”and each of us can practice rights on ourselves, treating each other without discrimination, respecting each other dignity and rights ”
–Carol Bellamy
In the twentieth century, skin color and gender discrimination was the norm. People were deprived of their fundamental human rights due to their skin color and the sex they belong to.
Due to the inestimable sacrifice of great individuals like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Langston Hughes and other great black icons. The black race began to be at least be recognized in so many facets of life, for example, having a black man once as Secretary of the UN, and a black man is at present, the president of the most powerful economy in the world. The sacrifices of these legendary men, who fought the good fight of freedom was certainly not in vain, as the black race now have a voice in the international community and are no longer ashamed of their skin pigment.
Modern day, twenty first century, I picked up a newspaper last week Monday, and I read a so called pastor’s comment which he said ” Catholics will go to hell, because they worship the devil, and the Mary they call mother of God is queen of Babylon, I flipped the next page and read about a man who stabbed his neighbor because he was gay. An ancient type of discrimination and subjugation still thrives in our modern world as people are still persecuted for their political opinions, how they worship, and whom they choose to love.
Daily, we go against the true values of humanity; not living together in spite our religious, political, and sexual differences, not accepting that the beauty of the rainbow is in its mix of colors as the beauty of humanity is in our individual differences. We have to learn to love people not for who we want them to be, but for who they are. Only then can senseless killings based on our differences be stopped, only then can we create a lovely picture of our future.
CHIEDOZIE KELECHI DANJUMA 