Make America Great Again

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, you must know that Donald Trump is the Republican candidate running for the 2016 Presidential Election. Along with his running, you’ve most likely also heard of or seen his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” He promises the people of this country that he will restore traditional values and policies that once made this nation great—economically and morally. As I think of this slogan, I begin to dissect it. Particularly, I think of the word “again.” Has this country ever truly been great for every person residing in it? Some may disagree and proceed to inform me of the “good, old days,” and to that I say: What about Native Americans, as they were rounded up and herded onto designated land like livestock, as they were disease stricken, murdered, and tortured, as they were stripped of their culture? What about African Americans, as they were pulled from their homelands and families, as they were enslaved, as they are the largest incarcerated racial group in the U.S.? What about the concentration camps located in the West that held hundreds of thousands of Japanese American citizens prisoner, merely for being of Japanese descent? What about women, as they were restricted from voting in the U.S. until 1920, as one out of six women in the U.S. will be sexually abused in her lifetime, as women in the U.S. are still earning less money, on average, for the same jobs? What about the LGBT community, as they face prejudice, discrimination, and endure the tragedies of hate crimes every single day?

The list of the injustices that millions of people in this country have faced and will continue to face if we do not start to make changes could go on and on. This country is supposed to be the land of opportunity for all people. I agree, let’s make America great. But again? To turn a blind eye to the trials and tribulations of our fellow Americans, those who have endured centuries of inequality in this nation, would be insulting and demoralizing.