Rights have been something fought for throughout history. People want to live equally and be treated like everyone else. Having civil rights is a fundamental human right: “belittling the lives of any group of men belittles the lives of all men, including ours. This is a law of human psychology, or human nature. And it will not be abrogated by our desires, nor will it be merciful to our blindness” (William Pickens), it is what makes us human. When we think of civil rights we tend to think of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This movement was a very big step for our country on paper, but on the physical level it took a long time for some people to change. Many people think civil rights refers only to the rights of African Americans. While it applies to them and this is a large part of the story, it is not the only thing recognized. The Civil Rights Act was a movement to make everyone equal and it did, but many people didn't accept it and some even still don't. The Civil Rights Act was created to make everyone equal, regardless of skin color, gender, religious affiliation, or country of origin. He was supposed to make the country a fair place to live. On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave his civil rights speech and asked Congress to "give all Americans the right to be served in establishments open to the public... hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, detail and similar exercises,” as well as “greater protection of the right to vote.” Kennedy wanted to change the country and did his best to do so, but you can't change people's mentalities, you can only change the laws around them Kennedy then delivered a bill to two Republican congressmen who then, two days later, expressed... in the middle of paper... the people who had to accept the change that was right in front of them, especially in the South , they didn't want to change their ways, once you're so used to something after hundreds of years change seems scary. For African Americans, some took full advantage of the new law and did everything they couldn't do before, d' on the other hand some were so used to being looked at in a way that they didn't want to try to change theirs and their lives. neighbors' ways. Everything might be different now that the bill was a law, but it wasn't everywhere. Over the years people have taken our civil rights for granted and don't realize how hard and how long some families have fought for their right to equality. We must look to the past so as not to discriminate against others in the future. We can learn from the mistakes of our ancestors so we can fix our future.