Discrimination is Discrimination — Full Stop!

(No Matter Who You Are…)

Discrimination is discrimination — full stop! It doesn’t matter who you are, what color you are, where you came from, what you believe in, or who you love. Treating someone differently based on their color, origin, race, gender, age, history, or perceived religious beliefs is discrimination, and it is wrong — both morally and legally. Why this still has to be understood by many in our United States is odd, but still so very true.

One might think that more than two decades deep into the 21st century we would have learned to tolerate, accept, and maybe even love our neighbors. One would hope that almost 250 years after declaring our independence as a nation, we might appreciate the collective power of the people in our diverse nation and its multi-cultural communities. Sadly, there is still a good number of people in this great country who have not fully grasped the beauty of freedom and the joy it can bring to all who try to make it great. Even sadder, there are groups who profit from exploiting and undermining the work others are doing in their attempts to heal our nation’s wounds and provide that freedom to all who feel they may not yet possess it.

Black, White, Hispanic, Arab, Asian, Indigenous, or Otherwise, people in this people rich nation are equal in value to one another and our legal system needs to ensure they treated as such. Our great country has laws that guarantee the right to equal treatment. One of those laws is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — specifically Title VII. Now I am not here to educate the reader on U.S. law, but suffice it to say, laws exist that guarantee our right to be treated just as any other American living in the United States.

Now, whether or not these laws are being enforced (and I think many of us know they are not) is another story. Enforcing this laws and making those who discriminate pay a heavy price for doing so is necessary to bring equality of treatment to all. I am no psychologist to be sure, but what I can tell you is, if the reward for discriminating against someone is greater than the consequence for doing so, that behavior will continue. Until Federal, State, and Local authorities take the harmful nature of discrimination seriously, we will continue to be a nation at odds between those who want us all to be equal and those who do not.