Human Rights Violations in the United States PART I

The United States has been hailed as a land of freedom, equality, and democracy, and for the most part, we as a nation enforce these ideals admirably. However, I can't help but feel troubled when I think about some of the restrictions upon the rights of fellow Americans. Therefore, I decided to post about a topic that isn't discussed a lot--HUMAN RIGHTs VIOLATIONS IN THE USA.

Let's start with the fact that integration of blacks and whites was not achieved in the US until the late 1960's. This is absolutely unacceptable. Voting restrictions and improper education/job opportunities for blacks made it almost impossible for African Americans to gain a quality education or have a voice in their own country, which is both absurd and infuriating. Even now, discrepancies between black and white are clear. Because equal access to education is a recent occurrence, the average African American household income is about $20,000 less than the average white household income. Furthermore, in the 1980's and 1990's the US Department of Agriculture discriminated against tens of thousands of qualified black farmers by denying them much-needed loans.

Since the historic election of African American president Barack Obama (a huge step against racism), racial relations have been getting rapidly better. Or have they? To me, many Americans allowed Obama's race to play a much bigger role in the presidential election than it should have. After all, I didn't hear anyone accuse John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin of not being an American citizen. The ugly truth is that, although racism has become politically incorrect, it is still very much present in American society, and it always will be. Presently, however, there are no pieces of law that actively discriminate based upon race, something that cannot be said for many nations. In that way, I feel that the United States is ensuring the human rights of African Americans.