Essay on Freedom in the United States of America

Introduction

When the topic of freedom emerges in a conversation, there are many angles that the topic can be approached from, but it is important to establish a common ground where freedom can be agreed to be the unbounded expression of a person's speech, actions, and thoughts. There are different kinds of freedom, but the most related to is the freedom to do things. In as much as the term allows people to do anything they want, there are boundaries that cannot be crossed and it is at this point that the bone of contention is found. If the law can be modified to accommodate actions that were restricted before, then the affected people can be described as being freer. To this end, this paper seeks to compare the state of freedom of Americans in 1877 and 2012.

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To start us off, let us consider the slogan 'Don't ask, Don't tell' that was instigated by President Bill Clinton's administration in 1994. This came up as a result of the presence of gay people in the military and the discrimination they were subjected to. Same sex relationships were a new thing that had just come out of the closet, and some people were opposed to the idea. As a result, they sought to eliminate the practice, and those who were found to be gay were harassed by their colleagues while some cases that reached the administration would lead to dishonorable discharges. However, with the introduction of the 'Don't ask, Don't tell' policy, the gay people in the military were protected. This was a step towards freedom for the gay people. Their rights as of today had started to be respected and acknowledged.

When the policy was introduced, gay people were allowed to be themselves, but they were prohibited from revealing their status. The recruitment process was also restricted form asking questions that would force the candidates to reveal their sexual status. In other words, the gays and lesbians would be protected if their information came out but they would not be forced to states their status, and they were also obliged to keep the information to themselves unless under special circumstances. Concerning the policy, the fight for gay rights intensified over the years, and as of the 26th of June 2015, the Supreme Court approved marriages between same-sex couples. It is therefore justified to say that Americans are freer in the 21st century as compared to the 19th century.

The second point presents us with the Affirmative Action. These were programs that were used in the pursuit of social justice on several avenues. During the late 19th century, racial discrimination was at its peak. The whites had secluded and given themselves a sort of superior status over the other races. The most affected race that was openly and severely discriminated was the Black people. The whites would have their resources separated for their exclusive use. These included washrooms, work desks, and workstations at workplaces, bus terminals, schools and many other examples. In the movie Hidden Figure, Taraji P. Henson played the role of Katherine Johnson, an African-American woman who among others played a crucial role in winning the 'Space Race.' The exemplary performance of the African-Americans led to the first abolishment of segregated resources. This is just one of the examples of the affirmative actions that were taken in the pursuit of eliminating racial discrimination.

Affirmative action was a policy that was used to fight for the rights of ethnic minorities such as the Spanish-speaking Americans in Columbia. The policy was used to abolish racial discrimination in schools and other educational institutions. In the entire United States, there were schools for the white people, and there were those that were termed to be of the 'colored' people. However, affirmative action policies among other factors can take credit for the adversely reduced rate of racial discrimination in the United States thus more freedom in the 20th and 21st century.

Conclusion

Finally, Freedom riders are also responsible for the free state of Americans today. Just as the affirmative action policies were in pursuit of equality, the freedom riders exclusively fought for equality of races. As has been mentioned above, racial discrimination saw resources of the other races separated from those of the whites. Freedom riders were both white and African-American people who sought to eliminate the bias shown to the minority races. They would mostly board buses meant for 'whites' only' from one place to another in protest of the special nature that the whites perceived themselves. Many a time, these freedom riders would be arrested and be exposed to violence from white protestors who were against their demands.

The freedom riders were instrumental in exposing the unconstitutional segregation of resources and in 1946, the Supreme Court ruled that the segregated bus seating was unconstitutional. It is noted that the first group of the freedom riders comprised of seven African Americans and six whites. What is remarkable is that there are whites who saw the impunity of the discrimination and fought for people who were not of their kind. They went out of their way and against some of their people to show how much the unruly racial discrimination was. In as much as these freedom riders fought for the rights of all races, they were at constant risk which manifested itself in 1961 when a group of whites was waiting for the Greyhound Bus and a second bus going to Anniston Alabama and Birmingham respectively, were attacked and brutally beaten. This was a major setback. Nevertheless, John F. Kennedy's brother Robert, the then Attorney General arranged for the security of the drivers and the freedom riders continued with their efforts. Today, there are no segregated resources, and there is more equality and therefore, more freedom.