“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

As Americans, have we forgotten what the United States of America stands for?

In our darkest days of our nation from Pearl Harbor to the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City to Mathew Shepherd, blacklisting of Americans during times of war (even to date) to Proposition 8, to every meaningless murder to hate crime, to the Great Depression, to the current economic crisis.

We sit in our homes, we work our jobs and careers, but we walk past the homeless man or woman, we disgrace our fellow man and woman, with words like “FAG” and “Dyke”. We hate people for being different, for not understanding what it is that they are about. Instead of opening our hearts and our eyes, we would rather spread hate and fear.

We teach our children as a society, that hate is ok. We teach our children that if they get pregnant that abortion is a form of birth control. We teach our children, that the more children they have, the more the government will assist them.

Drugs and alcohol are as simple to get a hold of as walking down the street. Parents hosting parties for their kids only provide a place for other people and children alike a place to go to get drunk.

Sex, is the equivalency now of a handshake, guys and girls alike having neither self pride nor self control.

In 2008 the CDC, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention let out a press release that stated, “1 in 4 teenage girls have an STD.”.

In 2007, the FBI released a statement saying that there were 9,535 hate crimes reported in the United States. 52 percent of that was racial based. A little over 17 percent were religious based, 15.9 percent were based from sexual orientation, 14.1 percent was based from ethnicity and national origin, and .9 percent was based off of disabilities.

The FBI also stated that, “9 persons were murdered, and 2 were forcibly raped.”

One instance in history that is forever embedded into the minds of many Americans was the night of October 7, 1998. A young student, who was leaving a bar, was offered a car ride by two male subjects. Later to be found that the two students had brutally attacked the student. Matthew Shepard then died of his injuries. After the trial, in many instances, states and private groups promoted hate crime laws to go into effect in his memory.

Many other similar stories have occurred in recent years, from the 14 year old boy, named Larry King, who was murdered last year, for being gay, in front of all of his classmates, to Angie Zapata who was a transgendered woman, who was beaten to death by a man who was shocked after he found out that she was actually a man.

Throughout our history different forms of hate, has been problematic throughout our country. Different movements of people fighting for what should have been granted and guaranteed protected by our constitution, have fought for rights throughout the last couple centuries.

Those movements have brought many triumphs and tears alike, the female rights movement in the beginning of the 19th century, the black rights movement in the 1950’s, and the gay rights movements in the 1960’s.

But, in today’s society, have we truly resolved any of these issues? Have we grown enough as a society and as a nation to look past the differences of people that don’t fit into every single person’s definition of normalcy?

Still today there are thousands upon millions of Americans without work or homes living on the streets.

Women are still fighting for equal rights in the workforce for equal pay to their male counterparts.

African Americans are still are fighting for a future in education and equal protection under the law.

Gay Americans are fighting for equality under the law, for marriage, adoptions, the right to be considered what we as Americans sometimes take for granted, to be called a family.

Can we as Americans truly adapt even after government support for change?

If you look at the stated crime rates, you would have to say probably not!

A question rose after the historical election of 2008, when now President Barack Obama was elected in November, if Martin Luther King’s dream was really achieved!

Many Americans forgetting about all of the above stated issues believed it had been. But truth be told we have a long way to go, before his dream is truly achieved.

Martin Luther King wasn’t just speaking of African American people when he spoke of equality even though that was a huge motivation of his. He spoke of the American dream where every man, woman, and child could live in this great country, be given every chance to live as free as the person standing next to them. He spoke of rights being protected by the constitution that it was not a choice for the government but it was mandated by the foundations of this great country.

In the next few years, as President Obama progresses in his career as President, we can expect the movements of all the people minorities and the majorities become stronger and stronger, each motivation being linked to the same belief that all people under the constitution, are guaranteed under the preamble alone, the right to live free.