Human rights are an ongoing universal issue. They are the so-called rights inherent to all human beings regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.
Throughout time, when Human rights have been withheld from individuals, powerful men and women have sought justice. For example, America’s racial tensions were forcefully spoken about by one of the most powerful voiced men to ever live, John F Kennedy. His fights for equality were founded on the principle that all men are created equal. JFK addressed significant ideas about universal human rights we all deserve such as equal rights to vote, nonsegregated education, fairness in work and fair treatment, and so on.
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In addition to JFK’s powerful words, another famous voice addresses the use of language to represent significant ideas regarding human rights. Bob Dylan, who is one of the most influential protest singers of all time, through his protest song ‘Hurricane’, uses literacy techniques to describe acts of racism. In 1967 a triple murder happened in California, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and his friend John got wrongly accused and sentenced to life in prison. Their only true crime was that they were not white. This interested Bob Dylan as he witnessed this arrest in shock. Hence his song “Hurricane” projects his disgust for the matter of racism. The narrative of the song is truly a masterpiece, and in an incredible way examines this artist's literacy style, language, and influence on human rights justice. This small section underlines the powerful techniques Bob Dylan is capable of using.
“When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson, that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you want to draw the heat”
Through this, Dylan explores the hardship of life as a black American. It is clear that the song twists modern social elements of race and equality through the use of metaphors. A paragraph from the song underlines the lack of human rights Hurricane dealt with.
“All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig circus, he never had a chance
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.”
Unfortunately, the lack of human rights in regard to people of color is not exclusive to just America. In Australia, indigenous communities are long suffered injustice and racial discrimination. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating addressed this matter in his powerful speech in Redfern Park in 1992 where he states:
“Just a mile or two from the place where the first European settlers landed, in too many ways it tells us that their failure to bring much more than devastation and demoralization to Aboriginal Australia, continues to be our failure.”
Furthermore, Paul Keating’s memorable quote “I said we, non-indigenous Australians, should try to imagine the Aboriginal view.” He acknowledges all the wrongdoing and explains in a very easy way that it is not at all hard or impossible to change things over, by going on to say ”It can't be too hard. There is one thing today we cannot imagine. We cannot imagine that the descendants of people whose genius and resilience maintained a culture here through fifty thousand years or more, through cataclysmic changes to the climate and environment, and who then survived two centuries of dispossession and abuse, will be denied their place in the modern Australian nation.”
To an extent, to continue from Paul’s previous statements, I say, that all we need to do is to imagine if things were the other way around, would make us feel. It is evident that Universal human rights are an ongoing issue that has been fought by the biggest weapon available to mankind: Literacy techniques, and a powerful voice. As the great American president, John F Kennedy once said: “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.''
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