A few days ago, Roseanne Barr made a controversial statement on a radio talk show and, under pressure of PC watchdogs, quickly recanted and apologized. True, she could’ve been more eloquent, but she had a point. The statement or rather sentiment in question was: gay rights activists are self-centered.
I have to ask myself, how wrong is she? The fact is very few minorities, be it racial, gendered or otherwise, care about civil rights that don’t directly affect them. A lack of interest prevents many gay rights activists from participating in movements that don’t affect them. Adversely, rampant homophobia within the black and latino communities (I single them out because I am a member of both and hardest on the groups I belong to) prevent many of those activists from fighting for the rights of gay citizens. The real conundrum presents when you’re a member of two or more minority groups, because you have several causes that affect you and none of these causes work together.
A majority of gay people understand that, morally and religiously speaking, some people will never accept homosexuality. However, and I may be wrong, the law isn’t supposed to be about religious beliefs or moral views; it’s about equal rights for all citizens. If I choose someone to be my spouse and that person happens to be of the same sex, whether or not you morally agree is a moot point. I should have access to all the legal rights afforded to any married couple. I couldn’t care less if your church recognizes it, because we all have the right to our religious beliefs.
In that same fashion, if I am experiencing discrimination due to my race or religious beliefs, people should care. It doesn’t matter if you’re not the same race or if you’re not of the same religion. Dr. King said it best, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
I don’t have to be a woman to think that it’s wrong that millions of women everywhere do the same exact jobs as their male counterparts but receiving a fraction of the pay. Wrong is wrong, period. It’s just that simple. I think that we could affect a lot more social change if we united to fight for the equality of all rather than only caring about our particular agendas.
When I look at the civil rights era, I believe that unity was the prevailing reason that so much was accomplished. You had people fighting for racial equality, women’s rights and so on…simultaneously. Common sense dictates that there is power in numbers. However, it seems that people will only come out to support causes that directly affect them and that’s not right. Maybe I’m being unrealistic, but we should be able to empathize with groups we don’t belong to, so that they can have the same rights as ourselves. Divide and conquer is a very old, yet effective tactic. So, I challenge everyone to consider civil rights not in terms of your personal advancement, but to think about how it affects humanity as a whole.
About the writer:
Forest Brooks is a senior CCPA major. He can be reached at [email protected].
