The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and it consists of the

rights of the people. Many rights were written in the document and they were supposed to be
protected by the government. The one thing that caught my attention was 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(Declaration of Independence, 8-10). The main reason why this one line in particular
caught my attention was because this line means that all people were born with these rights,
therefore, they cant be taken away from us. Thinking about this line makes me question how
we are doing as a nation following these rights. To be honest, as a nation we have evolved on
making these rights true to oneself but there is still much more to be done in order to make it
100% true.
One way that we evolved as a nation is that now gay marriage is legal. On June 26,
2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is a right protected by the US
Constitution in all 50 states(ProCon.org) This is a way that our country has evolved in honoring
the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness because before people couldnt marry
someone of the same gender which went against two of the most important rights because they
werent free to do so and they couldnt try to be happy with whom they loved. Now, they backed
off a little and accepted gay marriage, which is a big step to honoring OUR rights. Making gay
marriage was the first movement to equality. People around the entire world were very glad for
themselves, family members, friends, and everybody that deserves to be happy. These are
some examples of what many people had to say regarding gay marriage. "Today means that
younger people don't have to spend their lives fighting this fight," Walker said. "A lot of people
gave their lives -- their blood, sweat and tears to make this happen. Also, "There is so much
hate in the world right now," McDonald said. "I'm glad they chose love over hate this time."
Also,Putting the U.S. colors on has so much meaning today," she said. "It's a great day to be
an American and to have equality. ... To wake up and see all these text messages on my phone
and to be told that you are recognized wherever you go in the United States, that's incredible. It
really is." (CNNPolitics) It was indeed a great day to be an American.
Even though gay marriage was a step closer to equality, there is still one big problem
that has continued for years and many people try to ignore but it will always be there, Racism.
One step that was taken 152 years ago was when slavery officially ended, but African
Americans are still treated like less, not so much of only African Americans but also colored
people. A great example of the racism is Van Dyke, who is white, entered the plea in court
a month after the charges against him were announced in the killing of McDonald, who was
black. The officer shot McDonald 16 times shortly after arriving at the scene on a street where
other police officers had been following McDonald "as he walked the streets carrying a knife and
refusing to follow orders.(Chappel npr.org). Laquan was shot 16 times for carrying a 3 inch
knife. Van did not plead guilty. Slavery ended but the discrimination and abuse to them is still
going on today. Where is the justice in this? The police are supposed to protect us from crisis
like these, instead they cause most of them. Not only do we have to evolve more on this topic
as a nation but we also have to be more careful with whom we want to be our next president.
Donald Trump wants to built a wall to stop immigrants from coming to America. He wants to
make America Great Again. He targets many Mexican,Black, and Muslim people, and then he
states that he is not racist. In May, Trump implied that Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge

presiding over a class action against the for-profit Trump University, could not fairly hear the
case because of his Mexican heritage.Also, I think the guy is lazy, Trump said of a black
employee, according to ODonnell. And its probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in
blacks. It really is, I believe that. Its not anything they can control. and Finally he was asked by
Khizr Khan if he ever even read the constitution and since trump believed that Khizrs wife was
forbidden from speaking due to the couples Islamic faith, he said You tell me.
(Huffingtonpost.com) Trump has many supporters and I dont understand why. He is racist to
everybody except his own people. Reminds me of America The Beautiful. We discussed that
the poem was about america being white and only white. Racism is continuously going on and
the people can try to ignore it all they want but we need justice for ALL people in America.
Finally, Another way that we need more improvement is the one and only word life. We
have the right to live and one main reason why that word is in our unalienable rights is so that
we dont get killed. The government is supposed to protect these rights, but what if the
government is the one person that sends you to get killed. The death penalty is exactly that, you
get killed as punishment for a crime committed. Yes, it is the right thing to do when the crime is
just unexplainable, like that person is pure evil and should die, for the crime committed. . Before,
death penalties were very minimal and it was mainly for serial killers but now its just out of
control.This man was sentenced to die in prison for shoplifting a $159 jacket(Pilkington
alternet.org). This is too over dramatic and its taking away their right to live. It was a mistake,
the government worries too much about the crimes that dont matter. This is where our nation
has gone wrong and yet nobody tries to address this problem.
In conclusion, the nation has gone both ways. They evolve in certain ways but there is
still more work to be done. None of our rights are actually honored. They are fixed in some ways
but they are still sort of wrong. Our rights arent really our rights. They are controlled and
manipulated by the government who is supposed to protect them. Overall, as a nation, we have
done well in some ways but there is still a long way to go to make this right. There is still a lot
more to address and make right, until then our unalienable rights are not honored.