America the Racist Tyrant

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America the Racist Tyrant

In "The Declaration of Independence," Thomas Jefferson shows the King of Great Britain acting as a tyrant to the colonies, and Jefferson declared America to be free from Britain. In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. writes to a clergyman logically analyzing criticisms while communicating to the public his arguments. Jefferson fought for freedom and right for America. King also fought for better civil rights for his black people. They both fought for their people, King however fought peacefully with white people, who in return were cruel. This comparing Jefferson's and King's fought for freedom, different skin color demonstrates racism causing unfairness to this day still exists because the fight for justice and rights still exist which calls for a social contract.
Every single human being has a right to life, civil rights, and freedom. This is a right that Americans base their government on. Jefferson states that "all men are created equal" and man should naturally stand for every single person, no matter what color or sex they are. (53) Equality in all men however is untrue. Different race, religion or gender often causes conflicts between people. Conflicts results in discrimination against groups. This can be shown through King's fight for black's civil rights. Americans already have freedom and rights, however, the black people are still being looked down. For King and his people, they were treated without respect. The black people "have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights."(217) The black people have waited silently while everyone else received their God-given rights. They are rights that everyone should possess; however, the black Americans did not because of their color.
People are often judged according to the color of their skin. This judging of another person is often negative and is known as racism. America is known as the melting pot with all kinds of race living there. It is clear that no matter how big a melting pot, it can not contain all race mixed together. As a black man, King witnessed and experienced racism during the segregation period. People were "haunted by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro" shows that black people were being discriminated.(218) This judging and disrespe...

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...or poor, strong or weak in rights to have freedom and justice. Just as Jefferson "has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Government" (54). The colonies have also found equality between them and Britain by becoming an independent government. As King puts it "oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever" (222) people are forever fighting and yearning for freedom from justice.
In conclusion, Jefferson demonstrates that by declaring independence, thirteen colonies have given themselves their rightful freedom. However, these freedoms were given mainly to the white. The black, like King, fights nonviolently hard to change the society and government slowly to receive the same justice and freedoms as the whites. When comparing the people in Jefferson's time and the people in King's time, it is surprising to see that they are both fighting for similar rights on the same grounds, yet King is fighting for it later when America already have the rights. This concludes that racism indeed plays an important role in our past and present as we try to be free from other judges.

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