“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Did King’s dream come true? In the year 2012 I look around at the nine states that have passed a law that gives homosexual couples the right to marry. I look at the outcry and hate crimes that follow the election of the nation’s first black president. I look at the protests following the death of a black boy killed while walking home after being attacked because he looked “suspicious” and I look at the immigration laws passed that allow police officers to discriminate and harass people based on their ethnicity. Have we failed to provide a nation where we will first be judged based on our character? 149 years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation we still see discrimination against African Americans. Discrimination against religious views and sexual orientation as well as immigration status are becoming serious issues in America.

                This discrimination in all its forms is the biggest social problem facing America today. This mentality breeds a lack of compassion for people in general and justifies ideals and laws that do not uphold basic human rights. What kind of country are we living in when young people would rather kill themselves than come out as gay? This is exactly the kind of thing happening in America as exampled by David Scheff’s article for the NY Times entitled Something to Tell You. The article tells the story of a family who knew their son was gay and accepted it, yet the boy was so afraid of scrutiny in his school that he would rather have died than face the discrimination. This is the most pressing problem facing our society today and as we progress, I say we need to focus on the ideals that America was founded on. Allow people to live the lives they have chosen for themselves and uphold human rights over all else. Maybe then we can continue working toward the dream.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/books/review/oddly-normal-by-john-schwartz.html