Nobody Has Ever Said “This Group is Not Equal” and Been Right
Want to wind up on the wrong side of history? Declare that a group of people are not your equals.
We all agree that slavery was bad, right? We all agree that white people are not better than any other race or ethnicity, right? Everyone is equally deserving of human rights, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, LGBTQIA+ status, or any other identifying factor, right?
It boggles me that anyone these days can declare that some broad group of people — black folks, LGBTQIA+ folx, women, any kind of religious minority, whatever — are not equal and not deserving of equal rights. Have these people never studied any kind of history?
Never in the history of the world has someone declared a group of people as less deserving of human rights and wound up on the right side of history. Never. Whether it was the slave trade, the Chinese Exclusion Act, or pretty much anything done to anyone of Jewish descent in most of history, the perpetrators have never, never been on the right side of things at the end.
Americans have spent the past several hundred years systematically removing rights from anyone who isn’t a straight white male, and when any progress is made, somebody tries to disenfranchise them anyway. A whole political party here has shifted to white supremacy as its base, and the notion that tens of millions of people support the removal of rights from entire broad groups of people is sickening to me.
We look back at slavery and understand that it was wrong, but for whatever reason, the systemic racism that still permeates our country is considered acceptable by many. Nazis and Proud Boys and other fascist groups are out and proud, and a lot of people don’t seem to mind. They are calling for a return to a time when non-white people were considered lesser, and this is considered acceptable discourse to some.
Laws are being written and maps are being drawn specifically to disenfranchise non-white people. More laws are being written to target anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community, either forcing them out into the open when that is dangerous for them or otherwise criminalizing their mere existence.
They are all wrong, and history will look poorly on them and anyone who encouraged, supported, or tolerated these acts. All humans are equal and deserving of rights, and I cannot fathom why some people have decided that this is not true. The notion that someone is less equal and less deserving of rights because of something endemic to them as an individual is monstrous to me.
“All humans are deserving of rights, but trans kids…” no.
“All humans are deserving of rights, but we have to restrict voting because…” no.
“All humans are deserving of rights, but we can’t let Muslims…” no.
All humans are deserving of equal rights. Period. There is no “but” to be had there. Adding a qualifier to that sentence is a good way to get your name on the wrong side of the history books.
I will say it again, louder for those in the back: never, in the history of the world, has anyone ever said that a broad group of people is not deserving of equal rights and wound up on the right side of history. Never. Period. End of statement.
You are well within your rights to disagree with me. However, I hope you know, somewhere in the back of your brain, that you are wrong. And, if you are somehow absolutely certain you are right, I hope that whatever god you pray to has mercy on your soul, because the history books won’t.
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