … not happen overnight. It will take the support of all involved and from the communities we serve.” The Declaration of Independence states, “In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury (US 1776).” This phrase was written as the American colonists were upset and frustrated that they peaceful actions warranted such harsh