Race and Racism within the U.S.
When looking back at our country’s past, don’t you think we should have been able to learn from all of our mistakes and create a better future for society? Specifically, don’t you think we should have been able to learn from our struggle with racism? Throughout history, numerous acts of racism have left their mark on our country and have continued to deeply imprint on all of us through the years. Unfortunately, many things haven’t changed. While things like laws banning voting, having freedom of speech, and going to school together have been abolished, certain forms of racism are still lingering over our society today. Over the last hundreds of years, we have heard the cries from our fellow African Americans …show more content…
During the 1960’s, The Civil Rights Movement was significant in shaking up the country and its perspectives on racism. It was also a prominent number of years that fought to end racial segregation in addition to fighting for freedom and equality for all. One of the most influential leaders’ during this time was Martin Luther King Jr., who played a huge role in this movement. Being African American himself, he truly felt in his heart the incredible pain of our people and our nation. He was willing to put up a fight and help create equality for all through his speeches and protests. In addition to his speeches, his specific way of speaking to a crowd and executing his words would cut deep, which either caused people to fight with him or against him. King Jr. stated that “there is no noise as powerful as the sound of the marching feet of a determined people.” (King Jr.) While King, Jr. received many awards within his career, there were people that did not want to reassure his success of these accomplishments. Many white people did not think that African Americans and whites should be mixed together in any aspect of life. Such things included everyone going to the same school, riding on buses, and working together. This idea was called white privilege. According to Jim Wallis, “white privilege is the assumption of racial entitlement and the normality of whiteness” (Wallis, …show more content…
Growing up, white children have always learned that when you see a policeman, you should feel protected and not scared. You should feel comfortable talking to them and not run. On the other hand, black children have a completely different story. As quoted by the author’s friend in James Loewen’s book, America’s Original Sin, black children need to “keep their hands open and out in front of them, don’t make any sudden movements, shut their mouth, be respectful, and say ‘sir’” (Spencer, 2016). We have victims in this day and age like Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin. Both of these people were young, male, African American children who were doing absolutely nothing wrong during their shootings. Both were unarmed. According to mappingpolice.org, nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed. They also stated that unarmed black people were killed at 5x the rate of unarmed whites in 2015 (Mapping Police Violence, n.d.). In this day and age, our police force is becoming more involved with the military. They are saying that they are doing this in order to learn how to better protect themselves and the citizens of our country. What comes with “better protection” seems to come with a cost- that fact that they can shoot and kill on the spot when they feel the need to. This is supposed to be the mind of someone in the
When looking back at our country’s past, don’t you think we should have been able to learn from all of our mistakes and create a better future for society? Specifically, don’t you think we should have been able to learn from our struggle with racism? Throughout history, numerous acts of racism have left their mark on our country and have continued to deeply imprint on all of us through the years. Unfortunately, many things haven’t changed. While things like laws banning voting, having freedom of speech, and going to school together have been abolished, certain forms of racism are still lingering over our society today. Over the last hundreds of years, we have heard the cries from our fellow African Americans …show more content…
During the 1960’s, The Civil Rights Movement was significant in shaking up the country and its perspectives on racism. It was also a prominent number of years that fought to end racial segregation in addition to fighting for freedom and equality for all. One of the most influential leaders’ during this time was Martin Luther King Jr., who played a huge role in this movement. Being African American himself, he truly felt in his heart the incredible pain of our people and our nation. He was willing to put up a fight and help create equality for all through his speeches and protests. In addition to his speeches, his specific way of speaking to a crowd and executing his words would cut deep, which either caused people to fight with him or against him. King Jr. stated that “there is no noise as powerful as the sound of the marching feet of a determined people.” (King Jr.) While King, Jr. received many awards within his career, there were people that did not want to reassure his success of these accomplishments. Many white people did not think that African Americans and whites should be mixed together in any aspect of life. Such things included everyone going to the same school, riding on buses, and working together. This idea was called white privilege. According to Jim Wallis, “white privilege is the assumption of racial entitlement and the normality of whiteness” (Wallis, …show more content…
Growing up, white children have always learned that when you see a policeman, you should feel protected and not scared. You should feel comfortable talking to them and not run. On the other hand, black children have a completely different story. As quoted by the author’s friend in James Loewen’s book, America’s Original Sin, black children need to “keep their hands open and out in front of them, don’t make any sudden movements, shut their mouth, be respectful, and say ‘sir’” (Spencer, 2016). We have victims in this day and age like Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin. Both of these people were young, male, African American children who were doing absolutely nothing wrong during their shootings. Both were unarmed. According to mappingpolice.org, nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed. They also stated that unarmed black people were killed at 5x the rate of unarmed whites in 2015 (Mapping Police Violence, n.d.). In this day and age, our police force is becoming more involved with the military. They are saying that they are doing this in order to learn how to better protect themselves and the citizens of our country. What comes with “better protection” seems to come with a cost- that fact that they can shoot and kill on the spot when they feel the need to. This is supposed to be the mind of someone in the