End Apartheid in America

Change has come to America. But it's not enough.

I call on President-elect Obama to end this systematic legalization of discrimination in America. The trend of states of enacting laws designed to deny American citizens the same equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has to end and it has to end NOW!

To every black citizen who feels rightfully proud that the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have come to fruition on this day and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every Hispanic citizen who has either suffered the pains of discrimination or whose ancestors were kept confined to menial jobs and denied the right to better education and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every woman citizen who lives in a country where women were denied the right to even vote up to less than a century ago and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every citizen who wishes to express the right to religious freedom and who lives in a country where that has not always been so and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every Native American whose ancestors suffered genocide at the hands of the United States government and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every American whose ancestor immigrants came to this country seeking the freedoms this country has to offer and still were discriminated against when they arrived and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every disabled American whose rights were not protected by law until less than twenty years ago and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

To every American mixed race couple whose right to marry was upheld with Loving v. Virgina and yet who voted to legalize discrimination...to you I say:

Shame on you!

Barack Obama: last night you said that a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. Please do not shirk in your responsibility to help end discrimination for ALL Americans. I believe you when you say America can change. Yes we can, but we need you to help lead us to that change.

--->Susan