For the last few years, I have written about freedom in The Inclusion Solution the week of the United States’ Independence Day holiday, July 4th. I think it is important to reflect on freedom. Rushworth Kidder, founder of the Institute for Global Ethics Studies, found that freedom is the most important value to United States Citizens. He described a number of universal values based on his research including responsibility, honesty, respect, compassion and fairness, love, community/family, and found that while these values are universal different cultures put different priorities on them. For example, love was #1 in Brazil and family #1 in many Latin American countries but freedom stood out as # 1 for the United States.
And so as we watch the struggles, as we interpret what freedom really means, I am still proud to live in a country where the debate is allowed and where systems that stymy freedom are challenged.
July 2nd marked the 50th anniversary of the signing Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights movement was certainly about the values of fairness and justice but the movement was also just as much about freedom. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 championed by President John F. Kennedy and signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson was meant to open public accommodations, such as hotels and restaurants…to give the freedom to all citizens to dine and access public accommodations anywhere in the country. In addition the Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, creed, nationality, giving all citizens the right and the freedom to seek employment where they choose. Fifty years later, we continue the struggle to ensure that the letter and the spirit of the act are enforced.
We also see the values of religious freedom and fairness being debated with the recent Supreme Court decision that arts and crafts store, Hobby Lobby, had the right to deny birth control under its health insurance coverage to employees because it conflicted with Hobby Lobby’s religious beliefs.
Another recent Supreme Court decision that upholds the First Amendment right of freedom of speech allows anti-abortion protestors the right to congregate and speak near abortion clinics. The case was about a Massachusetts law that said protesters had to stay 35 feet from clinics. The High Court ruled that the Massachusetts law was unconstitutional and violated their first amendment rights.
Regardless of one’s personal opinion on these issues, I applaud our tenacity as a country to debate and put our espoused values to the test.
I will repeat here what I wrote last year:
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I am proud that we never take our freedom for granted. I am proud that we keep the full court press on for those who are still not treated equally, who have less than “free” experiences in this country.
On this Independence Day 2014 let us vow to passionately and doggedly continue the struggle to actualize the dream. Let us…
- Fight against racial/ethnic profiling that has led to the incarceration and deaths of many innocent people.
- Allow women the freedom to make their own reproductive health care choices.
- Pass the Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act to end employment discrimination against the LGBT community. (Only 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws that ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.)
- Equalize public education where students of color have the same quality of education as white students.
- Enact fair and equitable immigration policies.
- Equalize the criminal justice system. (We now have hugely disproportionate incarceration rates for people of color.)
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Let Freedom Ring!
