"I've come to believe that the greatest obstacle to equality is the government itself.... Don't send us social programs. Send us capital."
Robert Woodson, Sr., an entrepreneurial activist in Washington, DC.

"Sure, things are better than they used to be -- but who's fooling who? It's a man's world." Writer Beverly Donofrio, of Orient Point, NY.

"I think racism in this country is permanent, that it has lasted for 300 years, that the patterns of racism, the role it plays in society, are as evident now as they were then." Derrick Bell, a lawyer, law teacher, and author living in New York.

"They say that all men are created equal...but it's only a myth and it's only a thing to say to make it look good for this country..." Demetrio Rodriguez, retired sheet metal worker, San Antonio, TX.

These are some of the viewpoints presented in ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL?, the second program in DECLARATIONS: ESSAYS ON AMERICAN IDEALS, a three-part public affairs series.

Focusing on the core American value of equality, ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL? features the differing ideas of Robert Woodson, Sr., Beverly Donofrio, Derrick Bell, and Demetrio Rodriguez, paired with four independent producers. In thought-provoking essays, the program participants ask and attempt to answer such confounding questions as What is the meaning of equality?, Are all men created equal?, and How far have we moved toward racial equality?

Activist and educator Angela Davis, columnist Molly Ivins, politician Jack Kemp, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, ACLU President Nadine Strossen, and Perot '92 Campaign Director Orson Swindle join in the discussion with "soapbox" commentaries. People on the street also express their views of equality, from "There's no equality, I'm telling you" to belief that "There's no difference."

Program segments, essayists and independent producers are:

"Nobody Gave Us the Streets" - independent producer Michel Negroponte and free-market advocate Robert Woodson,Sr., meet with street vendors in Washington, DC. Woodson believes that social programs create an economy that keeps poor people poor and notes that street vendors in the Capitol have fewer economic liberties than did their 1840s counterparts. The Civil Rights Movement generated the "poverty industry," Woodson declares. He sees the struggling street vendors as a metaphor for the economic struggle of poor African Americans who have been excluded from real economic opportunities. "Don't send us dollars to fight poverty. Send us capital to start businesses," he states.

"Riding in Cars with Girls" - independent producer Julie Gustafson and writer Beverly Donofrio take a road trip from Seneca Falls, NY, the site of the Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848 (which declared that "all men and women are created equal") to the halls of Congress in Washington, DC. Along the way, Donofrio talks with women from all walks of life -- an engineer, firefighters, a waitress in a roadside diner, middle class housewives, congresswomen -- about their options and experience regarding equality, compared to hers in the 1960s. She is startled by what she learns about the perception of equality in the 1990s.

"The Fable of Equality's Child" - by independent producer Lourdes Portillo and legal scholar Derrick Bell in Boston, is a parable which questions our basic presumptions and commitment to equality. Accepting racisim as a permanent factor in America, Bell argues, is not a statement of despair, but can actually be an uplifting experience. In "The Fable of Equality's Child," Bell chronicles the acts of small, personal heroism that result when people respond to the simple, but profound, concept of the equality of all people. In the fable, a charmingly different child is somehow perceived as a threat as she endows everyone she encounters with "Equality-itis." Bell says, "People love stories and will suspend their own beliefs [to listen]."

"The Ballad of Demetrio Rodriguez" - independent producer Renee Tajima and Demetrio Rodriguez, a grandparent and retired sheet metal worker living in San Antonio, TX, relate the story of Rodriguez's lifetime fight for equal opportunities in education begun more than 25 years ago when Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas in 1968 to force wealthy school districts to transfer money to poor ones. He lost that battle and has lost many since, most recently a 1993 referendum to equalize public school funding. His grandchildren attend the same elementary school Rodriguez did in the Edgewood District of San Antonio's public school system, which is 96% Mexican-American and receives an average of $3,109 per pupil versus the state's richest district which spends an average of $11,801 per pupil.