America's struggle for Racial Equality and Justice!

Nothing embodies the greatness of the American society than the following sentence from its Declaration of Independence, written in 1776 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". The pursuit of this ideal within the American society, has been a long and often bloody path. The people who first got to America and constituted the first settlers within the United States, were the European Americans who fleeing religious persecution found protection and freedom in this now called the New World. The other people who were also the first arrivals to America were the Africans who as time went on were brought in by millions as slaves. As the native population of the New World was being eradicated and displaced, America as a nation was being born and taken shape by these new population.  They created a nation, one having all the privileges of citizenship and the other being second class citizens. For a couple of hundred years, the Africans in America were legally not considered as full human-being. As it has happened many times in this young nation, individuals and small organizations have risen to rally society towards fulfilling its promise to all its citizens, as declared in 1776. Both in the 1860s and a century later these efforts turned into massive societal and political movements. One was the American Civil War which brought US Northern States against Southern States over the issue of slavery. A war which eventually brought an end to slavery. In the 1960s another massive movement started that led to unrest. The unrest and protests brought about laws that protected the Civil Rights of  all citizens, regardless of their race and color.

Though one should not ignore the progress in racial equality, the high point of which was the 2008 election of the first American president of Africa descent, the fact is, the United States continues to struggle with this issue. What we all witnessed in Ferguson, Tulsa, Charlotte and  other police shootings in the US is a reminder that though the law protects all citizens, there are those Americans whose racists attitudes retards their true understanding of what the Declaration of Independence means when it says, "that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". That this declaration applies to all citizens. These Americans are politicians, policemen, judges, doctors, professors,  neighbors, teachers, work colleagues who are afraid of the "other" which in the case (and for most of the time) of Ferguson is the young African-American male. The question is how will individuals, agencies and organizations within United States government and non-governmental entities work to make sure that those who are suppose to uphold the law and provide protection to all citizens can look at that individual simply as another citizen and not assume the worst based on stereotyping.

Looking at the statistics for young African-American male, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" continues to elude them. Efforts must also be put in place to identify parts of the country that need help the most and come up with a concentrated effort with private-public partnership, civil-society organization, and all stakeholders to ensure America's promise is fulfilled for every member of its society. The fact that the world's biggest economy and a country blessed with unlimited resources can't come up with a viable solution to provide protection and develop opportunities for one segment of its population is inexcusable.