Jimmy Carter: Human Rights In The 21st Century

Human Rights Inspired by Jimmy Carter
In the twenty-first century there are no other issues that have been more influential and significant than issues regarding human rights. Jimmy Carter, throughout his whole life, has voiced his opinions on many cultural issues that were not only significant back in time, but are also important today. Jimmy Carter has addressed issues from women's rights, to the discrimination of African Americans, and to the treatment of the poor. Everything Carter has said about how we should handle these certain situations has carried into the twenty-first century where people around the world are living out Carter’s teachings. Jimmy Carter is known as the president that generally cares about every person in this world
and the president that does not separate one group from another due to race, sex, or religion. The Bill of Rights was created to protect human rights; and throughout Jimmy Carter’s whole life he has been honoring the Bill of Rights and trying to make the act important in every person’s life. Jimmy Carter throughout his presidency has voiced strong beliefs on the rights that all living people deserve; by voicing his opinions, he has influenced people of the twenty-first century to treat people with respect and equality.
Throughout Jimmy Carter’s childhood and his campaign, Carter has stood up for human rights for all types of minorities.
As a child, Carter experienced African Americans being discriminated right before his very eyes. Carter grew up in Georgia, where African Americans were constantly segregated from the general public. Although the segregation of blacks was high back then, Carter proved that he was different than most whites. Carter didn’t care what color of a person’s skin; he judged every person on the inside. Carter's closest friends were black as stated in an article, “Despite this pervasive segregation, two of Carter's closest childhood friends were African American, as were two of the most influential adults in his life, his nanny Annie Mae Hollis and his father's worker Jack Clark (Editors, “Biography.com”).” Carter also attended an all-white high school which he felt was wrong because no black people were allowed to attend his school. Carter’s beliefs on the discrimination of not only blacks, but all races and genders, laid out the foundation that he practiced and voiced for the rest of his childhood and life. Jimmy Carter is regarded as the best presidential option for human rights, showed the importance of human rights in his presidential campaign. At a time period where many people were questioning if the rights every person deserves was enforced properly; Jimmy Carter was shown as a leader for giving every person the rights they deserve throughout his administration. Carter made use of the 1975 Helsinki treaty which after World War II protected all human rights. He was known as the presidential candidate who focused on human rights and the candidate that would do most for human rights (“Profiles... Presidents”). Carter led a campaign that proved to the people that he will not take any of the people’s rights lightly and he will look at every person at the same level without discriminating against anyone. Throughout Carter’s campaign, he called on the
American people to help bring about equality for all people and help end the discrimination of human beings. Jimmy Carter’s childhood and campaign led to how Jimmy Carter inspired modern day people to deal with the inequality of women all over the world.
A major problem in modern day society is how women are treated as lesser beings compared to men by men looking at scripture and how men treat women as less superior to men in their daily lives. Often, when men are looking at scripture they are misinterpreting the role women are supposed to have in modern day society. Carter says regarding to how men interpreting the Bible, “And they interpret these rules to make sure that women are ordinarily relegated to a secondary position compared to men in the eyes of God” (“Jimmy Carter: Advocate for Women’s Equality and Humans Rights”). Having men interpret the Bible in this way is a bad thing for all women. Although the Bible has many men's roles in it often times Carter says the major women of the Bible are over-looked. The previous sentence gives an image of where the world is at today. The world has become accustomed to looking at women not the same way as men. However, Carter has inspired many people to stop looking at women in a lesser way and start looking at them as equals to men. Carter has given many speeches about how women should be treated fairly and treated as equals. A major problem for women today is the discrimination of women in the workplace. Carter has been and a leader and a voice to end the inequality of women. Carter throughout his presidency had passed bills to help end the inequality of women in the work force. This is still a major problem in modern day society that needs to be fixed; however, Carter is calling on women to stick up for women's rights and state that they should be treated as equals to men. This would end the discrimination of all women, especially in the workplace (“Jimmy... Rights”). Women are constantly getting lower jobs than men because of their sex, and Jimmy Carter is trying to get men to look past the sex of the person and focus on the person's skills as a whole. This is all very relevant in today’s world, and many Americans are responding to Carter’s call by looking past the sex of a person for a job. Jimmy Carter not only did a great deal for women, but he also supported all types of people by the many laws he has passed and the different people that worked for him.
During Carter’s presidency, he hired many minorities of people for high authority jobs and he passed a few laws to end the way minorities were treated in the work force. Jimmy Carter filled his staff with many different kinds of people to show equality for all people. In the past, white men seemed to dominate the top executive positions that companies had to offer. However, in the twenty-first century many minorities have been receiving higher paying jobs and higher positions in their companies. Jimmy Carter has been a major part of this reason by setting an example of how he handled hiring people for high government jobs during his presidency. As president, Carter gave many African Americans and women executive jobs in government, such as Patricia Harris, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Andrew Young. He also appointed many African Americans to the Justice Department (“The Jimmy Carter Administration”). By doing this Jimmy Carter set an example for many company owners that woman and African Americans can hold and execute as high of a position as white men. This has carried on to modern day where minorities are more regularly receiving higher executive positions. Carter laid out the foundation of the idea of minorities being able to not only hold a position high in a company but also succeed. Throughout Carter's presidency he also created a law that dealt with protecting human’s rights in their jobs. A common theme back before Carter was president was bosses taking advantage of their workers. This led to Jimmy Carter passing the Civil Service Reform Act which is described as, “gives managers more flexibility and more authority to hire, motivate, reward, and discipline employees to ensure that the public's work gets done. At the same time, it provides better protection for employees against arbitrary actions and abuses and contains safeguards against political intrusion” (Peters, Gerald). This law required each Federal agency implement programs to eliminate underrepresented minorities and women in the Federal workforce. Since Carter’s act was passed it has given many Americans the rights they deserve while they are working. In today’s world there is rarely any talk of employees being taken advantage of without any repercussions because of the act Carter passed. This law has created a relief of tension between workers and bosses in modern day workforce because there is a sense of security with all workers knowing their rights are protected. In the twenty-first century, Carter not only helped advance the protection of workers’ rights but also African Americans rights.
A major improvement in today’s society is the rights of African Americans and how African Americans are treated. Carter had helped this movement by participation in many movements for African Americans. In the 1950’s and the 1960’s Carter participated in the Civil Rights movement. When he was governor of Georgia he worked hard to end the discrimination of blacks (“Carter...1981”). In modern day, there have been many civil rights movements. Carter has shown modern day people that they must stand up for what they believe in and it will eventually pay off later in life. People today look at Carter as a man who stood up for what he believes in no matter what the consequences. Carter was so serious about Civils rights for African Americans that he eventually made a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the African-American civil rights movement. This day is very significant in modern day because it honors African-American’s rights. This day also reminds modern day Americans how to treat African Americans and make sure their rights will always be protected. Jimmy Carter, who was a white southerner, proved to be the best president for African Americans throughout his presidency. Jimmy Carter helped everyone realize they must accept all races. In an article it says, “Despite some concern from African American leaders during the 1976 campaign that Carter a southerner, would not respond to minorities communities, Carter proved to be very devoted to Civil Rights throughout his presidency” (“The Jimmy Carter Administration”). This proves to everyone today that anyone can accept not only blacks but any kind of race. Jimmy Carter was so passionate about treating blacks as equals that he sent his daughter to an all-black school. In modern day America there is barely any schools with only one certain race; Carter has shown everyone that this idea is okay. Jimmy Carter not only preached about African Americans rights, but he also influenced people by acknowledging the wealth gap between the poor and the rich.
The gap between many different groups of people has largely decreased in the twenty-first century. One thing that has gotten better in modern-day America is the poor and how they are treated. Peter Bourne, the author of Jimmy Carter’s biography, says, “Jimmy Carter describes this one time he goes out jogging by describing it as the saddest thing he has seen. On the jog Carter saw men and women sleeping on towels in the richest city in the richest country” (Bourne, 432). This describes the overall idea Carter had on the way the poor was treated. Carter’s idea of America being one of the richest countries and not doing enough for the poor is an idea that carried onto the twenty-first century. The twenty-first century has many soup kitchens, places for homeless people to sleep, food drives, and many more things. Carter has inspired many of these acts of kindness by voicing his opinion on the discrimination of the poor. Carter has also helped Americans realize what they are called to do: help those in need. Modern day society has changed substantially by helping the poor out more than America has ever helped out the poor. Also, the gap between groups of worldwide people and America is improving. The world is divided between rich and poor, black and white, and different religions. We need to stop trying to separate traditional issues and humans rights (“University...University”). Carter said this statement in a speech he gave at Notre Dame College; this message has stuck with Americans in modern times. America is constantly trying to improve relations with all people around the world. Carter has influenced these relations America makes by showing how he treated people of different cultures in his presidency. In America it is one of the top priorities of the leaders of this country to build on international relations and respect the cultures of others all over the world. Carter has had a great effect on international affairs by showing modern day America how to deal with other countries and different kinds of people.
The ideas Jimmy Carter has on human rights has impacted modern day people to treat other minorities with the dignity and respect they deserve. Jimmy Carter has shown how to deal with African Americans, women, the poor, and many other groups. His impact on human rights, in the twenty-first century, is revealed when people help and take care of other people less fortunate than themselves. The world is finally progressing in dealing with human rights due to Jimmy Carter’s inspiring words on all of the issues of human rights. Carter has shown modern day Americans how to treat everyone as equals, stop discriminating minorities, and love all humans no matter of what race or gender. Human rights are a difficult topic to grasp, but through Carter’s wisdom and courage many Americans are becoming more aware how to deal with human rights in every day of their lives.