Created Equal
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I watched the “Created Equal” video when Peter Sagal travels across the country to find out how the Constitution works in the 21st century. This episode explores the idea that the Constitution was drafted originally without “all men created equal,” but it took another 80 years of bloody civil war and a Constitutional amendment (14) before equality became a written guarantee. The 14th amendment has been at the center of every right for fairness. Peter first starts out at a class where students are learning about the Constitution and preparing to take a test for citizenship but many citizens of the US wouldn’t know these answers. The 14th amendment changed the country tremendously and is not at the heart of the Constitution. He talks to a gay couple who got married and got their marriage taken away from them and they proceeded to fight for marriage equality. Towards the middle of the episode, Peter talks to people who are from illegal aliens and the struggle they’ve had to put up with. The Lopez’s fought for their rights and stayed in the US. The 14th amendment protects all “we the people” even those “aliens.” Peter finds out that when teaching constitutional law, they spend a lot of time talking about bedrooms. Like you have the right to do certain things as long as it is in your own bedroom. The right to privacy and equality is still a big part of our lives today and will remain a work in progress.
I thought this video was very cool because Peter goes so in depth about details of the Constitution and more specifically the 14th amendment. I like that he talked to so many people that are so involved with the Constitution and felt so deeply about the amendment. It is interesting to me that the 14th amendment guarantees equality, yet so many people still feel not equal. One example that Peter examined and hit me deeply was when he talked to the gay couple who got married and then got their marriage taken away from them. It hits deep to home because I know a few gay married couples today who are unbelievably happy with each other and I could not imagine taking that happiness away from them.