“All men are created equal.”

This mere one sentence in the Declaration of Independence has had an immense impact throughout history in hopes of creating equality for all types of people.

On Aug. 28, 1963 in the midst of the groundbreaking civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted this sentence in his famous “I have a Dream Speech.” This one sentence emphasized the hypocrisy of America for preaching equality within a foundational document while at the same time discriminating against a group of people because of the color of their skin.

This one phrase also represents the supposed mission of America. All people should be treated equal. But today, is this necessarily true? Are all people truly equal?

Look around. It is obvious that discrimination and inequality is still existent in our society.

First and foremost, today gay couples are legally barred from being able to have the basic human right of marriage.

According to a General Social Survey, from 2009-2011 there was an eight percent change, from 39 percent in 2008 to 45 percent in 2011, of people in favor of same-sex marriage. Millions have joined the fight to win the freedom for same-sex couples to get married. Though many of these people are not gay, they believe for the right of marriage that they feel should be offered to all couples.

President Barack Obama is the first president in our history to come out in support of same-sex marriage.

“When it comes to the law, everybody should be equal before the law,” President Obama said in an interview on March 27 on the television network Univision.

In May of 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Today, eight other states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington – have followed Massachusetts’ lead.

These major strides in marriage equality are representative of the progress toward equality.

Pop culture figures and musicians are also embracing and defending same-sex couples.

The popular rapper Macklemore has come out in support of marriage equality. In his song “Same Love” with Ryan Lewis, featuring Mary Lambert, he encourages human rights for all, singing, “I might not be the same, but that’s not important. No freedom till we’re equal, dang* right I support it.”

Gay couples aren’t alone in their fight for equality in today’s society. Discrimination is also present against people who are of a different color of skin. During Martin Luther King, Jr.’s time there was intense discrimination against African Americans and dark skinned people.

Today this discrimination has shifted to the Hispanic and Latino population with anti-immigration legislature.

In hopes of stopping illegal immigration in Arizona, the Support Our Law Enforcement And Safe Neighborhoods Act, or the Arizona Senate Bill 1070, was passed. This law was the broadest and strictest anti-immigration legislation ever passed in recent U.S. history.

The Arizona immigration law received national attention and sparked national controversy. Many believe the law violates civil rights by encouraging racial profiling. The Arizona law allows law-enforcement officers to verify the citizenship of individuals they stop if they have reasonable suspicion that they may be in the United States illegally.

The debate over the law created mass opposition because of its support of determining citizenship by the color of one’s skin.

Colombian Grammy winner Shakira visited Phoenix City Hall on April 29 in 2011 saying that she is against the law because “it is a violation of human and civil rights”.

“This law goes against all the principles of prosperity that we know and promotes discrimination and resentment,” she said.

On June 25, 2012, the immigration law was brought to Supreme Court in the hearing Arizona v. United States. Basically, the justices agreed to uphold the law allowing Arizona’s police to investigate the immigration status of an individual if there is reasonable suspicion that they entered the country illegally.

Therefore racial profiling against Hispanics is still prevalent. Hispanics and Latinos everywhere are still trying to win equality and be included in the “All men are created equal” mission of the Constitution.

Women, too, are still fighting the battle. Many are moving for a passage of an equal rights amendment so that “All men created equal” can be changed to “All men and women are created equal.”

Aug. 18 in 1920, American women won the basic human right of voting through the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Gaining suffrage was just the first stride in the fight for women’s equality, but it was hardly the beginning.

Since the 1920s women have continued striving for equality before the law and society. Today this fight continues.

It is 2013 and our country has yet to achieve the passage of an equal rights amendment which would finally label women as equal to men.

Hopefully women will continue to fight to be equal in the eyes of the law and hopefully change that revolutionary sentence from “All men are created equal” in to “All men and women are created equal.”

As a student at Sion, students are sometimes guarded from the discrimination and inequalities in our society. Many Sion students don’t realize that discrimination is foregoing in American society.

Sion has instilled in us as students that everyone is created equal and that everyone deserves equal rights. If Sion girls realize the discrimination and injustices in our world they will be determined to make them stop. Determined Sion girls are a force to be reckoned with.