All Men are Created Equal

黃婉欣

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed：“We hold these truths to be self-evident，that all men are created equal.”

This is an abstract from Martin Luther Kings famous speech I Have a Dream，which we all learnt in middle school.“All men are created equal”，he said，and he devoted his whole life to anti-racism.However，from my point of view，it is a dream that cannot be achieved easily.

Racism has existed throughout human history.Many scholars are applying themselves to the study in this field now，hoping to change the current situation and make a brighter future for the whole world.

The book Ethnic America，a History，written by Thomas Swowell，traces the history of nine American ethnic groups--the Irish，the Germans，the Jews，the Italians，the Chinese，the Japanese，the Blacks，the Puerto Ricans，and the Mexicans--in order to explain their varied experiences in adapting to American society.

The author has a good commend of words，which one can easily tell from the words he chose to use and his writing style.Americanism can be sensed between the lines.He also used a lot of data to make his point more clear and convincing and made a parallel comparison to highlight different culture.After reading，you will be amazed to find that，though Chinese immigrants are mostly criticized at present，discrimination happened to all the races，regardless of your skin color or where you come from.Also，it confused me that even coming from the same country，the earlier immigrants held an attitude of exclusion towards the latter ones.

In this book，the author also considers the ancient China as an extremely prosperous country，and，to find a reason to explain the collapse of China，he describes the Ming and Qing Dynasty as cruel and oppressive.However，anyone knows Chinese history intimately will say that though these two dynasties didnt take many measures to drive the development of the country，they didnt oppress it either.It is not sufficient to blame the collapse on these two dynasties.

Back to the topic，though so many people had made their contributes to make people understand all men are born equal，racism still remains as one of the most serious problems.Even in America，where education and economy are highly developed，exist racial discrimination.

The root of racism may be traced back to the time when Columbus discovered the New Continent.Thousands of blacks were transported to America to do hard works.Whats more，one can never forget the Holocaust started by Hitler，whose racial policies had culminated in the mass murder of at least eleven million people，including the deliberate genocide of about six million Jews，and the systematic killings of many other groups and nationalities.

There is no doubt that the oppressed will fight back one day，they will show to us all that they are not different with the so-called superior race at all.Improvements have been made all over the world.For instance，the history of the slavery in America was ended by the Civil War，in which more than 600，000 men lost their lives.Whats more，the success of Obama is a strong evidence to show the racial equality in American society.Nevertheless，there is still a large number of black American living in poverty，they still have to go through discrimination in their life.The progress has been slow and difficult.

Will racism die out in the future？

I believe so，though it may took a long time.Anti-racist movements such as African-American Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement are making efforts.Moreover，UNESCO marks March 21 as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination，in memory of the events that occurred on March 21，1960 in Sharpeville，South Africa，where police killed student demonstrators peacefully protesting against the apartheid regime.

Just as the author argued in the book，all the races have their own shortcomings.E.g.the Irish are irritable，the Italian are inactive，and the black are not far-sighted.All of these things dont make them different from each other in the root.People will gradually learn that there is no such thing like inferior race and superior race.We should not judge a person by his race and skin color，but by his ability，education，and his soul.

It doesnt require much from us.A little tolerance will be quite enough.

I believe all men are created equal.

Its not a fantasy，but a dream we can achieve one day.