Segregation by any other name is still segregation

Segregation- (noun) the action of setting someone or something apart from other people or things being set apart

            When people in the United States hear the word segregation, most think of the Jim Crow laws enacted in the south after the Civil war, and were followed until the 1960’s. People try to say the attacks on the LGBT community are not the same. Go back and look at the definition of segregation. When you divide people, any kind of people by race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender or religion, you are segregating them. You are telling them they are less than, they are not equal in your eyes, so they do not deserve even the same basic rights you have.

            You would think people would look back at the history of human kind and see example after example of what segregating people does, and how each group of people have fought and continue to fight for the rights all humans deserve. The persecution of the Christians by the Romans, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, the treatment of immigrants who came into the United States from Europe, the treatment of black people in the south. I can already hear the reactions I may get from these comparisons- how dare I compare what the Jews went through in WWII to this? Or public lynching of blacks, for that matter?

            I make these comparisons because each example of injustice I provided didn’t start out being so bloody, so terrible. They started with laws. Laws passed to limit the rights of certain groups of people, fueled by fear and ignorance. Each example I gave gained momentum, to finally become the horrid examples of injustice we read about in history books. I am not saying we here in America may ever get to that point again, but we of all places should be an example of tolerance and love, acceptance and decency. We want to be the leaders of the free world? Then we had damn better act like it.

            Take a look at Russia, and Uganda. Have you seen the laws they are passing against the Gay community? It’s frightening. We point fingers and criticize them for what they are doing. How are we any better if we allow bills like 1062 pass into law? We don’t have a leg to stand on in this argument. “Separate but equal” is not equal. Haven’t we already proven that?

We all have equal rights under the laws of the land we love, (if you need clarification on this point feel free to read the 14^th amendment to our constitution). This is a proud country, lucky enough to be a “melting pot” filled with all kinds of people. Fight hard against your fear of the unknown, of your fear of those who are different from you. Try to be open.

            This argument makes me think of the film, A Time to Kill. There is a monologue at the end given by one of the principle actors. He paints a picture of a hate crime committed against a young black girl at the beginning of the film. It’s graphic and unsettling. At the very end he says, “now imagine she’s white.” Take a minute and put yourself in the shoes of the people who are being segregated. Imagine how it must feel, to be separated from others for things outside of your control. Let’s be serious, if this were about religion, let’s say Christians for example, we wouldn’t even be having this argument.

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.”

-       Pastor Martin Niemoller