December is a global celebration of Universal Human Rights month. Perhaps I am being an alarmist, but I fear 2024 may be the last year Universal Human Rights will be celebrated in the country I have called home my entire life—the United States of America. First, the name “United States” feels like a lie. We have never been more divided. In anticipation of some people having their rights stripped away, I thought it might be a good thing to discuss what exactly should be a human right.

1. Should people have the right to access medical treatment, or should that depend on whether they can pay for it themselves?
2. Should people be allowed to participate in the religion of their choice, or should Christianity be shoved down the throats of all Americans, regardless of their preferred religious preferences?
3. Do all children deserve a quality education, or should that be reserved only for children born to wealthy parents who can afford a private education?
4. Should all public education be equitable, with all children having access to the same resources and opportunities, or should the school’s quality depend on the zip code in which they exist? If you say the latter, then how will children born into disadvantaged neighborhoods have an equal start in life compared to those lucky enough to be born in an affluent area?
5. Should people guilty of crimes serve the sentence determined by the jury or the presiding judge if found guilty, or should people be able to circumvent the law by running for public office?
6. Should people who committed nonviolent crimes be jailed, sometimes for years without being sentenced, simply because they can’t afford bail? Do you believe prisons are for punishment, protection for the innocent, or rehabilitation? Once convicted of a crime, do prisoners deserve humane treatment?
7. Is the ability to communicate a basic human right? If someone in the country doesn’t speak English or is deaf or mute, should tax dollars be arranged for translators so that person can understand you and be understood?
8. Do you believe that all people should be represented in media, or only books, television, and movies that represent the dominant culture (white people) should be allowed?
9. Should it be a basic human right to love whomever you choose, or should society be able to dictate who you love and what you do as a consenting adult in your own bedroom? Since the beginning of time, people have been prevented from loving their chosen partner based on class, income, skin color, gender, and religion. Can you imagine a world where heterosexuals are told it is illegal for them to love a member of the opposite sex? If that idea repulses you, then you imagine how LGBTQIA people feel about the policing of their identities.
10. Is it a human right to be able to relieve oneself when out in public in a bathroom that is comfortable? Wouldn’t it be easier if all public restrooms were single bathrooms with a toilet, sink, and baby changing station that anyone can use? Do you truly believe that the issue of controlling who uses which restroom based on biological assignment is about protecting women?
11. Is the ability to move around freely a basic human right? Should people with ambulatory problems have public spaces that are accessible to them, or should they only be allowed in buildings without stairs and wide doorways? Can you imagine a world where there are no stairs, only ramps, because everyone can use ramps, but not everyone can climb stairs?
12. Should the citizens of a country be able to read about their country’s past, or should history be rewritten to only portray our ancestors as wonderful, amazing humans who never did anything wrong? Are you familiar with the George Santayana quote, “Those who ignore the lesson of the past, will be doomed to repeat it”? (I fear we won’t have to worry about banning historical books that paint this country’s poor behavior; there will be many current examples for our children to learn from.)
13. Should people who fear for their lives living in a foreign country be allowed to seek asylum and gain temporary citizenship in the U.S. while awaiting an appropriate citizenship hearing, as the Constitution declares? Do you believe those who have been granted temporary citizenship should have their citizenship stripped away and be sent back to the country they fled from, essentially killing them, as Project 2025 aims to do? Does the U.S.—which has plundered, ruined, and made parts of the world unstable as the imperialist superpower that it is—not owe people from those devastated areas a safe place to retreat to?
14. Do you believe that, to achieve its goal of being energy independent, the U.S. is within its rights to violate agreements made with Native Americans because those agreements have become inconvenient to its goals, or is the U.S. a country that keeps its promises?

The goals Project 2025 describes cause me much consternation. I have always been a proud citizen of the U.S., even though to create this governmental body, the U.S. massacred the Native American people—those who were here first, whose land we brutally stole. For those who refused to die, we rounded them up, placed them on reservations, and fed them alcohol. We gave them gambling and stripped them of their culture. When the lands we moved them to had hidden wealth in the form of oil or gold, we eventually stole that from them as well.

Our country’s economic superiority was built on the backs of African slaves we tortured, raped, and murdered with impunity. They were bought and sold like the property we claimed them to be. And when the Civil War freed the slaves, we took our time telling them of their freedom, and eventually, sent them on their way with nothing. Even then, they managed to prosper when left to their own devices. But we couldn’t stand to see them succeed, so we destroyed the financial empires they built and murdered as many as we could. Now, we have the nerve to say we don’t need any education that can be classified as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—in fact, that term has been vilified. Why does telling the truth scare some people so much? Are they afraid to look in the mirror to see who they are? Are they worried that if they see, they will have to change, and that’s hard? Are people simply refusing to accept that this country has many horrific deeds to reckon with?

I would love to see those people trade places with a Black, Latino, gay, transgendered, Jewish, Native American, or Muslim human for one day. If you don’t believe you have privilege and the oppressed groups are equal or more privileged than you, then live their life for a day and I bet you couldn’t make it a week. Prove me wrong, please. On this, I would love to be wrong.