|
We have our own human rights problems right here at home
|
|
By Mike Cuenca | April 9, 2003
|
|
|
|
|
Of course you’re correct arguing that we should stand against human rights violations abroad. But the point is that we should stand against violations of all people’s human rights, at all times, and in every country—including our own country.
We must accept and address the human rights violations we allow by our silence, denial, and misguided national pride. Of course, we must look to our treatment of foreign nationals such as the Guantanamo Bay detainees and the Iraqi POWs. But most especially, we must look to our treatment of our own, our fellow Americans, in our own prison system. We must look to our treatment of children in our justice system. We must look to our failure to protect gay, lesbian, and transgendered Americans from violence and hatred.
If we tolerate human rights violations at home, we have no credibility when we criticize the human rights violations of others around the world.
|
|
|