In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today’s post is going to be about civil rights and the continued fight for them in America. Obviously, America has a very complicated history when it comes to civil rights. African Americans specifically have had to fight tooth and nail for their rights due to slavery being a part of America from the very beginning. Although slavery was abolished nearly two centuries ago its influence continues to poison American culture. Over the past few centuries civil rights activists have fought to end the slave trade, end segregation, and to give all citizens equal civil rights. With each of these movements there was a clear target, but the modern-day fight for civil rights is a lot more abstract in nature. Some detractors of modern-day civil rights activists say that they have essentially already won by ending segregation and gaining civil rights. In my opinion, people who believe that civil rights activists have already won simply don’t understand the nature of the civil rights movement. 

The fight for civil rights won’t end as long as even one person is denied equal opportunities because of their race. Yes, it’s true that legally everybody has civil rights in America today, but these rights continue to be circumvented or ignored by corrupt institutions still influenced by racist attitudes. And so, the current fight for civil rights is a fight to reform a racist culture, and to defend the achievements of previous civil rights activists. Changing a country’s culture is an extreme undertaking, but civil rights activists have done what many believed to be impossible through their sheer persistence and conviction, and I believe the next stage of civil rights activism will be no different. As always, have a great holiday and keep yourself warm!