That’s the most iconic line of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That one part speaks itself. We’re all human, we’re equal. And with all these news I hear about people of different color being treated horribly, different races treated as outcasts to society, I can’t help but really think. Are we holding up on that statement?

Here’s something funny, Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration himself, had owned slaves in the past! Well, it’s not comically funny, it’s more ironically funny. Like, this guy had the guts to say every man was equal when he was clearly supporting a huge contradiction to that statement? Well, not exactly. Now, I don’t exactly know how this works, but Jefferson was actually still against slavery and even outlawed it himself while he was President. And the line “all men are created equal” were written to eventually resolve slavery. Supposedly there was also an entire passage dedicated to criticism of the slave trade, but that was left out in the draft by other members of congress.

Fast forward to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and hey, look at that! Honest Abe abolished slavery for good! Bust out the confetti, we got rid of slavery, so now we can for sure say all men are created equal! Right? Well, it would be nice if this answer was easy to give. But unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated then “yes or no.” So slavery is no more, but does that mean African Americans are treated equally? Well, do you want to know when segregation was outlawed for them? Around 1964. You wanna know when slavery was abolished? 1865. That is a 99 year difference. It took 99 YEARS for African Americans to be treated as equal as everyone else! Crazy, right?

It isn’t just African Americans though, Asians around the world aren’t exactly getting their fair share of equality too. Racial stereotypes, Americans blaming every problem on China or Japan, the list goes on and on. It’s been a problem for a while, and it’s a shame because I haven’t seen it be brought up a whole lot.

So, from all that, it sounds like the whole “all men are created equal” thing is a bunch of bogus, right? Well, I wouldn’t say that. Despite it all, we’re doing way better then how we were all those years ago.What’s important is that we keep improving. We learn from our mistakes, and slowly but surely, the Declaration will hold true to it’s word. All men are created equal.