Ebola is a disease that has been affecting the country recently in more ways than one might think. It originates from certain parts of Africa, and the first man in America to die from it was a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan. Obviously the threat of Ebola is putting stress on the country as a whole, and the media doesn't exactly make people's anxiety about it go down, but there is another aspect to this new disease that many aren't thinking about. Ebola is starting to cause people to discriminate against african people.
Two students from Nigeria were recently refused admission to a Texas college simply because they were from a country with Ebola. The college's reasoning was that they don't want the disease to spread through their school, but is it fair for them to discriminate against these people? If they are refusing applicants from countries that have Ebola, shouldn't they not allow American applicants since there have been cases of Ebola here? Read the full story about the college here. From these questions much debate arises about what the right thing to do is and how to keep Ebola from spreading while trying not to discriminate on others. The possibility that any person originally from one of the Ebola countries, or possibly anywhere in Africa, could be discriminated against and treated unfairly is very much alive.
Should people from these countries not be allowed to come to the United States? Should anyone from these countries be quarantined, along with people who have been in contact with them? These are questions that need to be answered. Ebola causes much controversy because while the ideas that people have to stop it could be effective, they may infringe on certain people's constitutional rights. Ebola is definitely a serious issue and needs to be taken care of immediately, but the government as well as society needs to keep in mind the other affects that it is having and must not discriminate on people just because there is a possibility they have Ebola, because technically there is a possibility for any of us to have Ebola.