We are just days away from the September 8 celebration! Some of our posts over the past three weeks about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been on focused topics, because the given Article is specific, and some have been broad.
Article 2 is one of the broad, basic planks. It says, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
This language of fundamental non-discrimination is familiar to us. Yet we still too often allow our laws, our political practices, and our personal attitudes and actions to admit invidious distinctions. It’s not that distinctions themselves are bad. Rather, it’s wonderful to celebrate cultural, religious, ethnic, gender-based, etc. identities of persons and groups. Celebration of that sort will be evident at our September 8 event. For example, you’ll hear the performance of a Native American song.
It’s when any such distinction is used to treat others unfairly or is allowed to become a source of animosity among groups, that it runs afoul of human rights values. Such actions and attitudes also run afoul of the civic values of the United States as expressed in such documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
For this reason, on September 8, our speakers will also be speaking out against discrimination on the basis of such things as national origin (as seen, for example, in harsh immigration policies), income (as seen, for example, in unfair housing policies), and race (as seen, for example, in disparate policing practices).
Please come #StandUp4HumanRightsCT on September 8th and speak up for the equality of all.
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Please #repost & click “GOING” on our Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1837109232994042/
Check out our full blog at: standup4humanrightsct.org/blog