“To be champions of civil rights, we must defend all civil rights.
“In the past couple of years, we’ve come to see how that statement is so true. Any marginalized group that is allowed to be brutalized and ostracized can tell you that it’s the same situation for all of us. It might be a different reason why they come after your group or my group, but we’re all going to end up in the same boat, so we have to be willing to stand up for the rights of all people, especially marginalized people, because at one time or another, we’ll all end up in that box.”
– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, “Fight the Power, The Movements That Changed America,” The History Channel
For those readers too young to know the name of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a six-time NBA champion and the league’s only six-time MVP. He has a national platform as a regular contributing columnist for newspapers and magazines around the world, including The Washington Post, Time Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter, where he shares his thoughts on some of the most socially relevant and politically controversial topics facing our nation today.
After 50 years as an athlete, activist, and a New York Times best-selling author, he offers his perspectives as a nationally recognized speaker who regularly appears on the lecture circuit. Currently, Abdul-Jabbar serves as the chairman of his Skyhook Foundation, whose mission is to “Give Kids a Shot That Can’t be Blocked” by bringing educational STEM opportunities to under-served communities through innovative outdoor environmental learning. Before leaving office, President Barack Obama awarded Abdul-Jabbar with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
This quote above by Abdul-Jabbar challenges everyone who defends civil rights to consider how the struggles of all marginalized groups must be supported in order for progressive change to occur. An activist should work to secure equality for all oppressed people.
Abdul-Jabbar says …
“It's my hope that people will understand that the basic issue for all of these protest movements was basically the same. All of the people who felt that their rights were being denied and withheld or want to see that change. And those sentiments in those situations still exist today. So as I've been saying all along, we've got work to do.”
(Brakkton Booker. “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds court on protests.” Politico. June 17, 2021.)
“Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
– Emma Lazarus (1849 – 1887) American author of poetry, prose, and translations
What Are “Civil Rights”?
So, let's look at exactly what civil rights represent. Britannica defines civil rights as “guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics.”
Civil rights are an essential component of democracy; when individuals are being denied opportunities to participate in political society, they are being denied their civil rights. In contrast to civil liberties, which are freedoms that are secured by placing restraints on government, civil rights are secured by positive government action, often in the form of legislation.
Unlike other rights concepts, such as human rights or natural rights, in which people acquire rights inherently, perhaps from God or nature, civil rights must be given and guaranteed by the power of the state. Therefore, they vary greatly over time, culture, and form of government, and they tend to follow societal trends that condone or abhor particular types of discrimination. For example, the civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community have only recently come to the forefront of political debate in some Western democracies.
Examples of civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, and the right to use public facilities. Civil rights laws attempt to guarantee full and equal citizenship for people who have traditionally been discriminated against on the basis of some group characteristic. discrimination.
When the enforcement of civil rights is found by many to be inadequate, a civil rights movement may emerge in order to call for equal application of the laws without
In these times, fighting for racial justice through disparate, isolated efforts is an inefficient luxury. Civil rights must be extended to all, not just some, and those who truly support civil rights do not pick and choose from a smorgasbord of efforts. Instead, they embrace the fight for equality for all.
Organizations dedicated to advancing equal treatment include the following:
AFL-CIO (Federation of Labor and Industry)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Anti-Defamation League (International Jewish Nonprofit Organization)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center
International Organization for Migration
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
NAACP (African-American Advocacy)
National Disability Rights Network
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Native American Rights Fund (Legal Assistance to Indian Tribes)
National Women's Law Center
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition (Broad Spectrum of Races and Creeds)
The Urban Institute (Public Policy Think Tank)
Unidos US formerly known as the National Council of La Raza (Latino advocacy)
Where Do We Go From Here?
The fight for equal rights for all Americans is still very much a fight. Love alone does not defeat hate. It takes serious and hard work from everyone on every side. People must use their voices to help establish equality for all. Having a voice gives an individual agency and power, and a way to express his or her beliefs.
The stories and struggles of underrepresented voices need to be told. Amplifying voices within marginalized communities is crucial because it lets those marginalized communities tell their own stories.
And, it is imperative for all of us to stick up for the rights of every marginalized group, not just the ones that match our belief system. We must examine all issues and attack prejudice when we see it. When we ally with a group, we fully acknowledge that the problems that group experiences exist, instead of “looking past” them.
And, a word of caution – we all have learned biases. For example, even the most feminist of feminists likely has internalized misogyny to some degree. By deconstructing our own learned biases and recognizing why we think “the things we think,” we can work to recognizes those biases that persist culturally.
To close, I believe talking about discrimination and injustice should make people uncomfortable. Why? Because it requires them to acknowledge their inherent privileges. Even if they consider themselves unbiased, they have to acknowledge that they benefit from a system that keeps discriminatory practices in place.
Look at the list of organizations above one more time. How many of these groups in this very incomplete list are not really part of your advocacy? Yet, I think you would agree that all of groups listed deal with real discrimination and equality issues?
What happens when those voices are, is in some way, silenced? Our fellow Americans' civil rights are denied. People suffer. And, our nation slips further away from its founding promise – “to secure the rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, Governments are instituted among Men.”
What should you and I do about the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups? Vernā Myers – Diversity Advocate and author of Moving Diversity Forward: How to Go From Well-Meaning to Well-Doing and What If I Say the Wrong Thing? – says one simple action makes all the difference – we must walk toward them. We must first acknowledge our biases. Then, we should move toward, not away from, the groups that make us uncomfortable.
To close, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar speaks eloquently about marginalized people. We would be wise to listen to his words and walk towards a greater understanding of what it really means to be an advocate of civil rights … a supporter of all guarantees for equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law,
Human Family
By Maya Angelou
I
note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us
are serious,
some thrive on comedy.
Some declare their
lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they
really live
the real reality.
The variety of our skin
tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige
and purple,
tan and blue and white.
I've sailed upon the
seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of
the world
not yet one common man.
I know ten thousand
women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who
really were the same.
Mirror twins are different
although
their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different
thoughts
while lying side by side.
We love and lose in
China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in
Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in
Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in
major we're the same.
I note the obvious differences
between
each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we
are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are
unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are
unalike.
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