It’s (Still) Time for Change: Our America Is In Need of Greater Equality & Social Justice

Coach Frank DiCocco
Guest Blogger

In Light of the Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech…

Lincoln Memorial in D.C.

It’s (Still) Time for Change: Our America Is In Need of Greater Equality & Social Justice

There is no greater country in this world—no finer nation upon this planet—than the United States of America. There is no corner of the globe where Freedom, Democracy, Liberty, and Equality flourish so distinctly than in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.

Yet, for all its wonderfully-crafted ideals, uplifting and inspiring guideposts and guidelines, promising principles, and life-affirming precepts…there are still many areas of individual and social life where we—as a collective union—can find a means to improve upon, and that ultimately we can find a way to do better with.

There are many different people in this great country of ours—a country which highly esteems and values the ideal of freedom—who still struggle to maintain and gain certain basic freedoms—both constitutional and otherwise.
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• Young black men still need the liberty to walk through certain neighborhoods without immediately being treated with suspicion.

• Women still need the liberty to pick out their clothing without worrying about how others— particularly men – will view and treat them based on their attire.

• Same sex couples still need the liberty to walk in public arm-in-arm or holding hands without the fear of being harassed or assaulted.

• Muslims still need the liberty to practice their religion without worrying about being stereotyped, profiled, discriminated against, or hearing hate-filled words from home-grown religious fanatics.

• Mexican-Americans and Latinos still need the liberty to walk through the street without being harassed or detained, without justification, provocation, or warranted cause.

• Immigrants and new Americans still need the liberty to be treated fairly, to be paid an honest wage for their work, and to be protected from exploitive industry standards and business practices.

• Elderly people still need the liberty to age without the fear of being neglected, taken advantage of, or marginalized by a society that fails to appreciate them and honor them with dignity.

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Until Americans everywhere—of all races, creeds, genders, backgrounds, and circumstances in life—can feel safe, secure, valued, and appreciated… Until Americans everywhere—at all times—can feel comfortable and confident to be themselves and to live their lives as they so choose…

Until Americans everywhere—in all ways, and always—can feel free, hopeful, and empowered to pursue their own version of the American Dream…

And until Americans everywhere—always—can feel unashamed to be who they are, unencumbered to practice their beliefs, preferences, and customs, and unrestricted in their efforts to pursue Life, Liberty, and True Happiness…then our work as fellow Americans… Will not be done.

Until that time comes, we must all continue to labor diligently and to work unceasingly, in order to hasten that moment in our collective existence. It will be then—and only then—that America will truly be America—for ALL people—for the first time in its history.
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Let’s be the first generation of Americans that bring that idea to fruition.

Let’s be the first to turn that American Dream into a Reality for ALL Americans.

Let’s be the first…and in so doing, we will be the finest.

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