History Repeating Itself
Mariama Baro
English 101-33
Professor Matyukubova
November 15, 2019
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”- Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout history, African-Americans and many minority groups have been treated unfairly in the United States. Since the times of Slavery, African-Americans were treated as second class citizens and they were dehumanized. Many efforts were created by African-Americans to stop cruel punishment such as The Civil Rights Movement. Even though it tremendously had a positive outcome, Racial discrimination and prejudice are still happening in the 21st Century. Racial Issues are still prevalent in society today. The workplace, at school and many other places. There are many ways that we can end Racial Inequality. We must first end the poverty rate and educate the ignorant people who are causing Racial Prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination is the unequal treatment of members in a specific group based on their religion, sex, gender class, ethnicity, or social class. In The United States, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone but people still commit these acts and they can get away with it without being penalized. Many innocent people such as immigrants and minority groups deal with constant discrimination due to the stereotypes that were created in society that were meant to dehumanize people. The bigotry and hate must stop because we cannot let history keep on repeating itself.
Racism started a very long time ago in America. Many people think of slavery as the begging of racism but in fact, it all started when the Europeans came to America. The Europeans were threatened by The Native Americans so they made sure to show some kind of superiority by making them change their religion, their culture, and their language. Later on, The Europeans brought Slaves from Africa to work on plantations in the United States because the Native Americans were not used to the harsh and brutal working conditions. Slaves were dehumanized and they were not even considered as second class citizens. “the Middle Passage exposed slaves to nearly unremitting cruelty. Shackled, often naked, and confined below deck in a space too small for an adult to sit upright, the slaves endured the deadening heat; the oppressive stench of perspiration, excrement, vomit, and blood…”(Greene and Malvasi). The inhuman treatment that slaves were enduring during the middle passage was the start of racism in America. Slave masters considered them as property so they tortured them and made sure that the slaves knew who was in charge. After Slaves were free, racial discrimination would continue for many years. Society decided to deal with African-Americans and other minority groups by setting up Segregation. Segregation is the partition of different races in an establishment and it is enforced. Many public places such as restaurants, schools, and parks were segregated and blacks and whites couldn't mix. Even though segregation may seem unfair and harsh it was legal under the Jim Crow Era. The Jim Crow Era was a racial segregation system that started in the early 1900s. “ Under Jim Crow, African Americans were given the status of second-class citizens. Jim Crow helped to make racism appear right. Many Christian ministers taught that whites were the Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants…”(Pilgrim). Many states in the south supported this belief because they argued that blacks were “separate but equal” but in reality that wasn’t the case. For example, public places that whites in blacks would mix like restaurants, movie theatres, schools and gas stations would be segregated. They would either only serve whites and colored people would have to go somewhere else and find service. Many efforts were made by African-Americans to try and end this practice such as the Civil Rights Movement and the National Association of Colored People. (NAACP). They advocated for integration and equality for African-Americans. Many prominent civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks promoted this belief by doing civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the basically protesting in a nonviolent way to rules and regulations that you deem to be unfair in society. Some examples of participating in Civil Disobedience are sit-ins, boycotting and having hunger strikes. The tactics may seem weak but it worked to some extent because it brought attention to the injustice that Africans-Americans were facing and the Racism that was happening in the south. Many people tried to migrate from the south to the north but even up here segregation was going on but it wasn’t as intense as it was in the south. That is why places like Chicago and Harlem and The Bronx are mostly filled with African-Americans due to the migration and the Urbanization of the different groups settling in their own neighborhood. For instance, many parts of New York would have different sections for different people. One section would just be for blacks, while another section would be just for Hispanics and so on. This created tensions between the different groups. The crime rate was up and much violence was happening in the poor neighborhoods.
Many students who attend school are apart of this system that intentionally segregates and discriminates kids but they are unaware of this. For example, many school districts across the nation suffer from poor testing rates and inadequate learning. Compared to the rich white neighborhoods, there are doing much better than the poor school districts. Public schools would teach significantly less than privately-funded schools. According to the article on Discrimination in U.S public schools it states, “ Data collected in a dozen school districts around the country confirm what residents of communities of color already know: the public schools consistently fail to provide the same quality of education for students of color as for white students”(Gordon). Statistics show that most people of color such as African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are the ones to be in public schools because it is free. While private schools are mostly occupied by Caucasians because of the cost. Studies show that minorities have a higher rate of dropouts and not going to college because they do not have the same resources that are given to the kids in private schools. Without kids finish high school and going to college the cycle of poverty and being uneducated continues. This has continued for many years and that is why the poverty rate for African-Americans and Latino is so high. There is this racial bridge that has been intentionally set up in the school system. Racial Discrimination can have a negative effect on student’s performance and school and the way that they behave and interact in society.
Given the number of time adolescents spend in school, the discriminatory practices that occur there are particularly relevant. In the school context, Black students report unfair or abusive verbal, psychological, and physical treatment by peers. Teachers have been reported to give lower grades and use harsher disciplinary practices with students of color than with White students. (Hope, E., Skoog, A., & Jagers, R. (2015), 82-112)
When a student is at school they are being bullied by their classmates and being treated unfairly by the teachers based on the color of their skin. Whether its physical, verbal, or psychological abuse, it’s unfair for any student to be treated like this. The discrimination is evident in the schools but no one seems to do anything about it. The teachers and the administrators are apart of the problem because they are the ones who allow this to happen and they entertain it.
Racial Discrimination in the workplace till this day continues. It is often masked so people would not suspect anything. Many jobs prefer light skin people than their counterparts. The idea of Colorism comes in to play because they would rather have an individual that is lighter than them to work for them. Colorism is the belief that darker-skinned individuals are inferior. Colorism is very common in the workplace especially towards people of color. According to the Subtle Yet Significant article, it states
This type of approach may lead to over- or under-reporting of discriminatory events. First, incidents of discrimination often are attributional ambiguous; people cannot be certain whether the negative treatment they receive is due to their race or gender, or some other reason…(Dietch).
Many individuals who experience this sort of discrimination either have no clue that the experience this or they just don’t know how to report it so they stay quiet. Thus may go on for many years and the cycle just continues to happen. In many jobs, people of color and minority groups are not being promoted. Even though many of them may have the same accomplishments just like their caucasian co-workers, their achievements go underlooked and unnoticed.
Moreover, substantially more minorities are employed in lower-level positions while whites hold substantially more executive-level positions. For example, in 2012, out of about thirty-two million white workers in the private industry, there were about seven hundred thousand in executive or senior-level positions. (Becerra J, 2015, 459-498)
There is a huge gap of people of color not being able to get executive-level jobs based on the color of their skin. The numbers have even risen from the last time this was recorded. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) has spread awareness of job discrimination to individuals who may be scared to lose their job or may not know how to report it. Many times court cases that have to do with racism or colorism claims go unlooked because “ about the complexity of colorism and the nuances that make it systematically distinct from racism”(Becerra J,).
Police Brutality has been a serious and controversial issue in America for the past few decades. Police Brutality is the practice of police officers abusing their power and mistreating people of color and minority groups. For example, when a police officer uses excessive force when they are arresting someone or are doing a routine traffic routine they are abusing their power and taking advantage of citizens. Many innocent lives were taken by the lives of police. These people include Micheal Brown, Eric Garner, Tamar Rice, Sandra Bland, Freddy Gray, Sterling Knight and many more. “Activists created the NAACP more than a century ago to fight racialized violence. Then, we called it 'lynching.' Today, we call it 'police brutality,' but the effect is still the same - our lives are in danger, endangered by some of the very people who are called to protect and serve us”(Anonymous). The author is comparing lynching to the modern-day killing done by the police. The African-American community is fearing for their lives by the very people who are supposed to serve and protect the community. The graph above shows the relationship between a black person being stopped by the cops and a white person being stopped by the cops. It is a higher percentage of black people being stopped by the police in their own neighborhood than white people in their own neighborhood. The number went from 30% to 80%. That is a significant increase in unarmed African-Americans being attacked and targeted for no reason. Not all police officers abuse their power and are racist. Like Levitt said in his article, “Some of my best friends are blue, authentically good cops...indicts the bad cops, those racist cops; those hateful and corrupt blue executioners of Black people”(Levitt J., 2015, 87). It’s hard to differentiate from the good cops and the bad cops because we don’t know the cop’s intention. A lot of the unarmed individuals that I mentioned above got killed based on speculation and racial profiling. For example, Micheal Brown was fatally shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson who never got charged. Eric Garner was an unarmed man from Staten Island who was killed by multiple police officers in an apparent chokehold because he was allegedly selling cigarettes. All of these incidents could have been avoided if the police would think instead if reacting first. They are threatened by black people and the only way that they think they can somehow control us is to kill us.
When the Trump administration came into office during 2016, that is when a lot of racist acts became evident. Many people were following what Trump said on the internet and the fact that he has been voicing his opinion. He has talked about Muslims, immigrants, and voiced his beliefs on how the country can improve and get better. He stated many controversial topics and issues that no other president has said. During President Trump’s rallies, he would always express his hatred towards illegal immigrants. At one point he even compared them to murderers and drug dealers. This caused an outcry and many people disagreed with his opinions saying that it was false.
he blasted Donald Trump's reported description of Haiti, El Salvador, and certain African nations as "shithole countries". In the days leading up to the US holiday celebrating Dr. King yesterday, Mr. Trump has faced severe international condemnation for his alleged comments and has been forced to battle fresh accusations that he is racist(The London).
Martin Luther King Jr.’s son was disgusted on what Trump has said about countries such as Haiti, El Salvador and certain African countries as “Sh*thole Countries”. For someone who is misleading the nation and who is in power, they seem to abuse it and it sets a bad example on the American people.
Ever Since Trump came to office the number of killings by White supremacists has been on the rise. The chart that you see above shows that the majority of Right-Wing killing is caused by White Supremacy which is 84% from 2009-2013. That number is significantly high and alarming since.
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