Mexican American Equality

Two score and thirteen years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood before the American people, on the verge of a civil rights upheaval, and declared a self-evident principle of this great nation, namely that “…the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (1963), further substantiated by the premise that the foundation of this country lies on the principle that all men are created equal. It is a country established in defiance of despotism, and has been hitherto a symbol for equality elsewhere, so long as we are reminded of this fact and provide no exception. It is the duty of the American people and all men (“men” herein referred to as gender inclusive) who ascribe to these principles, to defend it at any

This demographic is no longer an outside observer of the society in which it lives, but rather an active and important participant of said society. Though this case demanded that Mexican-Americans be included in the Civil Rights movement, it is not as groundbreaking as we may desire it to be, perhaps due to bias. Discrimination upon gender and, as relevant, race had been brought before the Supreme Court decades before Hernandez v. Texas. See Minor v. Happersett (1875), Leser v. Garnett (1922), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Brown v. Board of Education (1954). There is no question to whether there was discrimination, but to attempt to hold equal standing as these aforementioned cases is on the verge of disrespectful. One fruitful effect that can be attributed to this case, however, besides morale, is the inclusion of all ethnicities under the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment, expanding its application from Whites and Negroes,

The distinction made by Hernandez before the Supreme Court is such that although the State may classify Mexican-Americans as “Whites,” the difference in treatment renders them worlds apart from Caucasians. Ironically, it was necessary for Hernandez to make this distinction in order to be treated as an equal. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that the triumph of intellect over power is essential to our survival as a species. Undeserving patriotism aside, America is the only country since its birth that has repeatedly said that we can do better; it is inherent in our being. When we fight for our rights as men, we don’t defend a piece of paper or land but rather the ideas they were founded on and so long as we hold sacred and undeniable the principle that all men are created equal, America will never