Blog #129 – Have we overcome racism yet?
As we talked in class this morning (please listen to the discussion if you missed class – it’s the first 10 minutes or so), most of you who talked said that we have not overcome racism yet. So, let me modify the question to read – to what extent have we overcome racism? This gives you some leeway in interpreting and answering the question and allows you to tackle it however you want.
I think that if I asked the original question say in 1964 after the Civil Rights Act was passed or in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected, I might have gotten different answers. From today’s vantage point, the Civil Rights Movement looks like an inevitable juggernaut where America finally wrestled with the demons of racism and vanquished their most odious forms as seen in Jim Crow laws, voting restrictions, and racial violence. But from back then, it was anything but inevitable. Black and white Americans were trying to defeat centuries of entrenched racism and traditions. The fact that they did it in a mere short eleven years (1954 – 1965) belies the fact that Black Americans had been laying the ground work for the CRM for decades. Yet, to look at racial relations today or at any point in the past thrity years or so, one doesn’t need to be Black to see that we still have so much work to do.
For instance, there is a MASSIVE wealth gap in total and median incomes between Blacks, whites, and Latinos. See the charts below. And this video / article from CNN explains how the coronavirus will just make this g
ap worse.
Besides the wealth gap, there is also structural racism in the country where the vast majority of the levers of political power and finance are controlled by white men. Things have gotten better since 1965, but just take a look at Congress which remains about 80% white. And one Black president in forty five.
CNN published this article on Wednesday showcasing inequality in 6 different charts here.
Another thing that we have seen, specifically this week was a bad reminder of this, is that people of color are the direct victims of police brutality and violence. With the proliferation or spread of camera phones, dash cams, and other video recording devices, murders or assaults by police that might have been hushed up are now receiving the attention they deserve. But we have to keep in mind that this violence has always happened, primarily to Black men, but with the increased transparency we have today, bad cops are much less likely to get away with it.
The continuing rise of respectability politics puts down one aspect of the Black community while highlighting another aspect. This idea comes from an early 20th Century movement in the Black community itself to change “Black American culture – and Black Americans themselves – are broken and need to be fixed. And “fixing” means improving the “Black underclass” that holds us back.” Much of this comes from forcing Black Americans to attain the standards of white America as a way to improve upon Black culture. (https://www.bupipedream.com/opinions/94369/the-problem-with-respectability-politics/). The underlying thinking is that one group of Blacks is making it impossible for the “more respectable” Black Americans to rise up and defeat racism. President Obama has been guilty of engaging in respectability politics when he talks about the role of the father in Black families. Comedian Bill Cosby has also been a big proponent of this concept.
Next, the school-to-prison pipeline is emblematic of two things: underfunded schools and lack of real job opportunities for African Americans. This pipeline “refers to the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education” (https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/what-school-prison-pipeline). With insufficient funding in urban schools and zero-tolerance educational practices, students who violate school rules in major ways are shuffled out of school and into the criminal justice system. This kind of educational discipline, made in response to the numerous school shootings that have happened since 1999, also affects students with special needs. Some for-profit schools are being created to treat drop-outs or “troubled children” with a no-nonsense approach and have had dismal records of meeting the needs of these students.
But, to further cloud the picture, we should look at Black Americans as champions of perserverance. They defeated Jim Crow and overt forms of racism. They have achieved wealth and status that 50 years ago was unheard of – Barack Obama was elected for 2 terms! Black Americans shape American fashion, culture, music, and entertainment in ways unimaginable 50 years ago. When I was a senior in college, Black students held a sit-in at MSU to push for more Black faculty and an African American studies program. Today, we have an African American History class at Groves. And a few Black women are being considered for the Vice Presidency in a Biden run for the White House this year. And as we have seen in Minneapolis the last couple of days, most Black people have had enough and are rebelling.
So, your job is to think and write about the extent to which we have overcome racism today in 2020 America. Feel free to use examples that I haven’t included here or build on ones that I have listed here. There is no right answer.
I think racism globally in America has come a long way from the origin of the country. Pre-civil rights act it was legal to be racist, and pre-civil war it was legal to keep slaves. Now it’s obviously illegal to be openly racist, but that doesn’t stop people from being racist and committing racially charged crimes without always being punished. The leaps and bounds we made from slavery to none in just a few years of albiet bloody war should not be ignored. In addition, the 11 years it took for the civil rights act to be passed was an incredible feat because of the rooted racism in the country prior to the act being passed. But despite all these advances, racism isn’t gone in America, and a part of me thinks it may never be completely gone because of how stubborn people’s personal opinions and beliefs are. I mentioned it in my supporting question response, but I think Patrice Cullors (a co-founder of the black lives matter movement) words it perfectly when she says “You can’t policy racism away. We no longer have Jim Crow laws, we have Jim Crow attitudes.” This is why I think it’s near impossible to eradicate racism, you can make it illegal, try and prosecute people who commit hate crimes, but you changing people’s thoughts, opinions, ideals, and beliefs is a whole different challenge. What we’ve seen in the last few days in Minneapolis is both exciting and terrifying. On the one side, the video evidence makes it clear the George Floyd was murder while he was already in handcuffed and on the ground being restrained. The protests throughout the city I think happened for a good cause, but it was shocking how quickly they turned from peaceful demonstrations to violent riots. People taking advantage of the confusion and protesters who took things too far turned parts of the city into a battleground, and the several buildings that were burned down make me wonder whether large amounts of social change will require violence to happen, or whether peaceful methods will be enough. Obviously peace would be hopefully what everyone wants, and I do think there was a reason MLK Jr was more influential than Malcom X, but the recent events make things seem that maybe continued social reform requires more than just a peaceful protest. So in conclusion I think we’ve overcome the biggest aspects of racism, and now the change that is happening is happening at a much slower rate. The changes don’t seem as big or important as those achieved in the 1960s, but they are still essential. It is just a matter of time before racist ideals become even fewer and farther between, but that takes time and continued efforts by equality organizations like the black lives matter movement.
As a preface, I must mention that while I am considered biracial since my mom is black, I’ve always been treated as white by my peers and the people around me (except for times when people mistake me as Hispanic, although I’ve never been discriminated against as a result of the slip up). I’ve never had a bond or even interacted with any family on my mom’s side, and in complete honesty, about 80-90 percent of my friends who I interact with on a regular basis are white or mixed race. Due to these factors, I’ve never had any encounters with racism on a personal level. I’ve heard comments directed towards me that many would be offended by such as “Can I touch your hair?” (I let them), “You don’t look half black”, or “You act white”, but I never took any of those statements with offense. Due to my limited experiences, I feel a bit lost answering this question and my poor knowledge on political, judicial and economic racism make it even harder. Due to the issue of racism being such a broad topic, I will only be focusing on the social aspect of racism. I believe that we have lowered conscious racism, and increased the social penalties for racists, but we are very far behind when it comes to racial prejudice.
When I use the term “conscious/open racism” I am referring to people who discriminate through actions against people of color due to their race. The most important aspect of this kind of racism is that they are aware and acknowledge it. An example of this would be Mathu Dwain Karcher, a 41 year-old white man who attempted to sic his dog on a peaceful, black passerby who was walking through Karcher’s neighborhood (https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/02/white_man_who_told_black_man_y.html) Karcher’s actions were obviously conscious decisions rooted in racism, and he even shouted at the victim that he was in “the wrong neighborhood” before threatening bodily harm. Reportings show that there was no apparent motive other than race for the incident. While attacks like these occur often, I wouldn’t call them commonplace compared to the number of racially motivated attacks from the eras before now, but since the FBI does not require that hate crimes be reported to them from state and local police, there is no solid evidence that shows the statistical trend in the number of racially motivated crimes over time. Additionally, the rise of reporting by the press on hate crimes makes it seem as though racist attacks are more prevalent now than ever before, but it is hard to distinguish whether more reporting in general is the culprit or if there is an actual increase in attacks. What I can say with confidence is that hate crimes and racism are on the rise right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Asian-Americans being the prime target of attacks. Oregon reported a 366 percent increase in hate crimes in 2020 compared to the previous year, with about 20 percent of April’s reports being from Asian Americans even though they make up only 4.5 percent of the state’s population. This racism is a continuation of the past, where Asians were attacked for being job stealers, proving that we continue to harm minorities through racism, even if our motives change.
Although racist attacks continue to harm minorities today, societal racism (among non-attackers) today is watered down compared to the past. Online forums discussing their experiences in the 1960s recall that the N-Word was often used in public and around company in reference to black people, and violence against “bad” black people was encouraged, even from “progressive” and “liberal” whites. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/12/reddit-remembers-the-1960s-we-probably-dont-have-to-kill-all-of-them-just-the-agitators/%3foutputType=amp). Coming from a conservative background, I have never heard such remarks in person, even when opposers of the Black Lives Matter movement are talking. Furthermore, when past racist actions or statements are uncovered in relation to celebrities or politicians, the media on all sides is quick to bash them; most notably Justin Trudeau’s black face sticks out as an instance of this. This leads me to believe that there has been a moderate shift in society in relation to its view on racial minorities since the media has been much more active in denouncing racism through “cancel culture.” However, there is much room for improvement as mentioned through the rise of hate crimes, and of course the continuation of police brutality.
I think the bigger and more prominent aspect of racism today is racial prejudice, meaning stereotyping and thinking badly of people based off of their race, often unconsciously. Since the aforementioned attacks were rooted in racial prejudice, this aspect of racism must be larger than “open racism” since not all bigots take the extra step to actually act on their thoughts. Poor/ a lack of representation of racial minorities in film and television (especially Hispanics) and limited experiences with other races continue to lead people to stereotype other races, an action that I believe all people do regardless of color. While not all assumptions are harmful on the surface (black people are athletic, Asian people are smart), these “good” assumptions make it more acceptable for the “bad” assumptions to form (Hispanics are gang members and criminals, Natives are alcoholics). Since people create these opinions based on the content they consume (which has dramatically expanded in the modern day) and the people around them, these beliefs must have been much worse in the past when slavery and/or sgeregation was present and entertainment was almost exclusively racist (minstrel shows). But today, with Americans under the leadership of a president who suggested in a tweet that four non-white congresswomen go back and fix the “crime infested places from which they came,” our beliefs against people of color are still being influenced for the worse. Rapper Cardi B (who is a racial minority herself, but not black) defended her use of term “roaches” when referring to dark skinned black women by claiming it was just a “Bronx thing” (https://www.google.com/amp/s/theboxhouston.com/9752666/cardi-b-under-fire-for-transphobic-and-racist-comments/amp/). This shows how the racism of the people in the Bronx shaped Cardi’s poor perception on dark skinned women. Performer Doja Cat also recently came under fire for racism (she’s half black); But upon further investigation, I believe that her being raised only by her white mother and not being around many black people led her to develop the same poor presumptions that other races make towards them. In the past, and still today, class plays a large part into racism, with minorities in the middle and higher classes being prejudiced against the lower class people within their own race, playing off of stereotypes that most of their race is made up of criminals, thugs, etc.
I could go on and on, but I’ve already written three times as many words as suggested, so I’ll stop. TLDR: racism is still prevalent today. It is hard to pinpoint if racially motivated attacks have decreased, but I believe they have somewhat when you adjust for population. Perceptions and responses to racism have changed with the rise of the media. Stereotyping is the biggest thing which holds us back to overcoming racism, a practice which everyone is a part of consciously or not.
Racism in America and our way of dealing with it is similar to how people deal with weeds. America should be grasping racism and to kill it at the root, but instead we barely deal with the complaints of racism that are seen and allow racism to continue to develop in places of work, in our law enforcement units and in our white house. Sure the rights we’ve developed over the years are a huge sign of improvement, but what does it mean if we still don’t have an equal chance at those rights.
Technically, all while African Americans were fighting for a right to vote in the 50’s and 60’s it was technically legal under the 15th amendment which was passed almost a 100 years before the civil rights movement for desegregation and voting rights began. The reason why people couldn’t vote was because of the fear and obstacles set up to prevent black people from getting equality. And America still does that today. During the protests, Trump called protestors thugs and claimed we were disrespecting George Floyd’s legacy. Unarmed crowds are met with tear gas, and rubber bullets, the same way those who marched were met with dogs, and fire hoses and worse when it came to civil rights. However when it comes to a protest of ignorant and privileged people fighting an order enforced for the actual safety of people, the governor should “ease up”.
The biggest difference between racism yesterday and racism today is that it’s hidden better. People who are ignorant know to hide that ignorance, as they’re likely to lose their job or to be publicly “canceled “ because people will demand consequences for it. Despite the racism being hidden better, the actions taken after are still pathetic. It takes months, sometimes years to convict a cop of something there’s video evidence of, but with a black man he’s convicted and executed before a crime is even committed.
Racism has only been overcome by those who are oppressed by it, because those who aren’t oppressed by it had nothing to overcome in the first place. Can they help the nation as a whole overcome it? Sure, I believe they can help the nation deal with it. Have we overcome racism as a nation by any means? No, I don’t think we have. Racism simply evolves as if “survival of the fittest” applies to it. Silent racism is currently the “fittest” form of ignorance so most people have adapted to that way of living, but that doesn’t mean that the racism isn’t there. It’s simply tucked away for the day they find a good time to express it, whether it be in the polls, at a protest, through a tweet, or as they kneel on a black man’s neck. Racism still prevails.
As a country, the US has overcome racism in many ways, but there is still a lot of work that is needed. Blacks’ rights as citizens were attained in the 1960’s with the Civil Rights Movement, and they are enforced by the government. Civil rights aren’t always enough though. Just as Jim Crow laws came after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, there came newer forms of racism after the 1960’s. Some of the racism we face today is systematic while other forms of racism are on an individual basis. For example, Ahmad Arbery’s shooting was individual racism because it was two white guys murdering a young black man. For the most part, I think it’s almost impossible to eliminate individual racism altogether. People are always going to be prejudiced and have messed up views, but there is a pattern for where the most individual racism occurs. I think rural and southern areas are affected the most with individual racism, mostly due to lack of diversity and slavery roots. For example, at my cottage up north in Michigan, a lot of my neighbors are blatantly racist, and even worse, one of them is a cop. When I was a lot younger, my dad was talking to our neighbors, and Barack Obama came up, and one of the neighbors said to my dad “I bet you voted for that n word”. I’m not categorizing this category of people as all racists, but I find there is a lot of prejudice in these areas. Systematic racism is also a big problem too. Like the background info for the blog said, there is a huge disparity between whites and blacks in positions of power in the federal government. This way, more laws are created that favor white people over blacks. And, laws aren’t created that need to be created to reduce systematic racism for blacks. A problem that could be helped dramatically is the issue of bad public schools in areas with mostly black people. For some reason, schools are so underfunded that it can lead to young blacks going to prison. There are many ways this can happen, but it’s primarily a lack of quality education combined with bad support systems to help students outside of the classroom. Also, there is an issue with cops hurting/killing unarmed black men. Unfortunately, I think this is hard to prevent, since it’s hard to control an individual cop’s prejudice, but we can definitely improve the justice blacks get for being killed by cops. It took 3 days for the cop that killed George Floyd to get arrested, which is way too long. The best chance we have at making our cops better is to do special training and tests to make sure they aren’t targeting black men. I’m not saying all white cops are bad, but a small portion of them ruin the image of police officers for the entire country. Though America has made great strides in overcoming racism to this point, more needs to be done to fix some of the issues I just described.
We have not completely overcome racism in any way. There is still a clear divide between black communities and white communities, racism continues to thrive, and black people are treated far worse than the white people in our country. Many old white people view black men as a threat for no reason, calling them slurs and treating them like they’re less than human, as if it were still the 1960s. Younger generations are better, but there are still people in MY generation who are racist, say slurs that are not theirs to reclaim, and refuse to accept that white privilege is real. For example, some of my peers have responded to the Black Lives Matter movement with “All Lives Matter”. What these people fail to realize is that this “all lives” is not relevant and shouldn’t exist. Right now, we need to focus on the injustice black people face every day because they lose brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters every day because of police brutality and racist whites. The phrase “all lives matter” tries to take attention away from the murder and unfairness black communities face daily, and needs to stop being shared. Instead, just support Black Lives Matter.
Police Brutality and racist groups also still thrive in our modern-day. Last year, 1,099 people were killed by the police, and 24% of those victims were black, despite only being 13% of our population. Black people are 3 times as likely to get killed by police, and about 1.3 times that person is unarmed and cooperating, yet they are still killed by racist cops who will get away with the minimum punishment. Even now, during these riots and protests, cops will use tear gas on peaceful protesters, and one cop even kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach, causing a miscarriage. It’s so clear to see that police brutality against black people is real, and we must remember the names of their victims. Racist groups also still exist. This includes Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, a modern KKK group, and general political racists. Neo-Nazis are anti-semitism, but they also direct their violence and hate towards other minorities. White supremacists and the modern KKK are practically the same things, as they both threaten the lives of black people and direct violence towards them. They have pointed guns at unarmed black people, and will not hesitate to kill innocent people just because of their skin color. When I talk of political racists, I mean the fans of political members with a racist history. For example, a majority of Trump supporters are white and try to demean the Black Lives Matter movement, mocking the death of George Floyd, saying slurs that aren’t theirs to reclaim, and acting like white people are superior. They also continue to support the politician they like even if they exhibit racist behavior.
Even though we can all live together and aren’t segregated, racism thrives in our country and will not end through peacefulness. So, my final answer is no, we have not overcome racism. We still have much work to do, and we need to band together to advance in this world.
In my opinion, although we have made moves towards overcoming racism, we are nowhere near overcoming it completely. Even though we’re far from being a completely equal society, there’s been several times within the past decade when it’s been clear how far we’ve come since the civil rights movement in the mid-1900’s. The election of President Barack Obama first in 2008 and again in 2012 was a significant moment in our history that showed it was even possible for a black democrat to become president.
Our progress is limited in light of the events that began in Minneapolis and that are now spreading globally. They are a perfect example that we never “got over” racism, we had just been ignorant towards the treatment of the black community. It seems that the death of George Floyd was the tipping point for tolerance of police brutality that specifically targets people of color. These protests that have followed his death prove that while there is a community of allies, there is a significant number of police who are just as dense towards the problem as they were before the protests. As more and more videos and pictures surface and names of victims of police brutality are released, the public has become more and more aware of police violence. Though we are now becoming more aware, no actions have been taken by our government to punish the police for unfairly treating people of color. This refusal to take action in itself is evidence that we haven’t overcome racism. The president has been almost completely silent with exception to a few vague tweets that honestly did more harm than good. The radio-silence from the people who are literally in charge of our country and have the power to do something to stop this mistreatment is extremely disheartening and shows that we are nowhere near overcoming racism. When they choose to stay silent, it’s clear that the reason is because they aren’t supportive of the messages protestors are supporting. It’s difficult to find moments where we’ve shown progress towards equality in the midst of all the blatant inequality. The wage gap, the lack of educational opportunity, the disregard of primarily black communities shows that we still have a long way to go. I was reminded of the situation in Flint. Cities like Flint that are predominately black and poor are often left to figure out their own issues. The water crisis that lasted several years could’ve been avoided entirely if the city hadn’t been ignored. The article “Flint, Michigan: Did race and poverty factor into water crisis?”, referred to the issue as environmental racism. If something as petty as ignoring a city that’s in desperate need of some revamping is still possible, it’s clear that we haven’t overcome anything.
Our country was built on the backs of slaves. Presidential candidate Joe Biden recently said that “The original sin of this country still stains our nation today.” In this remark, he refers to slavery as being the original sin, and it’s clear how its warped our country. I think that because for thousands of years this country along with the rest of the world chose to treat black people as inferior, it will be impossible to wash out the stain that still affects us today. Though there have been times in history where we have treated black people equally, we have not overcome racism in the slightest.
To what extent have we overcome racism? That facts are that slavery was leagally abloshed after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 which was intended to be first contributor in the ending of American racism, but unfortunately that was that last thing that happened. Besides the fact that most freed slaves were stuck in an inescapable cycle of debt known as sharecropping they were still struggling with a lack of social political freedom. After the 15th amendment was passed and black men finally gained their long overdue right to vote, cults and conspiracies sprang up across America determined to deny the acceptance of black with equality. Official rights and segregation started riot and protests all over as anti-black movements were still issues in everyday life. Ever since then riot and protests have flipped views, and many are protesting black rights and black lives as we see yet another major historical event occurring in 2020.
Police brutality is an issue that is currently being silenced by the leaders of society, because the police force protect us every day and year of your lifes, but there are still racist people in the world who are stuck in America’s past ways of discrimination and racism. A modern day example of this are the protests in honor of George Floyd beginning in Minneapolis, have taken over the world creating a nationwide following against harsh police force and the oppressive relationship with those of color. But it isn’t only police brutality that is evidence of American racism, and that fact that we are far from the end of oppression and inequality. Our nation’s leaders, and future leaders are driving factors in public opinion. Joe Biden going as far as saying “poor kids are just as bright and white kids”. Where president Trump Tweeted about white men conducting an armed protest for reopening of small businessmen “good people”, but saw blacks protesting a killing and disgrace to a black lives matter movement “thugs”. As many are believing right now that these are just a few bad people, and there are bad people everywhere that is very true, but that’s not the point in racism today. The point is that these “bad people” are of the highest government position, and they determine our rights and lives with their decisions. What role model are they setting for the millions of people on their control with racism comments and criminal injustices to the minorities of America.
America built its foundation on our welcoming of other nations and people into our country, as we provided political, religious, social, and economic freedom to immigrants. But throughout time American’s fallen, and blamed their wrong doings on minorities as they are more vulnerable to public opinion and blatant racism. In the modern era these injustices started to become normalized with the modern aspects of social media and abuse of power, in which may I remind you the president of our country and image of America was charged with.
The question was to what extent America has overcome racism, and truthfully I think that we have only touched the surface. There are years and years of awful racist morals that have been passed down through families and books knowingly or not, that have created normalized oppressions in society. America has never been perfect and it will never be perfect. Racism is one of the biggest and most powerful imperfections in life today and as a nation we will work to fill the racial gap, and redeem ourselves of centuries worth of cruelty done on all minorities who came for the American Dream.
As we have all seen the news recently, the world is not in a sustainable place right now, especially with racism. Police brutality and racism are a huge fight right now in the middle of the worldwide pandemic. In the last month, 2 African-Americans have died to the hands of police plus several other people beaten by the police. Because of this, the United States is in turmoil with riots and violent “protests”. This is all happening to try and get a point across but in my opinion, I think it is just a big excuse to loot, raid, steal and cause havoc because of a black man that died by a police officer kneeling on his neck. All in all, Martin Luther King wanted equality and for peaceful protests and not all of these violent riots to try and have justice against police departments and racism.
Even with all of this happening in the world at the moment, I do feel like we have overcome some racism but not in the way we have all hoped to have it. For example, everyone can have racism affect it, but the African-American communities and more other minorities have it much worse. I do think though many of the minorities don’t have to deal with as much racism as they used to do. But many people and groups of people are still oppressed on a daily basis and have it much harder than for example, the white community. That is why now I get to the point where we as a whole have not gotten over and overcame racism. Even though earlier I said we have gotten over it doesn’t mean we fully have. I mean everyone has been less racist than how it was before and earlier years and that is something that the world has become better at. For example again, the United States were very racist in the 1950’s to the 1960’s to the extent of people wanting to kill minorities especially blacks. And even before that with the KKK and other groups, blacks were scared to leave the safety of their own houses because of the fear of being lynched or just killed. That’s why we haven’t overcome racism but we have gotten better about it and no one has to have that fear right now but with the situations of what is happening now across the country doesn’t help the fear. All in all, the USA and the world hasn’t overcome racism but has only improved treating everyone better.
Obviously, we have not overcome racism yet, especially considering the recent Black Lives Matter protest. We have come a long way since the days of slavery, but we still have a long way to go. Of course, there are many people white and black who do a fine job of seeing the two races as equals. However, there are still many people who unfortunately believe in white supremacy.
Some growth in the movement to eliminate racism happened when Barack Obama was elected as the first black president and then being elected for another term.This was huge for America and would have never have been guessed by people living in years before. Immense change has occurred not only through Obama’s presidency, but also through the spirit of Amercians in order to eliminate racism. In the 1960s, Americans peacefully protested and were able to desegregate the country by eliminating Jim Crow laws. Additionally, right now, for example, so many people are going out to protest against police brutality. All of these people are using their voice in order to fight for this. It’s super important and shows success because even despite people being arrested, tear gassed, and even killed, they aren’t standing down until they see change. Black Lives Matter is all over social media, even for me, as a teenager, and it is so relieving to see that many people in my generation are seeing that this is wrong.
Although there has been change, the views of many white Americans are still racist. Just a few weeks ago, Amy Cooper, a white woman, called the cops because Chris Cooper, a black man, asked her politely to put her dog on a leash in an area of central park where there are signs that say to do so. She told the police that he was threatening her and emphasized that he was a black man. Thankfully, she was fired from her job after the video was released. Then of course, there is the recent rise in coverage about police brutality towards black people, specifically males. This has been going on for a very very long time, but with cell phones and other recording devices, it has become much easier to see exactly what goes on, and people are able to post the videos online to create awareness. Not only are some police officers killing innocent men just because they are black, but a lot of the time they aren’t even being punished for it. There were 75 police officers standing outside of the police officer who killed George Floyd’s house. That means that 75 of them supported what he did. Not all police officers are bad, there are many that are doing great things, but the problem is that some of them are and that some of them don’t see anything wrong with what is happening.
These views can also be exemplified through the racist news coverage. When white people destroy property, because they are mad about a sporting event, or something extremely less significant, they are called “young people”, “under the influence”, or “mentally ill”. In the protests that are peaceful, right now, against police brutality, where there are a lot of black people, the news outlets refer to them as “thugs”. It is not just the criminal justice system and police that are causing these problems, but also the ways in which black people are portrayed.
There will probably always be some people who are racist, which is gross and should not be the case, but it is the sad truth. However, it should not be this common or widespread, and even if people do have these prejudiced views, they should not be able to act upon it by killing innocent people. The criminal justice system and other forms of government should not be racist and they should not be allowed to get away with this. Black people should not have to be terrified of the police officers who are supposed to protect them. The examples that I used don’t even scratch the surface of just the recent events that have been occurring. We still have a very long way to go before you can say that America has overcome racism yet.
It is 2020 and most people would think that we have or should have overcome racism by now, but we truly have not. Although racism has gotten to be much better than it was decades ago it is still something we need to work harder at. Not only does racial discrimination happen on a daily bases, it is something that we have ignored for many years.
15.8% of students suffer from race-based bullying and experience bullying and harassment because of the color of their skin or their religions. These people have been discriminated against all their lives and it is something they have gotten used to.
Not only do these people have to learn ahead of time what to do in certain situations but they also have to live a life being judged by all the people around them.
Not only do they have to deal with judgement but they also have to deal with unfairness in the employment world. Some companies are still racist to this day and will show discrimination based on someones skin color. This shows unfairness in the working community.
People of color are also subject to police brutality. Now that we have cameras and such to document the occurrence of these things happening we can see how bad it has been for the people of color all these years and years and years. Not only do they get treated unfairly but they are also being hurt by the people we hire to keep us safe. It should never be okay for someone to judge someone and hurt someone based on the color of their skin. Racism is NOT something that we are born with, it is something we are taught. And some parents or teachers are still teaching others that it is okay to treat people of different ethnicities and different colors differently. We live in a world where some think it is perfectly normal to discriminate against someone because of the way they look. It is 2020 and people are still acting as though nothing has changed over the decades. People are still acting as though it is okay to treat another human being with so much hatred. The people of color are not the only people that are tired of the hatred they are feeling, as we see in the protests happening around the U.S we see there are many white people that are standing with those that are hurting. This is very important and in order for real change to happen we all need to begin to not only understand but see how bad racism has gotten and will get if we keep going down this path.
To make a long story short, no, we haven’t overcome racism. Racism has always been prevalent in our society, and at one point of your life, you most likely have been racist without even knowing it. America has shown signs of improving, but never to the point where it has been eradicated. In the late 1800’s, we eradicated slavery. We allowed black people to own land. Later on, we gave them suffrage rights. It’s also hard not to mention the Civil Rights Movement, where millions of both black and white Americans protested against segregation. But the story of overpowering racism, in my opinion, starts in 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. I feel that this is the kind of racism we are plagued with today. Of course, in the 1960’s, racism was way worse than it is now. White mobs would beat black citizens. Today, while that doesn’t happen often, blacks do face prejudice. Many cops and white citizens have killed innocent black citizens. This is why the Minnesota protests and riots are happening. They want justice for George Floyd, a black man charged with minor crimes who was beaten and was suffocated by police. The protests were peaceful until police put in tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. This is when the riots began. Many people started setting small businesses on fire, and began looting big companies. They also started looting houses and occasionally killing people trying to protect their shops. There is this heartbreaking video of a black man, in riots similar as these ones (the 1992 LA Riots) watching as his building is destroyed, screaming at everyone doing it. In this video, he states, “Y’all burnt up my business and you call it black power? Alright? You’re mad at the white man! Why destroy my business? Why destroy my truck? Why steal my computer? I tried to make it, couldn’t y’all understand that?” It’s horrible that history is repeating itself at that moment. Another example relies off of a song called RIOT by XXXTENTACION. In this anit-riot song, he states, “Look at all the stores you wreckin’, n***a I reckon. Think about the people who own it for about a second. I know you got your problems, but brother, they got theirs. This is not a game, quit violence and grow a pair. But yo, you’d rather hear me say, “F–k the black prejudice. Let’s murder different races, grow hatred, and form irrelevant.” This song, two years after his death, is more relevant than ever. Looting and burning down stores creates more problems than it solves. It creates even more racism both ways. Racism has definitely not been overcame, and it won’t be like that for a long time. It really shows, through these protests, that we still have a long way to go before racism is eradicated.
I think when you compare it to 1920’s american to present. Their is a massive change however until a Man or women of color is equal to a white, Male or female, or other gender. We have not overcome racism. Racism is more than someone’s actions in direct contact with another person. In some cases their are systematic discrimination in place. Truly solving racism is not just simple giving all people equal rights, But equal opportunity. We as Americans have lessened the divide, but a divide still exists. And as I see it will continue to exist for at least the rest of this decade, or until we can teach people that someone’s skin and culture don’t make them a treat or evil or better than anyone else. For decades, researchers have called attention to the role of race and racism in our public and private institutions and offered evidence-based solutions for how to address these inequities. scholars will continue to play a crucial role as we work to elevate the public discourse around race and inequality in America. wealthy black families are significantly more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods than their white counterparts. In some of America’s largest cities, black families making $100,000 or more a year are more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods than white families making less than $25,000 a year. Black people are more likely to experience discrimination in mortgage lending. On average, wealthy blacks have higher mortgage rates than their white counterparts who earn the same amount of money. Fictitious mortgage applicants with a black-sounding name are also less likely to receive follow-up contacts by mortgage lenders, roughly the equivalent to having a credit score reduced 71 points. High-income black Americans face worse health outcomes. A new analysis of black people making over $175,000 a year found health disparities in 10 of 16 health-related outcomes examined. College-educated black women also have higher rates of preterm birth than white mothers without high school degrees. Increased wealth does not insulate black Americans from negative outcomes in the criminal justice system. Children from wealthy black families were shown to be more likely to go to prison than white children from poor families. Additionally, many famous and wealthy black men have discussed being stopped repeatedly for “driving while black.” Evidence reveals discrimination in the labor market. Graduates of elite colleges with black-sounding names are less likely to get job callbacks, and black people in the high-end service sector struggle to get ahead because of issues both real and assumed with attracting high-end clients. Success can be fragile. Compared with other ethnic backgrounds, black middle-class families experience more downward mobility than white middle-class families. In addition.
Since 1960, America has been taking new steps to make sure that every citizen is treated as equally as the next. Some would say that it is not enough, and that some are unequal to others. Other people think that everyone is equal, and that those that believe they are not equal are just pushing an “agenda”. Recently, George Floyd was murdered by an incompetent cop for “Forgery”. He was caught trying to use a fake $20 bill, and the store owner called the police. The police responded poorly, he was unfortunately killed, and this has sparked horrible riots in big cities around the US. When a black person is killed by a cop, the black community is rightfully angered. Usually, some people are not phased by it, and defend the cop. This time, there is not defending the cop. He killed Floyd because the cop was grossly incompetent. But I feel like whenever a black person is killed by a cop, it makes national news, and protests follow. But when a person of any other race is killed, they never make national news. No protests. Let’s look at another example of when a black person was killed by a cop. Alton Sterling was killed in 2016, for “selling CDs”. He had CDs, but the police came for him after he tried to steal money from a register at a convenience store. When the cops confronted him, he ran. This is an automatic detainment, as the cops believe you were being shady. He then reached for a loaded .38 pistol, the same one he used to rob the store. He was a convicted felon, had a laundry list of warrants, was a registered sex offender, and owned many firearms, which you are not allowed to do after being convicted of any felony. Others claim that minorities and women are paid significantly less than white men. This is the half-truth. The average income (all working women/black people’s income) is less than the average income of a white man. This is not systemic, because if it was, companies would only hire minorities and women. Occupational choices are different, with men and women preferring different careers. Women are not paid .77 to the man’s 1. That is about career choice. 99% of the time, women are paid just as much as men. The other 1% is based on the quality of their work.
Throughout history, racism has been a big problem that has affected our country since its existence. To answer the question, we have not overcome racism yet. We have started to overcome racism, but have not fully overcome it. Many groups and people have fought against racism throughout history. Many in the past were small in supporters, but as time when on, the support for these groups has continued to grow. These groups and people have made many advancements that have begun to overcome racism. Many people and groups are still fighting today to end racism.
After the civil war, many practices of segregation were put in place most prominently in the south, but also throughout the country. Many African Americans were not given many of their rights guaranteed to them, like the right to vote in many places. Many places would put literacy tests in place, so you had to do well on it to vote. With this segregation, African Americans had to use separate facilities that were labeled as “colored.” They would also have to sit in specific places on busses and trains. It was also similar in some northern states as well. In an interview with Toni Morrison, she talks about how when her family moved to Ohio, where there were no discrimination laws, they expected things to be better than the south. They quickly discovered that many white people there had the “understanding” that African Americans weren’t welcome in many places. These conditions, along with many other reasons, would lead to the Civil Rights movement.
During the Civil Rights movement, African Americans took many actions to try to secure their rights and stop racism. There were many marches and protests that people would participate in to try to spread awareness and get something done. Examples of this are things like the children’s march and the freedom riders that pushed for desegregation but faced lots of backlashes. These events would help lead to eventual desegregation. Along with that, the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 would rule that separate is not equal. Because of this, many schools began to be desegregated, a famous event of this was in Little Rock Arkansas were 9 African American students were formally enrolled in a previously all-white high school. Countless other examples of people fighting against racism would help lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed all discrimination based on features, race, religion, sex, national origin. It also enforces desegregation and the right to vote. This was a huge advancement and is proof that we have begun to overcome racism. While it was a big step, it would not overcome racism.
While racism has not been overcome, many people still fight against it and for their rights. Many events in the past have helped lead the way and further progress in fighting back, but many still face racism. Recent events like the Death of George Floyd have sparked new protests and many new voices trying to spread their message. Events like these prove that racism still exists today, but many are still trying to stop and overcome it.
Believing one race is superior to another and therefore discriminating against others based on this belief is racism. Racism has existed for hundreds of years, even before the Europeans discriminated against the Native Indians once finding North America. However, one would think that in our modern world, racism would be something which we read about in history books, not witness with our own eyes. In 2020 America we have definitely not overcome racism as a whole, but it is also hard to say to which extent we have overcome it.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. However, this law has not been upheld by countless people over the years. Just a few days ago, the whole world witnessed and became aware of the unfair death of another African American because of police brutality. Police Brutality dates back to around 1976 and has been a major issue in the U.S. ever since. Not only is it a civil rights violation but often enough it leads to the death of the civilian which they are harming. George Floyd died due to a police officer having him lay face down on the street and then kneeling down on his neck causing Floyd to stop breathing. This shows that although we have a law banning discrimination it is not upheld and is only continuing the racism in the world.
While African Americans have been experiencing this for years and more extremely recently, Hispanics, Asians and more have also been harmed with racism. In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act banned the Chinese from entering the United States. Years later we had the Japanese internment camps during WW2 due to the Pearl Harbor Bombing. During this time the Jewish as well as others were also experiencing one of the worst genocides in history while being transported to concentration camps throughout Europe. Years later we had the segregation of Whites and Blacks in America with the Jim Crows Laws. Although there was a “separate but equal” law passed, African Americans were definitely not treated equally in comparison to whites. While these are just a few examples of the racism the world has experienced over the last 150 years, I would’ve thought that people could’ve learned from these horrible and atrocious actions and make a change in the world. However even in modern day America racism is experienced everyday and sad to say, I believe we are far from the finish line which is the end of racism. However it is also hard to judge because we just recently experienced another horrendous act of discrimination and if you had asked me in 1963 when Martin Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech my answer will definitely have been different or when Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus in 1955. While we are constantly evolving and there is constantly a change being made, there are also continually instances where we take three steps back in the wrong direction. For this reason, I can’t give a concrete answer as to what extent we have overcome racism, I am only sure of the fact that we haven’t yet and are most likely far from it.
I think that we have somewhat overcome racism in America, but some things are causing it to remain a force in society. The Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s saw the end of racist laws from the past, and things like poll taxes, Jim Crow, and lynchings aren’t seen in society today. Every citizen in America has the same ability to vote and elect leaders and everyone has the same constitutional protections. This leaves the disputed forms of racism, such as income disparity, police brutality, and the “school to prison pipeline”. At the first glance, these seem like massive issues of racism, but in my opinion there is much more nuance involved in these problems. For example, with the wealth gap, part of the issue is that in many urban areas, education isn’t valued as highly as it is in more wealthy areas. Part of the reason for this is the lack of school funding for urban areas, which is a result of the low incomes in the area, which itself is partly a result of a lack of school funding (pipeline), along with the low average wealth of black families directly following the civil rights movement. This is a vicious cycle of poverty, but it isn’t indicative of systemic racism, but rather an oversight in the period following desegregation. If states and the Federal Government raised the minimum level of funding for schools, this issue would be vastly improved, as the income raised from a community would be less impactful on the quality of education. Eventually this would lead to a rise in urban incomes, including black incomes. Police brutality is probably one of the last instances of racism that can actually be shown to be real. As we’ve seen with George Floyd, there are police officers that really shouldn’t be wearing a uniform. But racist police officers aren’t the norm. Yes, accounting for population, black people are more likely to be killed by police than whites. But this isn’t wholly caused by racism, part of the issue is also that many poorer, predominantly black areas statistically have more violent crime than wealthier, predominantly white areas. This increases the risk for shootings in these poorer areas. What we have is an issue of police brutality, not always racially motivated. This issue is being resolved, as police departments implement body cameras and more accountability for officers. However, many police departments have been slow to roll out these changes, and that is one of the biggest problems that is slowing down progress on this issue. The other biggest problem slowing down progress on racism is the prevalence of right/left wing identity politics, which seeks to divide people based on race, and keep us distracted from bigger societal issues, such as the tax evasion by the richest companies and billionaires. Overall though, racism isn’t very prevalent in society, and many of the biggest issues causing it to stay are being resolved.
“To what extent have we overcome racism?” is a weird question to me, how does one only somewhat overcome racism? And to say that someone or a country has just mosty overcome racism sounds like it’s an excuse for the racism still there because they’ve overcome the majority of racism (though I’m not sure how one exactly measures racism). When people say that their grandma is just a little racist, they’re still racist, so that’s why I’m avoiding the question.
I think America is still racist, to what extent is what I can’t clearly describe. To the extent that we’re no longer enslaving people for their skin color, but not to the extent that our police don’t murder people for it. We’ve embraced black culture through so many ways in music, fashion, entertainment and others ways. However Americans have been intrigued by the culture long before 2020, the reason Elvis became so popular is because he was able to bring a typically African American style of music to popularity to all of America because he was white. In the Elvis era Jim Crow Laws were still a thing. This is an example of people loving the culture of a race but not actually loving the people within it, and many people are noticing the same trends today. By today, I actually mean today as people are noticing those who are willing to speak up about their favorite black artist’s new album but remain silent about the BLM movement and injustice happening. And we know about the disproportionate amount of black people in jail and prison, and how the education system may be setting them up for that kind of life or how the police target them. There is clearly a great disadvantage for black Americans as they are not treated as equal in many situations and they are targeted and discriminated against.
But racism in America is not just against African Americans, we’re seeing an increase of racism towards Asains. It’s specifically targeted towards Chinese people, however since Americans aren’t exactly the most educated on the difference between most Asians, most are affected. This is because of the corona virus’s origin in China, and the media’s and president’s use of the name the “Chinese Virus”. This has very clearly turned many people against the Chinese and anyone of Chinese descent as people blame their country or a country their ancestors came from for this virus and everything that has come with it. We’ve seen racism and xenophobia against Asians with the Chinese Exclusion Act and many past immigration acts, and the dirty or afraid looks they’re given in public currently because of this virus is similar.
How I see it is that everyone has the potential to be racist if not everyone is a little racist unknowingly, and I think that it’s incredibly hard to change someone’s opinion especially if they don’t clearly know they have that bias. The cause with racism only within one’s head is the incredibly long list of stereotypes about all types of races, but mostly for poc. The ones for poc are far more prevalent and dangerous stereotypes as the stereotype that white people can’t dance hasn’t motivated any hate crimes, whereas stereotypes that portray black men as scary, have got countless amounts of them killed. This is an example of a stereotype that leads to actions, and there are lots of racial stereotypes today so it’s clear we have not overcome racism. We’ve lessened the obvious amounts of racists actions since the creation of the country, but not even close to eliminating these crimes and we’ve seen spikes in crimes compared to recent years so both internally and externally racism has not been overcome.
In the past few weeks especially we have seen many many times where we have not overcome racism in 2020 in america. There have been protests and riots all over the country where people are fighting for the lives of George Floyd, and other african americans killed by the police without valid reason. Since the 1960s, there was without a doubt more outward prejudice towards african americans. With that said, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t still prejudice towards african americans less outwardly. In our country today, I think that many people subconsciously have prejudice towards african americans and I think many people would rather pretend then be honest about this fact. We have seen this especially in situations of police brutality. The things that have recently happened are very saddening to think people could hurt someone just based on their skin color. We also see this in our economy, the average african american family income is significantly smaller than the average white family. Although all this bad stuff has recently reminded us that our country has a lot more to come in terms of equality for all people, I think that this is good. It is psychologically proven that in order to change, people need to realize there is a problem. If people don’t realize what they are doing isn’t right, they will never even have the idea to strive for change. I think the big problem behind this economic issue is that african americans are not provided with the same educational opportunities. This is a repeating process as well because in poor cities, they dont pay as high taxes because they don’t make as much money so the children of the parents who pay taxes won’t be able to have the highest quality of schooling. We can see examples of this down the road in detroit. We live in a very affluent community and just 20 minutes away people are struggling to put meals on the table. This problem is very hard because it is hard for poorer people to get out of poverty just because they aren’t provided with sufficient opportunities.With Obama being our president, our country was showing a lot of progress because we would not have had an african american president in the 60’s. With that said, a lot still needs to be dont on the issues of prejudice that we still seem to be heavily prevalent today in america.
Racism has been prevalent in America since the country was born. It started with the slave trade and the mistreatment of slaves on plantations across the country. Afrtican Americans have been fighting for equality on the homefront for hundreds of years, but they have not achieved divine equality. Although, they have made progress on many issues that pertain to the overarching problem of racism. We have moderately overcome racism today in modern America.
In 2008, the first African American President was elected to office. Barack Obama served two terms as the United States President. The top official in the United States government was an African American for 8 years from 2009-2017. This historic change made a difference in political diversity. The 2016 congress included a record high 52 black representatives. The gap is still a problem though. In the current President’s cabinet, Donald Trump, there is only one African American. Ben Carson is the only African American out of the fifteen cabinet members of Trump’s. This race gap is seen in many things today, not just politics. The NFL only has three black coaches currently; Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Anthony Lynn of the San Diego Chargers. The NFL made a proposition to give incentives to those teams who hire African American coaches. Also in this proposal, it would be required to interview a coach of a minority race when hiring a new coach. This would encourage to limit the unequal treatment of minorities in the league. This proposal was tabled by the owners, who are 93% white. This is a good example of how there is recognition of the problem, but yet the problem is still occurring today.
One thing that we continue to see is the police brutality amongst people of color. This problem has been relevant in the United States for a long time. During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, African Americans were harmed unfairly by police officers.This continues to be a problem today with incidents involving racist police officers hurting, and even unlawfully killing the black civilians. Colin Kaepernick protested this issue years ago by taking a knee at the time of the national anthem. He was heavily criticized for this and ultimately went unsigned by every NFL team. Now we see the issue coming up again, but this time protestors are not being so peaceful. They are angry and will not let this issue continue to ruin the lives of innocent African Americans. Racism is still in todays society, but changes throughout the country are dethroning the beliefs.
In my opinion, I believe that we have not overcome racism yet. To what extent? I believe that we have not overcome racism simply due to the fact that we still have a lot of racists in our country. To be more clear, statistics show that most racists are older white males, some WWII, Korean or Vietnam war veterans. Others born in the time period between the 1940s-1960s. Most of these older white males commit racially-charged crimes, which is still a real problem in this world. Another main factor that leads up to this gap is the problem with the Confederate generation. In the South, many older white men and women are part of families that were born raised racist, and were born into the Confederate heritage. In other words, they were born racist. Another huge problem is that of the Ku Klux Klan. In the North, states like Michigan and Ohio, there still remain KKK groups that still believe in an all-white America. How can we overcome racism when we still have racist groups like these. I believe that a big part of fighting this battle is fighting old traditions and ways that Southerners and Northerners still protect. Even though the Confederates had committed treason and were morally racist, Southerners still protest these facts, claiming that it is their “heritage” and they will not give it up. Obviously we have gotten past slavery and it is now illegal to be openly racist, we still have older, white, Southern/veteran families that are still a problem. These lead up to racially charged crimes. Another main problem: We have 18,000 police departments in our country. How can reform be possible? Think about that. As said by Andrew Yang, a solution to this problem would be to hire thousands of Federal agents to investigate police misconduct, sort of like a George Floyd police misconduct division of the DOJ with a budget of $6 billion a year. Let me be clear, I believe that reform is possible but we have a lot of work to do. African Americans have overcome the Jim Crow laws and have abolished slavery, and so much more. I believe the question points to us. To what extent have we, as a society, overcome racism yet? Are people ready to change? Are they ready to change their ways? Are they ready to change their racist culture? I believe that this problem all points to older white people, as they were the ones born into a racist culture. I believe that this question points to older veterans, as they were the ones that were born in a time period where racism thrived in the military. I believe that this question also points to the Southern Confederate generations, as they were born into a culture of hate, lies, and treason. In conclusion, I believe we have not overcome racism yet, to the extent that older white people must be willing to change their ways. Until then we will finally stop these racially-motivated crimes. Until then we will finally crush these racial slurs. Until then we will finally stop the killing of Innocent African-Americans. Until then we will finally overcome racism.
Sadely, America as a whole has not done well at overcoming its racist past to a far enough extent. Systematic prejudice still occurs due to several factors as well as individual prejudice. Policing remains one of the largest systematic forms of racism in America today. Data collected by Pew Research in 2016 (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/01/how-wealth-inequality-has-changed-in-the-u-s-since-the-great-recession-by-race-ethnicity-and-income/) concluded that white households have ten times more wealth than black households. This can be partially explained by the socioeconomic impacts of America’s past as black households have always been historically financially disadvantaged. Police officers and their departments often earn financial incentives for arrests, civil forfeiture seizures, and other events. This incentive causes black communities, which are poorer on average, to be much more heavily policed as poorer communities typically have greater crime rates (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html) than wealthier ones. Specifically, police are incentivized to lie in order to take a person’s money, their vehicle, or other property. Racist mindsets of individuals are far too common today, but shouldn’t be too surprising. The Baby Boomer generation was born prior to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s and grew up in a largely racist era. Not only are many of that generation still alive today, but their children (who may have been taught their parents’ racist ideology) are too. The riots today show us how much disconnect the public has from police when it comes to racial tensions. I personally do not think that the riots will be effective as they give no motive for police to change. In fact, the increase in rioting has only increased the need for police officers to work more (and, if paid hourly, earn more).
Setting aside the very current events, our society has made some progress as a whole. One of the best examples of this is that we had an African-American president for two terms. In addition, many other political office positions are filled with those who are not caucasion.
It is also important to continue the mass understanding that it is socially unacceptable of racist thoughts being expressed publicly.
To summarize, our society has worked to reduce systematic racism and continues to do so today. Racism between individuals, however, is yet to be properly addressed except for those so absurdly racist in public made famous through video recordings of them going viral. We must continue to advance our society, but we have most certainly made progress since the Civil Rights Movement.
I think that compared to the time of the colonies and the start of America , African Americans today in the United States have overcome a lot of the racism, but there is still racism in America and african Americans and other minorities still have a long way to go. When it first became a country, the United States were extremely racist. Slavery was being used and practiced by a lot of states and they kept kidnapping and importing people from africa to turn them into slaves. The institution of slavery lasted for nearly 100 years in america and slave owners were not willing to peacefully put an end to it. Even after the civil war and the abolishment, parts of America like the south refused to accept African Americans and tried to keep them oppressed with organizations like the KKK and laws like the black codes and the Jim Crow Laws. Even 100 years later again, it took millions of people and years of protests to put an end to these laws that discriminated black people and limited their civil rights. It took america 200 years to give full citizenship and civil rights to african americans. This shows how much African Americans have overcome racism, but even today, a long time after the abolishment of slavery and jim crow laws,African Americans still suffer a lot from racismin the united states. There are still racist people in America, with the majority being older white people that don’t want to accept black people or other minorities for different reasons. Black people are also often the victims of racial profiling and violence, especially when dealing with the police as shown in recent events. Even if the jim crows laws do not exist anymore, in a lot of places in america, blacks are still separated from whites educationally, socially and economically. As shown in the graphs, there is still a massive wage gap between blacks and whites. African Americans and other minorities today make almost just a tenth of what the average american white family is making. White people and blacks are still segregated socially in a lot of places in America, where there are richer almost white only richer neighborhoods, and next to it poorer, almost black only neighborhoods. All this shows that america has come a long way fighting racism, but there are still issues in which there are still inequalities between african americans and whites.
In my opinion, I think racism has gradually improved since the birth of our country. But, there have been many instances that have made me rethink my position. With the ending of slavery, racism took a couple steps forward toward its end. But radicals always had to do something to antagonize blacks and make them seem inferior. Cases like Plessy vs. Ferguson showed how equal rights in society was distant, stating that separate but equal is ok. Groups like the KKK and white nationalists were also responsible for a rise in racism during their tenure. But with the rise in unity among African Americans, they were able to break segregation and move toward a future with more opportunity. Personally, I don’t think our country has overcome racism yet. Our country has seen cops and white people killing unarmed black men for no reason. We have seen incidents like Rodney King 1991 and were sure that they would never happen again. It’s crazy how racists act nearly 30 years ago are still going on today. Another thing we saw were the protests in Lansing, Michigan. White men marched into the capitol building with assault rifles and the President simply did nothing and commended them for their bravery for protesting. But when African Americans are being killed by police and they choose to protest, they are referred to as thugs. One question you should consider is if the protesters in Michigan were black, do you think they would’ve even made it into the capitol building? The biggest difference between racism in the past and racism today is that it’s hidden better. People who are ignorant know to hide that ignorance, as they’re likely to lose their job because people will demand consequences for it. Despite the racism being hidden better, the actions taken after are still pathetic. It takes months, sometimes years to convict a cop of something there’s video evidence of, but with a black man he’s convicted and executed before a crime is even committed. The cop who killed George Floyd was sentenced to 3rd degree murder, but why haven’t the 4 other cops been charged. It’s crazy how cops can bystand an event like this and not think something wrong is going on. It’s also sad to see our President do nothing but complain about looters and cities being burnt down, maybe if he addressed this issue properly he could bring a resolution and meet demands of protestors.
We have overcome racism to the extent where we can say, “we have made much progress in the decades following the civil rights movement, but there is still so much more change to be made.” Police brutality targeting blacks in this country far exceeds that against whites or any other minority. This type of police brutality has been ongoing for years, but the reason this last decade has witnessed so much of this aggressive, unjustifiable violence, is because we have cameras to film it.
In the last three months, two of the most vicious acts of overt racism and police brutality involved the killings of 25 year old, Ahmaud Arbery, and 46 year old George Flyod. Both were innocent victims of the systemic oppression of blacks in America. Protests have erupted across the nation aimed at the unfair treatment of black men by police, and the institutionalized racism in America. Starting with the justice system, African Americans have greater than a 1 in 4 chance of being incarcerated as compared to a 1 in 23 chance for white men. We are imprisoned at such disproportionate rates, which can only stem back to the time when our constitution was created on the backs of millions of slaves in this country. The constitution was made to benefit the white man, and it is still doing that more than 200 years later. In just the last couple months, evidence of this racially targeted agenda has been uncovered with the alarming numbers of blacks and minorities dying from covid, the continued racial violence inflicted on the black community, and police brutality in the wake of technology. New data shows that blacks are more likely to die from Covid-19 as compared to whites. In the inner cities, where high numbers of blacks and minorities are concentrated, hospitals see majority of those patients. My dad, who works at the VA hospital downtown, recalls about 80% of his patients being black. I can draw parallels from these recent findings, to the problems facing minority populations in inner cities dating back to the early 1800s. With discrimination in the workplace, lack of financial stability for blacks, and the economic wealth gap, and racially targeted violence, America too often, in 2020, only tends to see the aftermath of the systemic racism that categorizes this country. When it has been occurring for longer than we want to imagine.
George Flyod, an innocent black man, was brutally murdered under the same system that continues to disproportionately murder black men. But now we have it on film. Protestors around the country are tired of seeing the same things happen time and time again. On the third night of protests, black news reporter, Omar Jimenez, was covering these protests when he was arrested, LIVE, for what is still inclusive. They claimed to not know who he was, although he provided his credentials on air for the millions of watchers to see. The white reporter, also from CNN, was questioned, but not arrested. In real time, we are seeing this discrimation unfold. On the positive side, I think our generation is more open to diversity and more aware of the racial injustices that plague this country. As years progress, I hope to only see change for the better. But we have to remind ourselves, we are now seeing the product of systemic racism in 2020, of the 400 years this has continued to carry on, the parts that weren’t filmed.
But we have to remind ourselves, we are now seeing the process and the product of systemic racism. The process being the deaths of innocent black men on camera. The product being the looting, the fires, the racial aggression in protests in current time. But for the 400 years of institutionalized racism that wasn’t filmed, we never saw the process. So much of our history was never shown, so much racially motivated police brutality was never filmed, and to that point, to overcome racism, we still have such a long way to go.
No we have not, look at the state of america now, It’s complete chaos and unjust. Black people being killed by police and being killed for going on a jog in the neighborhood. It’s stupid how long this has been going on and what just because the color of skin. Yes we have come some ways from 100 year ago. But now there are people just acting like racism isn’t wrong and it’s fine to oppress another group of people by race. And now with the protection and riots. Now I personally as a woman of color see it as fair because those same white people would not like to be in the situation of a person of color. The fear of being pulled over by a white police officer and shot, for just being a certain skin color. Though even so the cops are less likely to get away with it but they could. I do also feel that the outlook for black people has been expanding as stated even now groves have an african american history class. With having that as a class it shows the step ahead. To be quite honest I’m really sick of it personally I’m not a patient person. From slavery to police brutality, such a change. The changes have been for the best but not all have been in the best way possible. To an extent though it’s heading for the bright side. The process is moving but personally I think it will take much more time to completely get over racism.
Because I do understand change takes time. My only question with that is how many more will die before change comes? How many more lives will be lost?
“we should look at Black Americans as champions of perseverance.” don’t look at us as champions just yet our fight still isn’t over and will not be for much longer. I think it’s great that there are white people trying to help the black lives matter movement. It isn’t that we want black lives to matter more than others, we want them to all be valued equally. In the end I sure do hope that everyone can just be at peace with each other. There is no point for racim to be at all. Like what is the true reason doesn it make others feel better to have power over another group of people. Or what could be the reason to hate so much.
This question is hard to answer as we are certainly being biased by what we have been seeing on the news and noticing on social media. Don’t get me wrong, police brutality has always been a problem that shouldn’t have even existed in the first place, however it is now being recognized on a stronger and more national spotlight. People have witnessed, heard, and suffered from the racial injustices performed by police, and finally everyone is almost unified to put an end to this horrible racism. The question of have we overcome racism yet I would certainly say no to, however with the modified question proposed I am unsure of my answer. I think to an extent we have headed in the right direction to begin overcoming the racism in our country, but much more action is needed. Certain issues racism proposes, such as the Jim Crow Laws, have been overturned and are now perceived as a horrendous crime. Despite this, I feel as though racial inequality is a much more modern topic, so modern acts are what is needed to be considered in this debate. Having the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, certainly was a progressive move and made it feel as though society had taken a positive step in the right direction. This however certainly didn’t solve any existing problems. I feel as though the extent of overcoming racism fluctuates and that the country at one point may take a step in the right direction, but then takes two steps in the wrong direction. To make an impact, the two steps backward have to stop and they instead in turn need to be in the right direction. I think with a greater technologically impacted society, it is much easier to spread news and make it known that actions can be taken by citizens to try and change what is happening. Celebrities now have huge following, as well as influencers, so when everyone unites to take a stand, the world will listen. I believe we, as a country, have all of the tools necessary to start fixing what has been broken in society for so long, but that effort hasn’t yet been put into motion. People have always fought for what they believed in, such as racial inequality, but strength in numbers here is important to do what’s right. Being a white female, I couldn’t never put myself in one’s shoes who has a different skin color than me, and I can’t imagine what it would feel like, but I want what these people are experiencing to end and to make it known that EVERYONE deserves to be treated equal in this society.
I think that the United States has made some strides to overcome racism but we are still far from completely overcoming it. In the legal sense, everyone is treated equally no matter what their race is. However, I think that society has yet to overcome racism.
Since the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s, massive steps have been taken in the fight against racism. We have overcome racism in our laws, Racist laws, such as the Jim Crow laws, are no longer in place. African American’s voting rights are protected and there are no longer literacy tests or poll taxes. In the past these were purposefully used to limit how many African Americans could vote but the twenty fourth amendment ended this. We have started to see more African Americans and other minorities in office. People such as Barack Obama and Brenda Jones. There are no longer segregated places, anyone can go to whatever church, school or restaurant they want.
Although the United States has made great strides to overcome racism on paper, that progress isn’t always reflected in society and the way some people act. One of the most prominent examples of racism in our society right now is police brutality towards African Americans, such as George Floyd. African Americans make up 24 percent of those killed by police in 2019 and yet they make up only 13 percent of the United States’ population. African Americans also have a disportionately higher death rate from Covid 19. For example, in Michigan African Americans make up 14 percent of the population but 41 percent of Covid 19 deaths. There are still examples of structural racism in our society today like how there are only 4 black CEOs in all the Fortune 500 companies, according to Business Insider. This reflects how many positions of power are held primarily by white men. For example, every vice president that the United States has had has been a white man. This shows how this isn’t an equal representation of African Americans. There are also other factors such as the school to prison pipeline, which can negatively affect black students and their opportunities. These students might not be getting the same learning opportunities and chances to succeed that other kids in the country are.
In conclusion, the United States has made progress towards overcoming racism but there are still a lot of problems in our society and we still have a ways to go before we can finally say we have ended it.
I feel that the issue of American racism (and how far we have overcome it) is multi-faceted in the issues which arise from it. First, to understand all of it in the context in which it should be discussed, we should understand how far we have come. While Obama became the first black president in January of 2009, the first black presidential candidate was Frederick Douglass in 1848[https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_United_States_presidential_and_vice_presidential_candidates], and while the levers of power may remain in the hands of white Senators, those Senators must listen to their black constituency or be removed from that position of power. Despite this, however, there are aspects of life for those discriminated against which are truly depressing. 70% of all in-school arrests are black or Latino, and so is 61% of the prison population, completely disproportionate to total population numbers[https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/education_futures/2015/08/5_facts_everyone_needs_to_know_about_the_school-to-prison_pipeline.html]. The system disproportionately fails those who have historically been victims of American racism, and it is clear that this mistreatment of juveniles’ futures is the result of that same sad cultural disgrace. While we have triumphed over conventional slavery, prisoners do still perform labor for little to no pay, and large amounts of that prison population has been funneled into that work situation by the school to prison pipeline which has already been shown to be the result of racism. Additionally, when victims of racism are employed conventionally, it has also been shown that they are underpaid for the work they perform or assigned to less involved work simply because the work appropriate for their skillset pays more (this second method is especially prevalent in Silicon Valley computer technology firms and corporations)[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/technology/google-gender-pay-gap.html][https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/05/oracle-allegedly-underpaid-women-minorities-by-million-now-details-are-set-come-out-court/]. The sad fact is that these issues have been continuing for some time, and it is only now that we are sufficiently equipped to recognize our failings which stem from a racist lack of impartiality in American politics, criminality, and economics. However, there is also a positive note to these discoveries, which is that these injustices were discovered in the first place. The rate at which injustices are being uncovered and fixed seems, from my point of view, to be both fast and increasing. Yes, we have had only one black president of 45, but that president was in office within the last 5 years, and served a full eight year term. Merely the fact that discussion is occurring on these issues during the education of the next generation is also a positive sign for the future, and while it is my personal, pessimistic belief that there will always be some form of biased evil which exists as part of human nature, it is also my belief that humans cannot freely pursue their own happiness knowing others cannot, and so long as we know of injustice we will fight it. To summarize, there is always going to some form of injustice in the world, but our society is accelerating the rate at which we minimize that injustice.
Although I don’t believe that we have fully overcome racism in any area, I do believe racism has been significantly eradicated in civil/political life. If we look back into American history we can see the amount of rights and abilities that African Americans have gained. Post-civil war, most southern African Americans could not vote. This was for multiple reasons, one being that they were given very hard literacy tests, another being violent mobs at polling centers. We have come a long way since then. Now any American citizen over the age of 18 can vote. You don’t need to pass a test or any angry mobs, because the right to vote has been secured not only legally but also in execution. Another massive racist practice that has been eradicated is segregation and Jim Crow laws. Segregation took a long time to overcome, but the fact that it is gone shows that we have come a long way. For the most part, people can now live peacefully together and benefit from it. I also think the increased diversity that comes from not being segregated probably allows people to fight racism better. It’s harder to dehumanize and easier to sympathize with people who you are around often. Segregation was another area where legality and execution differed because even once segregation was ruled unconstitutional, it was still present in many areas for a while. The last thing that shows we have come a long way in politics and civil life is the election of former president Barrack Obama. The fact that that the majority of people in the US voted for a black president means a lot. It shows that the country is getting more accepting of others, and it shows that African Americans can have a lot of power in the government. Unfortunately, things aren’t even close to perfect. Like it was said in the blog post, Congress is about 80% white. Considering that white people only make up about 60% of the country, that is not proportional. There are other problems as well. African Americans often aren’t given the same treatment by police. Just recently, a man in Minneapolis was killed by a cop. There is no justification for this. Even though legally a police officer can’t kill a man both unarmed and not resisting arrest, not to say they can kill anyone who resists arrest, getting rid of this issue falls apart in execution. That’s the biggest thing we have to overcome. As long as we have a society that is systematically racist, people will be able to bend the rules. We have to work to make the laws and how we execute those laws the same. Something specific that needs to be made that way is police brutality. When people can’t trust or are fearful of those who are supposed to protect them, we have a problem, and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Very recently we as a country have been facing a lot of turmoil on the subject of racism. There have been innocent African American people killed by members of law enforcement, when they had done nothing wrong. The public has begun to lose trust in law enforcement. They are supposed to be there to make you feel safe, but lately it has made people feel more uncomfortable and more in danger. The Black Lives Matter movement has been non-stop fighting, whether it be peaceful marches or rioting/looting. People of other races have been trying to uplift the All Lives Matter movement, yet most people see it as degrading to the Black Lives Matter movement. When the cultural group that has been targeted and hurt the most, the African American community, has gotten the justice and equality it deserves, we can move on to working to promote the All Lives Matter movement. But right now, it is seen as putting down the importance of Black Lives Matter.
Based on the events of George Floyd and many other black citizens who have been wrongfully convicted, injured, or killed, racism has yet to subdue, let alone disappear. Not only has the treatment of the African American community not been even remotely okay, they usually get paid less, get less representation in government, and are expected by some to improve themselves by adopting “white” culture. I heard something very powerful spoken by a member of the African American community that other cultures and ethnicities love to enjoy black culture, such as music, clothes, and hairstyles, but when it comes to helping them fight through discrimination that they face everyday.
Although we have obviously made huge progress since the Civil Rights movement, by abolishing the Jim Crow laws, and significantly reducing participation in groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups, racism will always be prominent and will always be a big deal no matter how “little” the amount may seem. Racism is still racism, and it is still present in our culture today. And there will always be that small percentage of people who will refuse to change their viewpoint, but if we join together to fight it, we will be able to drown those voices out. I believe that we have the power to overcome racism, but we will never be able to eliminate it, and that’s the sad truth.
Although we have progressed throughout the decades, racism still clearly has not been “overcome” by any means. I feel as though one of the biggest issues is that although we have the laws that should ensure the equal treatment of all races, it does not occur due to subconscious prejudices and systemic oppression. It is so often clearly seen how races are not treated equally, as seen with the recent events of the murder of George Floyd. However, he is unfortunately not a part of an unfortunate few, but rather, part of a huge group of people who are discriminated against. As of 2018, the number of hate crimes committed was 7,120, with 59.6% of those crimes being related to race and ethnicity. Within that percentage, African Americans are the most likely to be faced with a hate crime. Now, many are taking a stand with the Black Lives Matter Movement, with people of all races participating in these protests and riots. IT must be recognized that we are not over racism, racism has been consistent with America’s history for the longest time. Even with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, fulfilment of this law has been failing constantly. The Department of Labor has studies showing that the unemployment rate is higher amongst black workers, and also shows that black workers spend longer trying to find jobs compared to their white counterparts. Whether many want to admit it or not, a high amount of people unconsciously stereotype others. Whether good or bad stereotypes, at the end of the day, these ideas are harmful overall to all races. It creates a deep rooted prejudice in many, which is a reason we witness so much police brutality towards the African American community. It is not only African Americans that deal with hate crimes however, especially during the CoronaVirus epidemic, where several reports of Asian Americans being attacked due to the CoronaVirus’ origin being known as China. This is another disgusting example of prejudicing. Middle-easterners have been stereotyped as terrorists, a result of 9/11. These are only a few examples out of many. Unfortunately, we have yet to overcome racism, but hopefully in light of these recent protests and riots, we’ll be able to get closer to lessening it. Although I believe we won’t be able to fully overcome it anytime soon, I believe that we will one day be able to finally destroy the systemic oppression and prejudice that we have within the country.
With the heartbreaking recent events, I’ve taken a break from many things in my life to sit down and educate myself even further on the social injustices and racism in our “great” country, and I’ve learned a lot more. Yes. Racism is very much still prevalent in today’s society. Of course, when you compare it to racism in earlier America, there is a massive change, but not a disappearance.
However, even just this week’s events have clearly shown that we have not overcome racism. From white supremacy, systematic racism put in place, white privilege, and our current president… There are strong examples of modern day racism in our country. Throughout history, racism has been a large problem that has affected our country since the beginning.We have started to overcome racism, but have not fully overcome it. Many people have fought against racism throughout history, and overtime, support for the old and new groups and people fighting has grown. Of course, the “socially unacceptable” racist actions such as lynching, hate crimes, blackface, use of derogatory terms, racist jokes, the KKK and Neo-Nazis, although still here, have decreased significantly.The racism in this country is prevalent, but hidden, and oftentimes “socially acceptable”. Instances such as systematic discrimination and racism in place, such as unequal pay, differences in treatment by the justice system, many people’s “white savior complex”, mass incarceration, respectability policies, eurocentric school curriculums, phrases such as “i don’t see color”, police brutality, and, as seen a LOT this week, white people telling POC “what if the roles were reversed” and other ignorant comments, prove the very much occurring day to day racism in the US. After so many years of racism, poor treatment of people of color and violence against them, all communities of color want, and deserve, is equality, and America won’t allow them even this. Police brutality and racism in the police force are a big issue in the country, which is finally getting addressed. After a history of police brutality against people of color, it’s obvious that people are mad, and standing up for what’s right. There’s no reason my black friends, or any minority in america, should be scared to walk by a police officer, even after having done anything wrong.The police system is corrupt and change is needed, fast. As someone who, along with many others, has seen white privilege play out, I strongly believe it’s impossible to say racism and discrimination aren’t a issue in America.
As of the year 2020 race relations between people has improved in comparison to the 19th and 20th centuries. However, no, racism has not been overcome yet, and is very alive and well. The racism that minorities face today is more institutionalized and systematic which means racism is expressed in social and political situations, differences between wealth, income, criminal justice treatment, employment, housing, health care, political power and education. If one was to look closer at housing in predominantly black communities they would find that the houses are generally older, the neighborhoods are faced with more litter, and oftentimes there are little to no hospitals, nor grocery stores where residents in those areas can buy fresh produce. But facilities that are commonly found are the several fast food restaurants, and liquor stores in those areas. Because of those reasons diseases such as diabetes, asthma, lung cancer, high blood pressure, and so much more attack the black community disproportionately. Education systems are evidently poorer in more ethnic and minority filled communities. I have experienced this personally coming from a less funded school in southfield where we used old textbooks, old materials, and had no computers, to Birmingham public schools where almost every school resource was available, and everything seemed so new and up to date. People that grow up and go to school in these more ethnic filled communities usually have less educational opportunities, which means a lower chance for a good job, which leads to a lower income. A huge problem that the black people face today is the criminal justice system which has continued to fail the black community time and time again. Looking at percentages, African-Americans make up only 13% of the population in America, but make up 38% of the prison population, 31% of all people killed by the police,are 4 times as likely to be searched when being stopped by a cop, and African-American youth are 9 times as likely to receive and adult prison sentence than white youth. These numbers prove to be disproportionate in regards to the total population of black people in America thanks to racial profiling, discrimination and police brutality. In today’s society people love to praise so many aspects of black culture. Whether it’s our contributions to the music, fashion and entertainment industries or the food, dance trends and hairstyles we have. Still, the same love and energy is not brought forth when people hear about the injustices attacking the black community especially police brutality. On a more positive note, the protests for George Floyd and the #Black Lives Matter movement in general united so many different groups, from hispanics, whites, blacks, asians, and Native Americans to witches and even the Amish. This shows that society as a whole is ready to move towards a more equal and united future.
It would be disrespectful to say that black people have not come a long way since the start of America. It would seem to negate all the work that my ancestors, my grandparents, and all the wonderful black people that existed before me did to make America as good as it now. I am definitely not saying that America is kind and just towards black people, because that is untrue. We have not overcome racism, honestly we have just started to tackle it, and we have a while to go. The problem is racism is so deeply embedded in the foundation of America, we have to dig deep in order to solve the problem. We will never even get to our goal if we do not break the silence and the comfort of not talking about it.
You might say that “ well we are segregated, and black people Aren’t being lynched, slaved, killed by kkk mobs, or not allowed in certain places”, well that is partially true, we are still segregated, have you heard about redlining, or have you noticed that in schools in upper class towns how there isnt alot of black students. That is still segregation, “ but they have the opportunity to go to school there if they want to”, you might be correct, but that still is flawed, most black people are in certain communities, and if you try to get into one of those schools, might be denied, or if they happen to be accepted, might not be able to pay tuition. “ then that might be an issue of poverty more than race” yes, but statistically there are more impoverished black people than any other race in America even though Black people make up around 10% of the American population.
The mistreatment of black males is the worst part of racism. Ever since black people have been given apparent freedom, America has found every way to screw over black people. Concealed carry laws, prisons, policing, educational programs, and the justice system create ways to keep black men where they are. In ethnic neighborhoods public schools are underfunded and teachers do not want to work there because of the ‘danger’. Everyone knows that education is important, but how are you supposed to get a decent education if there isn’t a teacher, or books, or technology? What if instead of educating you you get sent to prison? This is what happens. If you don’t have an education what job is going to hire you? Maybe a minimum wage job, however minimum wage isn’t enough to support even your basic needs. So what do you do? You could either get another job or turn to crime. That isn’t a way to live.
We all know that cops have been killing innocent black men and women during routine traffic stops or even in their own home. That is disgusting. I shouldn’t have to worry about my brother’s and father’s uncle’s safety while they go anywhere. Police should be protecting the public and not killing the public, but it always seems that they shoot first and ask questions later. The absolute cruelty of police officers towards black men is uncalled for. It seems that they enjoy hurting the community. And the worst thing is that these murderers get paid leave, and are not guilty because they “feared for their life”. Don’t you think the man you killed feared for his life while staring down the barrel of a gun? I call B.S. All of these shootings have really desensitized the world, its like another black man gets killed everyday and it’s just a part of the routine. Maybe you feel something for a minute but then it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t really affect you.
All lives do matter, but until black lives matter, this is mockery saying “black lives don’t matter sit in your place and be quiet”
On a superficial level, the integration of multiple races in (for example, a classroom setting) is socially acceptable in most parts of the country. But there is a considerable amount of implicit bias, ignorance, access issues, and policies/practices that still uphold racial disparities after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Let us focus on one example (mentioned in the blog post): the wealth gap between whites and non-whites (specifically, African Americans and Hispanic Americans). It has been known and proven that economic disparities because of race was an issue before and during the Civil Rights Movement, as well as afterwards. In fact, equality in economic opportunity for all races was one of the things being fought for during the movement. So, this alone shows that one of the biggest effects of racism still exists today. Not everyone, however, acknowledges the problem, and many are split over what exactly is the cause. First off, the failure to acknowledge the wealth gap between whites and non-whites shows that racism exists today in people’s minds as well. Not only do they fail to acknowledge the wealth gap, but some believe that the wealth gap is caused by non-whites, because of the values of their specific racial culture. The blaming of non-whites for their problems that are caused due to an unjust system was also a racist mentality that existed before and during Civil Rights. Consequently, this proves that racism still exists today both in the form of economic disparities, and in some Americans’ minds.
As a result of the perceived success of the Civil Rights Movement and Barack Obama as the first African-American (incumbent) president today, many non-African American citizens can believe that the problem of racism is very small, if not nonexistent. This might not be so different from the Civil Rights Movement, where even though the 13th/14th Amendments were passed, racism still existed. In reality, racism during both of these times just took different names. For example, slavery became sharecropping and the prison system that we know today. “Separate but equal” was just another way to keep African Americans as “the other”, and made sure that they remained oppressed. Although it is perceived that white supremacy and lynchings have gone away, it still exists (lynchings just becoming shootings). Furthermore, the illusion that the problem of racism is less than it is (amongst non-African Americans) has persisted during and after the Civil Rights Act.
Does it matter how far we’ve come from past racism to recent racism if people are still being killed and disrespected because of their skin color? There’s so many stories of police being a source of fear with good reason told just from my family’s lives to know that it’s a scary thing being black. There’s no support for black people when they fall, either financially or mentally. Places that do help with that are expensive and they have no access to those places. Racism in general mostly comes in the form of generational acceptance towards people of color is mind-blowing seeing as no one chose to be not white. Racism hasn’t dissipated as if having one black president shows that (especially since the first woman, Michelle Obama, had to endure outrageously racist insults the entire time she was in the office with her husband).
Systems in America have shown that black people, especially, are not valued. Most of the time black people are seen on T.V., they are only seen as the directors token for saying “I don’t hate black people”. There has to be a reason for black people, or any person of color, is casted as a main role unlike how white people are always the obvious choice. People were so disturbed to find out the live-action children’s fairytale, Ariel, was going to be played by a black woman. POC representation is scarce. So when people start to hear about how black people are disadvantaged to other races in America, it’s not believed and mostly ignored. We have overcome racism only to the point of reaping the benefits from black people but not supporting them.
Racism is not always prominent so it goes unnoticed oftentimes but mostly ignored as well as written-off. It’s a system that feeds from the downfall of others to make others seem superior, or simply to remind people of color that they have to work twice as hard to get half of what others have. As a black girl growing up in predominantly white surroundings for most of my life, phrases such as “you don’t sound like you’re black” or “you don’t act black” are very familiar to me. Although it might not seem astoundingly wrong, it gives the idea that “acting” black is wrong or that there’s a specific way people with darker skin act. These sayings group all black people together as if everything a single person is, only boils down to their skin color. It’s where racism started, not giving someone the chance to be who they are as white people have the chance to.
There are these stereotypes that take over people of color’s lives, especially black people, where anything else black people try to become is broken down to a label that they are never able to get rid of because they will always be thought of like that.
I think we have moved past the government passing laws that are directly racist (Jim Crow) and it’s now against the mainstream to be outwardly racist, though not much from there. Black people, to this day, are being imprisoned for action (possessing weed) that two of the last three presidents have admitted to doing (Obama and Bush). The racially motivated prison pipeline system is ruining the lives of many black people because once they’re out of prison, it would be difficult for them to get jobs and in some states they lose their voting rights!
There’s also a system of poverty that affects people of color, which makes it harder for them to succeed in the world and is driven by the betterment of the wealthy so they become richer and the poor become poorer. There wealthy elites create a system that cuts funds for social programs helping the poor and people of color, leaving black people in poverty instead of elevating them past that through government help.
There’s also the police. No one who has watched/read the news this past week can say there’s no problem between the police and the people they are supposed to protect. It has been for too long that a police badge was a license to kill, but hopefully after this situation there will be more accountability, but probably not. This issue with police killing innocent black men has been going on for decades (GREAT GREAT film about racial tension called “Do The Right Thing” from 1989). While there are good cops out there, the Flint police chief comes to mind, there seems to be no accountability from mayors of justice departments when it comes to the many bad apples, and when the establishment goes around killing people unprovoked, the people will rise up against the establishment.
Another hurdle that has not been passed is how laws make it harder for black people and the poor to vote. Voter ID laws help restrict black voting, and the lack of voting places in inner cities as well as election day not being a national holiday means less black people have the time to go vote.
While there is promise that the government will uphold civil rights after the civil rights act was passed in the 60s, America is still a very different place for its citizens of color than it is for its white citizens.
Although we have taken steps to eradicate racism from American society in the mid-20th century, we’ve kind of plateaued in the last 56 years, and still have a long way to go until we’ve fully eliminated racism.
For example, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, put his inmates through absolutely appalling conditions, but what brought his reign of terror down was turning random latino people in to ICE for just existing. The court told him he couldn’t do it without justification, or face charges of contempt of court. When he didn’t comply with that ruling, and was arrested, President Donald Trump used the first presidential pardon of his administration on the former sheriff.
Over the past few years, there’s been a disturbing increase in unjustified murders of people of color. The death of George Floyd is a testament to how large this issue is. We’re in the middle of a nationwide crisis and global state of emergency, and only now have we decided to actually address a fundamental flaw in our society. This is one of the more recent examples of thousands of Americans killed by the police. After finding that the FBI undercounted records on the details of police shootings by around half, The Washington Post decided to make their own database. According to the database, around 1,000 people have been shot and killed by the police every year for the past five years. I don’t know what the total population is to compare that roughly 5,000 people to, but I do know that it’s much too high for a country that prides itself on being the “land of the free”.
Finally, the existence of Confederate monuments, and more recently, the removal of those monuments and the outcry from white southerners due to said removals. According to Last Week Tonight’s episode on this topic, there are over 700 monuments glorifying Confederate leaders, with 10 Army and Navy Bases named after them. Although some of these statues were dedicated in the years preceding the American Civil War, most of them were built in the 1890s-1910s, during the advent of the Jim Crow laws, with another popular dedication time being around the ‘50s and ‘60s. These statues weren’t made to commemorate the recently fallen, they were made to send an incredibly hostile message to the African-American people of this country.
Overall, this picture of America seems pretty bleak. However, there is some hope. The murder of George Floyd has sparked serious backlash from both sides of the aisle, and the officer that killed him is facing manslaughter charges. However small, change is finally starting to happen after years and years of public pressure. We are not at all close to overcoming racism, but if we put in the work, we can get ever closer
Racism has been a major problem that has affected our country for many years. Considering recent events, it is quite obvious that we have not overcome racism yet. We have taken steps to overcome it, but we still have a long way to go. Although there are a number of citizens who see white people and African Americans as equals, there are also people who believe that white is the superior race.
Even though African Americans gained rights as citizens in the 1960s, racism was never put to a stop. Unfortunately, there are many people who have racist views today. While the election of Barack Obama was not something we could have envisioned just sixty years ago, there continue to be innumerable instances in which African Americans are targeted and treated unfairly. Recently, there have been multiple instances of racist behavior which have made the national news. On May 25th, George Floyd was brutally murdered outside the grocery store by a white policeman while three other policemen watched. This attack was filmed by bystanders. On February 23, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African American man was shot while jogging. He was pursued by armed white residents who concluded that he “must’ve” committed a crime. Again, this was caught on video by a third party. On March 13, the Louisville police were executing a search warrant and used a battering ram to crash into the apartment of Breonna Taylor. She was a 26-year-old African American ER technician. After an altercation, she was shot eight times. Why the police would fire their weapons is a mystery. The brutality that African Americans have suffered at the hands of police is not new. In 2012, Treyvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old African American was shot while visiting his father in a gated community in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain who called 911 to report a “suspicious” person.
Although there are many disturbing events (like the ones listed above) that clearly demonstrate racist behavior, there are subtle ways in which people demonstrate their unconscious bias against African Americans. Unconscious biases are learned stereotypes or attitudes. These are unintentional, automatic, and within us. They impact our decision making and behaviors without us even knowing it. In order to make progress, everyone needs to inventory their unconscious biases and to make a conscious decision to address them. An example of an unconscious bias could be a name bias, whereby you have a preference for someone based simply on their name. A study found that white names receive 50% more callbacks than African American names. Realizing that this bias exists is a step in consciously overcoming it. Another bias is the affinity bias, which is a tendency for people to connect with others of similar backgrounds and experiences. This causes a lack of diversity as you interact with “like” people and exclude those that are not like you. It is only when we recognize our unconscious biases that we can improve and treat people truly as equals. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, said “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor. Never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” This quote can be seen as a call to action. We cannot stand silently and presume to support the oppressor.
I think that the United States has made some large steps to overcoming racism throughout history. However, we are nowhere near close to completely overcome it, if we can ever completely overcome it at all. While we have lessened the division between whites and people of color, the division is still there and it still has a large impact today. Racism comes from the people you grow up with and the people who teach you. It is something that is taught, not something you are born with. This is why it is important for teachers and parents to teach their students and children that just because a person has different colored skin than them does not mean that they are different, or should be treated any differently than they are. For some reason, this is still happening today. The police brutality in America shows how much of an impact this has on others. The murder of George Floyd served as a tipping point for the discrimination of African Americans and how poorly they were being treated. The protests that started in Minneapolis and are now spreading around the world show how much we have progressed as a country and a society. The protests also prove how prevalent racism still is today. As videos and stories start surfacing of the protests, people who were not aware of how large the issue was are now realizing it. Racism was sort of hiding, but now however it is all being revealed. It took 3 days of speaking out against the cop who killed George Floyd to get him arrested instead of just being fired. Who knows what would have happened if no one spoke out against him. These protests are revealing things about America that are not pleasant to anyone. The people in charge of our country are not dealing with them or responding in a good way at all. The protests are also revealing good things about the country too. Tons of white people have stood with black people in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hopefully, together we can bring some sort of change to the future or at least a greater realization of what is going on to the rest of the world. In conclusion, I think that America has come a long way but still has a long way to go when it comes to racism in the country and the rest of the world.
The United States has made little progress in overcoming racism today, in 2020. Our country has put effort into stopping racism, although it has made some progress, there is still an immense amount of racism lingering in the United States. Racism has always been our country and it will seem to remain this way for a long time.
The United States have experienced races coming together in multiple ways. For example, since the Civil Rights movement, the country has seen to fight against racism. Especially at this time, while Jim Crow laws, racial violence, and voting laws were active. So the Civil Rights movement was a big step forward.
Even though in the past, the United States has made big advancements in racism, recently there has been little to no progression. For example, there is a major wealth gap between whites and non-whites. This is because the world we live in has barriers between races, which affects incomes of other races than whites. Although the wealth gap has started to become less since 1965. Also the Congress still remains about 80 percent white, with only one black president out of the forty-five we have had.
Another example are the riots that are happening currently. Many people in the United States have emphasized the George Floyd incident. I don’t blame these people for the anger towards this situation. This exemplified a prominent example of racism in our country today. A caucasion officer choked a African American male for being accused of paying with a fake twenty-dollar bill. This event broke out into many riots around the country with the statement of black lives matter and police brutality. These riots have caused many disruption and violence throughout the country. Many people have started to come together during this time, by having all different races join together and show how they are equal. Especially because all people are carrying the message that black lives matter. This is something that all races have in common, which has united them. Although others have believed that this George Floyd incident has increased racism. SInce it was a white cop killing an innocent black man. This made it show the racism behind this cops actions, which sparked a revolt against the recurring topic of racism in our country.
One thing I have also noticed in our country is that the younger generations have progressed through racism more compared to older generations. For example, attending school at Groves has shown me perspectives of diversity, and how desegregated the school is. This has shaped me to be who I am now. These occurrences of whites and blacks meshing together will shape the United States future in a more desegregated and less racist way.
I believe that racism has come a long way from the beginning of this country, however we still have a long way to go. People of color have many more opportunities than they did 60 years ago. But, we still see these groups of people face scrutiny and prejudice. We did see great growth under the Obama administration. The first person of color to be elected president took office in 2008. It was a huge step forward for the africian american community. But, in recent days we have seen once again, just how divided some of us lie. We witnessed the brutal killing of an african american man, and this showed us that we still have a long way to go. African Americans are still experiencing police brutality, and we were sadly reminded of that with the tragic death of Geroge Floyd. African Americans have been the primary victims of police brutality for decades now. However, with advancing technology we are exposed to it more often. With all the developing tech, including phones, computers, and high speed internet, we see these events clearer and much faster. These events have always been happening, but now we are seeing them clear and uncut. People are always watching, and so are cell phones. Because people always seem to be recording, it has become harder to wrist the facts in favor of the abuser. This can be a good thing, because people are now getting the truth much faster than they used to be. But, this isn’t the only issue facing people of color. Statistically, schools with a lower population of white children tend to be underfunded. This can lead to a lack of help for the kids that attend these schools. And sadly, this leads many children of color to prison. They were not given the proper education and were not given the help they needed; whether that be proper teachers or a certified school counselor.
However, we still have many things to fix about the divide in our country, but we have come a very long way. Over the decades we have overcome the Jim Crow laws, and other laws oppressed people of color. We elected an african american president, and the numbers of afrcan american people in congress is steadily growing. I believe, as Americans, most of us are heading in the right direction. And slowly people are becoming more inclusive and understanding. But we aren’t out of the woods yet. But as long as we stay united and hear each other out, I believe we can overcome racism.
In 2020 as a country we have come a really long way when it comes to racism in our country. Racism currently is not tolerated by any public group or image. Any racist comment will cause you to lose your job, just like we saw professional nascar Driver Kyle Larson lose his job for saying a racial slur a few weeks ago, also any public figure who says something racist will instantly lose all their endorsement deals, and their image will be destroyed. This is all very good as there should be no tolerance for anything racially insensitive today. As a country we have made a lot of good progress from where we started, but we are still definitely not done. While racism in this country has not been getting work people are still being discriminated against every day in this country. I still think it is very good and good progress that today people gang up to stop racism of all races because everyone needs to help and change for us to make more good progress and really make racism unacceptable. I also think that the 2008 election of Barack Obama was a huge marker of the progress that we have made, but after that Obama worked hard to make things even better for all races, and decrease racial inequality. It is very sad how African Americans are still the subject of police brutality in this country. People shouldn’t feel scared of the people that are out there to protect, and the fact that people fear the police because of their race shows how much more progress we have left to go. I also think it’s sad that the police brutality isn’t getting worse its just being recorded and exposed by the technology that we have today. Its sad that it is just being labeled unnaceptable today because it was happening before the technology it just went unnoticed, that is why I think technology has caused a lot of good progress helping this country overcome racism. I think it is great that social media has labeled police brutality unacceptable, and is starting a movement to end this oppression, so there aren’t more innocent people like George Floyd who lose their life for no reason. While the issue of racism has been getting better and we have made a ton of progress as a country, we still have a ways to go to overcome racism, and we can’t stop now we need to keep fighting and standing up to racism
there is still a rampant amount of racism that occurs in our country. although we may have defeated the horrible system of slavery, and have enabled all if not most people to have the same rights and voting potential, there is still a lot of prejudice around the country and around the world. even though so much progress has been made with the gaining of the right to vote, and the abolishment of slavery in the past, racism is still here and influences everyone everyday. as you can see with the nationwide riots over a blatant racist incident, feelings are still well involved and will probably forever be involved with the conversation of racism.
in a way i think the racism is getting better, but it is getting shown more because of people having access to dash cams, body cams, cell phones, surveillance, there’s no way to do something so blatantly racist and not get caught and properly prosecuted now. there are many differences between the racism of the past and the racism of today, because back then they had lynchings and murder, where now there’s the internet where people float their insults to other people more discreetly. another main difference in the racism of the past and the now is that many more people are bringing up their children with a much more open minded version of the world, with much more acceptance. You cannot get away with the things you could do in the 1900’s, nowadays.
So overall yes racism has changed, and as a nation I think we have overcame the hardest parts already, and the country is in a long healing phase. As history is going right now, racially motivated attacks and movements are drastically decreasing, and are rare to find. the main things that are left that are still considered “racist” is exaggerated stereotypes of specific people and races. as well as the astounding difference in wealth distribution between races. The country is most likely going through a reform phase in which many things that have been wrong or bad, but not bad enough to get national attention before, will get exposed and essentially repaired. for example, the police brutality point got heated after the recent death of a Black man caught on video.
as for the question of have we overcame racism? I think the country will be on the correct path to overcoming racism and several other aspects that are holding the nation back. But it will all depend on the next few weeks and months with the governments reactions to the protests and riots.
Knowing the history of the United States, we have come a long way with racism. If you look back at pre revolutionary and pre civil war times, it was legal to be a racist. With that being said, now it’s not legal to be racist or keep slaves, but that doesn’t stop people from still being a racist. If you look at the timeline, the civil war ended in 1865 which ended slavery, but we had to wait about 100 years until African Americans got their civil rights. Schools started to desegregate, and many more African AMricans started to attend college. Even with that, they had to protest and start a movement. That’s even after fighting a war against one another 100 years prior. Even after the civil rights movement, there was no stop to racism, as we continued to see racist acts. For example, February 23rd, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African American man was shot while jogging. He was followed by a white man who shot him because he came to the conclusion that he had to have committed a crime. May 25th, George Flyod was brutally murdered by a police officer, as he was forcing his knee into his throat. Three other officers stood there not doing anything as George was murdered. After the murder of George Floyd, protests across America came about. These protests prove that racism is still around today, even though we claim that it is disappearing, with the election to an African American president, and the civil rights movement. These protests, in some areas have turned into riots. The riots have become violent and harmful to the citizens of the United States. These protests have brought more and more people together, and it has also proven how the government is responding to this. They are deciding to send in the National Guard and Trump is threatening to mobilize the army. He has also made a statement saying “Once the looting starts, the shooting starts”. This shows that the government may not have had the greatest response to these protests and riots.
Compared to what has happened since the revolutionary times. You can clearly see the improvements in the reduction to slavery. You saw the civil war which ended salvery once and for all. The desegregation of schools occurred. The civil rights movement and of course the first African American president was elected in 2008.
The United States has done a lot to try and overcome racism that plagues The United states of america. From the beginning of the colonies, African Americans were treated completely horribly. African Americans were taken captive and converted from a free person into slavery. African American were enslaved and treated as property for hundreds of years. At the end of the civil war was a huge thing that happened for African Americans. African Americans could no longer be enslaved. This was a huge progression in overcoming racism. Even though African Americans were no longer slaves, they were still treated like less than a human being. In the following years after the end of the civil war, The United States government started to amend amendments that gave rights to African Americans. This was another big step in overcoming racism. Even though those amendments gave African American rights they were still being oppressed by the state and local governments. African Americans were being oppressed by the Jim Crow laws, and the black codes. Eventually those laws get abolished. Then around a hundred years after the civil war ended, The Civil Rights movement was becoming huge. The civil rights movement did a whole bunch for the African American community. One major thing that happened was the desegregation of schools. The Little Rock Nine did that. Nine African AMerican students were the first to go into an all white school. That was a huge step in overcoming racism. Nowadays, things have changed quite a bit, African Americans are not enslaved, they have the same rights as you and me. Even oppression has gone down quite a bit, especially comparing it to the days when the Klu Klux Klan was at its height of power. Oppression is still a thing that Africans Americans have to deal with everyday. I am pretty sure that white people don’t have to be worried when they get pulled over while driving. African Americans are scared for their lives when they get pulled over. You don’t really ever see a white person just randomly get killed by a police officer. The list of African Americans that were killed for no reason by police officers is a really long list. To answer the question, to what extent has America overcome racism? My answer is we have come a long way from what it used to be. African Americans, in the beginning, were property, had no voice. Now they have rights and have the ability to voice their opinions, whether it be through social media or the right to vote. The United States of America has come a long way from what it used to be.
Racism in the United States has been a long standing crisis and the year 2020, specifically the last few months, have highlighted the United States struggle to overcome racism more than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd has cast racism into a very harsh light, the truth is before Floyd and covid there were many other instances of social inequality against blacks in this country. We may have gotten rid of slavery but wearing that like a badge of honor is comical. In reality, blacks are treated just about the same as they have always been… horribly. COVID-19 devastated the black community, not because of any genetic or medical reason but because blacks have less access to healthcare, poor living conditions, and many of them were forced to work in essential jobs so that white people could stay at home. Blacks have been oppressed in this country for centuries and it isn’t until a white police officer puts his knee on a black man’s neck, killing him, that our country has decided to finally take a stand. There were many others that suffered police brutality before George floyd and even with specific, concrete, evidence and video of the brutality, the police were not convicted. People criticize the protesters and focus on the manner in which they protest, incidents that justifiably lead them to this breaking point. It’s so typical that white people would judge the way the oppressed grieve and fight for their rights, even white Americans could never understand what the black people in this country suffer. They are quick to criticize and judge. The fact that our commander and chief is a racist himself has made racism even worse in the last four years, while some used to note that many of Trump’s comments were dog whistles to his racist base, at this point his comments are a bullhorn. I spent the last week attempting to check my privilege and although I have such a far way to go, I vow to never sit by while someone is racist around me and I will call out anything I hear or see that even borders on this despicable behavior. Not much has changed in America regarding black Americans’ lives and I would even go as far to say that in the last four years it has gotten worse. I am ashamed at the country’s treatment of other Americans that aren’t white. I should say that all of my statements above include not just blacks but any race that isn’t white in this country. It’s pathetic and we need to see systemic changes. Finally, can someone please explain to me why the other three officers who murder George Flyod have not been arrested and or charged over eight days later?
Contrary to how many think, we have not conquered racism at all in 2020. Luckily, over the past 100 years, we have been able to dismantle almost every form of systematic racism in our own government and laws. There are currently no laws in place that provide a threat to the rights of African-Americans. However, that does not mean we have rid our government of systematic racism completely, and we for sure have not rid of racism across the population in the United States.
While maybe there is no law threatening African-American rights, the racism in our courts and in our law enforcement is very prominent. Our own police officers are unfairly killing and arresting unarmed black men, based upon the color of their skin. We remember the terrible lynchings of innocent black men back in the 20th century, yet we face the same exact issue today. The lynchings have not stopped, and many of them are by our own police officers. When it comes to our courts, black men are getting 15 years jail time for charges of small amounts of marijuana or other non-dangerous drugs.
Not only this, but our government and congress are predominantly white, so black people are not getting as much representation as they should. Also, in the 2016 election, we elected a person who has proven to be racist by doing things such as being sued by the Nixon administration for refusing to rent to black people, or taking out a full page ad arguing for the murder of the Central Park Five, innocent black men, by death penalty. He’s been known to make racist comments, retweet posts made by white supremacists and Neo-Nazis, and his casinos have been accused and fined on different occasions for committing racists acts. Clearly, if we have elected a proven racist man to be our president and run our country today, there is no way we have overcome racism.
Racism is still very much alive in our country today, even in our own government. Across the US, people still carry confederate flags, post white supremacist and very racist comments and pictures, commit racial hate crimes, and some even take it upon themselves to carry out a baseless citizens arrest with no evidence against Ahmaud Arbery and shoot and lynch an unarmed black man while he is jogging. I believe it would be ignorant for one to claim racism has been overcome and does not exist, and I believe that’s a racist statement too. To read and watch the recent news of all the crimes against black people in this country, I believe you would have to withhold prejudice beliefs to see these as anything other than blatant proof of racism.
Although the system of old times has changed significantly and discrimination of buisness and law based on race is illegal racism is far from extinct in this country. Ever since the 16th century there was slavery, people would own a lot of slaves and have them work on their plantations and harvest their fields. The slaves would be treated awfully, physically and mentally being abused while also having no rights and freedom. When the civil war happened Black people were granted their freedom, people were no longer allowed to own other people but with that many laws were made that kept society from treating black people equally. They were segregated, there were laws such as the JIm Crow law and the Black Codes that kept the blacks and whites separate from social interactions and political rights. For example they couldn’t use the same bathrooms as each other and black people were not able to vote. The civil rights movement had everyone fighting for what they believed, to no longer have segregation. Protests against violence to black people took place. When Martin Luther king spoke out it was a vital point for the movement, he spoke about non violent protests and his dream of america without racism. People like Rosa parks stood up for what she believed in by not giving up her seat in the front of the bus when told to move to the back by the police and stayed there until she was thrown into jail. The civil rights law was passed in 1968 and stated that everyone has be treated equally no matter their sex and race, this ended segregatiion socialy. Overall many more opportunities opened up for black people, they were able to become famous and influence others. For example Jackie Robinson was a famous black baseball player that started the modern era of the major league baseball, there was also the motown music in detroit that allowed many black artists to make it as well as making hip hop popular and changing the music world forever. Even though their rights were expanded there is still a lot of disccirmation that kept black people from succeeding socially and economically. This has continued into circumstances today with police brutality where many people’s lives are being ended just because of their race and the police are treating them differently because of that, for example George Floyd. Who was killed for being suspected of forging a check, and an event like that should never push officers to end a life. The officer acted in a way differently because of George’s race.
I personally feel that we have come a long way when it comes to the topic of racism. If we take a look to pre-civil war times I think African Americans would see our present state as an accomplishment but would also see how much improvement would be needed. I say there is still much improvement to be made because no matter what race you are, people still began to stereotype each other which is one of the main causes for racism. For instance black men and women still get stereotyped for being automatically “ghetto” or sometimes looked as impoverished compared to other people in different areas or by how they look or what they wear. It’s still unbelievable to me that with the current BlackLivesMatter movement is still being promoted when it should have already been known that Black lives should automatically be treated the same as a white person or any other person for that matter. In contrast the AllLivesMovement is decreasing the value of the BlackLivesMovement when it should be our top priority on fixing this injustice. It doesn’t make sense why black people still feel that there is a division between white people. We can see this division when it comes to our own police. Police brutality is one of the main things black people experience with over 1000 lives lost by this from our own police that is supposed to protect everyone but it’s only individualizing and picking on one group. I don’t personally think it’s all police when it comes to the violence they bring to African Americans but the institution that supports the cops that feel they have the power to take lives from innocent individuals. When I think of Barack Obama being elected as president especially for 2 terms it showed people that yes African Americans can do this and get the representation we deserve but I still think we should try to get more people of color in the office which can bring a more diverse representation to our country and show a new outlook. Although from all the news that has come from Minneapolis during these last few days you can see that MANY people don’t think that America has overcome racism. I think that this was bound to happen and that by everyone coming together it can hopefully help overcome the racism that’s been going on for hundreds of years now.