Although equal rights have been a contentious issue that has been deliberated on for many years, a lasting solution is yet to be found. Equal rights were formed and implemented with the intention of guaranteeing that everyone in society, regardless of their age, race, religion, and gender had equal opportunities. The US government, the courts, and other relevant bodies have put in place laws and measures intended to ensure that all America citizens receive equal rights. However, despite these efforts, equal rights in America are yet to be a common element experienced by all.
This paper examines whether American citizens have the privilege to equal rights, whether the amendments and court cases in place warranty the later and how equal rights compare to equal opportunity in a capitalist democracy using findings from facts and reviewed case laws. The discoveries are of great significance to human right activists, legal departments and other organizations fighting for equality.
Keywords: Equal rights, amendments, American citizens.
Equal Rights History
Americans have the privilege to equal rights although not all American citizens experience this freedom. The phrase ‘equal rights’ refers to the state of treating and granting all people the same respect and opportunities despite their gender, age, religion, and race. Equal rights are vital in society because it promotes peaceful cohesion and coexistence among the people, deters hostility, promotes economic development and upholds the rule of law. The better part of the United States population has the dispensation to equal rights except for some groups. Today in the United States, women, African-American, and people in the LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender) community are still in the struggle fighting to receive equal chances in politics, employment positions, equal pay in workplaces, property inheritance and other like matters. In spite of the vigorous promotion of equal rights in the United States, not all American citizens have the privilege of equal rights.
The United States Census Bureau’s 2017 statistics, indicated that on average, a woman makes 80 cents for every dollar that a man earns working on the same job for the same amount of hours (Women’s Bureau, 2017). Women across the country are making less as opposed to their male counterparts and sadly, this wage gap is not based on the quality of work or efficiency but gender. The wage inequality is in breach of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 which states that no employer in any institution is allowed to discriminate based on gender by paying higher rates to one party as opposed to the other for a task that requires a similar set of skills, effort, and responsibility (EEOC, n.d.). Gender discrimination against women deters them from savoring the benefits of equal rights because they work long hours and produce efficient results but get poorly paid for their services. Male chauvinism should be discouraged, and those people who practice it should be cautioned against it because it painfully hurts society.
Like women, African-American citizens do not get equal opportunities and rights as they ought to; ranging from illegal traffic stops and unwarranted car searches to profiling and limited access to job opportunities, schools, and social clubs admissions. It is surprising that in this modernized age, people of color are discriminated against by stereotypes with disapproving views and opinions regarding them. Allegations have surfaced against the state, federal and local authorities on several instances due to discriminatory profiling against the black community. Joscha Legewie explains that a great deal of the discriminatory profiling is instigated by the conflict between different groups of people from different races where the stereotypes usually make a biased distress call to the police who in turn react with a discriminatory response (2016). It is of the essence not to judge people based on their skin color as it does not define them; everyone deserves equal respect.
The LGBT community is another deprived group of people who face prejudice for their sexuality. Psychologists and scholars argue that the main reason this group of people gets denied of their rights like freedom of expression is that they are considered unconventional. They do not conform to the norms of society, and hence, they are viewed and treated differently. 42% of LGBT adults’ face workplace discrimination and 46% have attempted suicide (Haas, Rodgers & Herman, 2014). These numbers are a cause for alarm because they reveal the true nature of the extent to which the LGBT community is denied their equal rights because of their sexuality.
These unfortunate situations indicate that despite the promise of equal rights to everyone, not all citizens experience this freedom — many people including Native Americans face racial discrimination daily from all spheres of society. A considerable investment of time, effort and financial resources has been directed towards creating awareness among the population, but we still have a long way to go before we can confidently declare that all Americans have the privilege to equal rights.
Worth noting nonetheless, the amendments and court cases in place, to some extent pledge equal rights to the American people. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the United States’ constitution uphold the right to equity of all citizens despite their origin and race. These amendments protect Africans born in the United States, Asians, Hispanic and other groups from racial discrimination and uphold their right to vote, access decent education and other facilities. The constitution also guarantees the American people equal rights by providing them with protection from harsh governments’ and oppressive local governments using the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments. These constitution improvements seek to protect Americans whose origin is not the United States from discrimination and nurture a culture of acceptance and love among the people.
The 4th amendment, in particular, issues equal rights among ordinary citizens and law enforcement officials. This amendment states that citizens reserve the right to feel safe in their property, cars, houses or any other personal effect. The state is prohibited from carrying out unjustified searches or confiscations without following the due process of the law and without a proper course of action (Brady, 2016). This amendment assures citizens that the government and other agencies cannot take advantage of their position of power and abuse it by illegally impounding their property. This privilege accessible and available to any American citizen fosters the rule of law and a peaceful relationship between authority agents and the public.
On the 17th of May 1954, the United States’ Supreme Court made a ruling that forever changed the course of equal rights in the country. Before this case, a previous decision stated that school segregation was not depriving if all the schools had similar facilities. This ruling had two significant consequences; firstly, the nation became visibly divided into the lines of race; white children attended schools with white students only similar to black children. Secondly, old cases that were solved in favor of desegregation got reopened for review. However, in May 1954, the Supreme Court ruled against this decision in the Brown v. Education Board of Topeka stating the reason that despite having similar facilities in the different schools, the act of segregation itself was racial discrimination in the first place (Klarman, 2007). This case law restored peoples’ trust in the judicial system to protect and ensure equality among people from different races, and that no ethnic group is more special than the other.
The fundamental objective of a capitalist economy is to maximize profits and reduce costs. In a capitalist democracy like the United States’, it is every man for himself where you get what you produce depending on opportunities available to you and your level of education. Therefore, an individual from a disadvantaged race, gender, religion or age is less likely to produce much. Equal rights compare to equal opportunity in this setting in the sense that, the vulnerable (mostly women and people from minority groups) need some protection from the law to be able to compete for jobs and other opportunities favorably.
James Don explains that owing to the changes rapidly occurring in society, the definition of economic equality in a capitalist economy has changed. From open market competition and protection of individual rights, economic equality is now defined as distributive justice, where the state attempts to control individuals’ income and the distribution of resources in the free market (2014). The redefined meaning of economic equality best describes how equal rights compare to equal opportunity in a democracy like the United States. The vulnerable need equal opportunities similar to others to be able to compete on a level field favorably. In the case where the weak are left unprotected, the haves will continue to accumulate more wealth while on the other hand, the disadvantaged will continue to languish in poverty.
In conclusion, the United States guarantees all of its citizens’ equal rights regardless of their age, gender, religion, and race. However, this desired situation is not always the case because, in spite of the vigorous promotion of equal rights in the United States, not all American citizens have the privilege of equal opportunities. Women, African-Americans, LGBT community and other minority groups in particular have and continue to face prejudice in politics, property inheritance, workplaces, health care systems and more. Constitutional amendments and court cases in place play a vital role in guaranteeing all the American people equality by prohibiting employers, local authorities and even the state from engaging in activities that undermine peoples’ freedom and fundamental rights.