To my fellow Americans – on behalf of the human rights coalition Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), we stand in support of Constitutional rights for women and all Americans, and support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), which Americans have been struggling to pass for over 40 years, and there continue to be efforts to extend the deadline to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified.
So it is astounding to us to hear, from an organization that calls itself the “National Constitutional Center,” that women do not need the Equal Rights Amendment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would urge the leaders and the Board of Trustees of the “National Constitutional Center” to reconsider this position on the Equal Rights Amendment designed to ensure equal Constitutional rights for all American women.
Our Constitution guarantees rights and liberties consistently everywhere in America – without exception, without caveat, and without question. Our Constitution is intended to be an expansion on the DECLARATION of what it means to be an American – the truths that we hold self-evident. But we are not and we will not be complete as a nation, until our Constitution recognizes these truths not just for men, but also recognizes these truths for women and ALL AMERICANS – as ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
Constitutional equal rights for women is not a left-wing or a right-wing, a liberal or a conservative issue. Constitutional equal rights for women is not a women’s or a men’s issue. Constitutional equal rights for women is an AMERICAN issue. It is our inherited obligation and responsibility to fulfill the truths we hold self-evident for ALL Americans. It is a historic opportunity to pursue the great dream and the great vision that America is and must be not only for us, but also for the world.
Yet I have sat and listened to the stories and tears of American women, whose rights have been abused in different parts of this great nation, and it makes my heart sick. I have heard and I have seen how they been treated as second class citizens, in business, in court, in government, and even by law enforcement. I have seen the uneven application of law and fairness that are basic fundamental principles of those truths that we hold self-evident. I have seen, especially in these days of great poverty among many of our citizens, how they can abused – even sexually abused because they are women, and people in business and people in law-enforcement have not made it a priority to defend their RIGHTS AS AMERICANS.
Perhaps you have not heard such stories; you have not seen such instances of abuse and disgrace across our great nation. But even those who have not heard or seen such shameful violations of American women’s rights have certainly heard and read the public dialogue over the past week. One only has to read the recent news stories and hear the interviews of those who think it is acceptable political dialogue to call American women “prostitutes” (and even more vulgar terms) to get the message of the level of intransigence against women’s rights and dignity. The timing of this latest attack on American women could not be a clearer indication of the threat to American women’s rights and dignity today. It should speak volumes to those who question the need for an Equal Rights Amendment to America’s Constitution.
We cannot and we will not complete the building of our great nation, by neglecting the Constitutional rights of half our country. We cannot and we will not become the nation that we were destined by failing to guarantee the Constitutional rights for our daughters, our sisters, our wives, and our mothers. We cannot and we will not become an American beacon of hope to oppressed women around the world – when we fail to give Constitutional rights to American women at home. We cannot and we will not ever truly become the UNITED States of America that we must be, when we allow and tolerate a division among our Constitutional rights for men and the Constitutional rights that all women should enjoy without question – simply because they are Americans – one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL.
United We Must Stand – as Americans in support of Equal Rights for all women and men in America.
Jeffrey Imm
Founder
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
https://www.realcourage.org
usa@realcourage.org
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Equal Rights Amendment
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
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