The United States of America is a land where, according to Thomas Jefferson, all men are created equal, and while that ideal has been recounted a myriad of times throughout the nation’s history, to this day the people of the United States are still unequal. The country’s past is permeated with injustice and tragedy supporting the inequality of people. Whether through the forced exile of Native Americans, the enslavement of an entire race, or the atrocities committed prior to modern labor laws, the U.S.’s history exemplifies the fact that it is far perfect. Racism has recently re-entered forefront of society’s collective agenda, and, despite the passing of 55 years from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream speech,” it is far from a resolution. …show more content…
The closest social construct that could be considered a precursor to racism is tribalism. Ancient civilizations discriminated against each other due to cultural differences. Ancient Greeks, for example, held no regard for the color of a person’s skin, but they used it as an identifier of those who were different and were therefore, in their minds, less civilized. Discrimination based upon skin color, did not appear until the time of the Renaissance and Reformation. With the European enslavement of people from Africa came a need for a viable excuse to do so. The reason that was chosen as a means of justification for the enslavement of Africans was an interpretation of Genesis: the first book of the Bible. Europeans claimed that Africans were the descendants of Ham and were therefore condemned to be “servants unto servants” (Fredrickson). This Biblical justification for slavery lead to a continental view, later expanding to the Americas, that those with black skin were subservient to those with white. The racist moral justification for slavery quickly evolved into legal segregation and the subordination of those of African descent. Virginia, for example, decreed that slaves could be kept, for “they had heathen ancestry,” leading to the conclusion that all blacks were inherently lesser (Fredrickson). This socialization, and later …show more content…
The wealthy posses far more wealth than everyone else, and even in regards to the middle class there are major divisions. Gregory Mantosis, department director at Queens College of the City of New York, in his article Class in America, compares the lives of three people that all live within the defined zone of middle class. Harold Browning is an upper-middle class citizen who, due to his higher class at birth, was able to have tutors, go to summer camps focused on creative arts and natural sciences, and attended a prestigious preparatory school; Bob Farrell is a middle-middle class citizen that had no tutoring, attended YMCA summer camps, and attended a large regional high school in Queens with supplemental education for the SAT; Cheryl Mitchell is a black, lower-middle class citizen, who had no tutoring, went to no summer camps, and attended a large public high school. These people, who are all in the middle class, live drastically different lives, and their “difference[s] in class determin[e] … how well they are educated, what they do for a living, and what they come to expect from life” (Mantosis387). People, because of the level of wealth that they are born into, have varying degrees of education, as well as varying degrees of assistance with that education. Education, one of the best ways to move ahead in the world, is not equally distributed. Those in the upper class are given the best opportunities to succeed in
To no one’s surprise, most Americans are aware that education is a necessity in life. Not only does it allow one to further their knowledge, but it can offer freedom from anything holding them back, like poverty. A bar graph statistic from the Congressional Budget Office found that people with their Master’s degree between ages of 45-54 years old make $130,000, whereas high school graduates between the same ages only make about $70,000 (Dent). Even though America offers some of the best education in the world, many do not realize the impact that social class has on one’s education. Whereas most other nations fund their schools equally, America spends much more on the more affluent districts.
Additionally, the more specific choice to use African Americans as slaves was because of “the impossibility of using Indians and the difficulty of using whites, the availability of blacks offered in greater and greater numbers by profit-seeking dealers in human flesh, and with such blacks possible to control because they had just gone through an ordeal” (Zinn 1). The settlers decided to use what was most convenient to them, again, a selection they made. Finally, their treatment of the African American slaves as cruel and ruthless, for instance packing a large amount of them in a boat for transportation,, further shows the decisions they made for their convenience, showing how racism is not
Making a Dream Reality Martin Luther King Jr. once said I have a dream that one day this nation will live up to its creed: “We hold these truths to be self evident all men are created equal”. America has had its fair share of racial discrimination, although the brutality of it is not as prevalent, it still exists. Many people believe that racism is just between African Americans and Caucasians contrary to belief racism exists for within all races. Slavery, Civil rights movements, police brutality, and racial profiling are all things that play into racism today. Slavery started in America when Europeans wanted to move from the mother country to America.
The way we view each other in terms of finance, education, and family aspects depends on a person’s social class. Students from lower backgrounds usually experience difficulty in the educational system. The educational standards of their family’s life differ from those in the higher classes because teachers teach according to the student. Meaning, not only does having a particular social class already separate you in terms of the educational system, but it also determines how and what you learn. From personal experience I’ve learned how to see from the perspective of a student who is of a lower social class than majority of his peers and teachers.
This little book is a treasury of your birthrights. It's about taking back the power that you were born with in order to not only live a better life, but one without race drama running your life. Each of you, regardless of your bloodline, birthplace, or language you speak, are entitled to live without fear or restriction to express, create, and love simply because you are humans on this planet. Historically, nations have used race, religion, and social class as a means to control, and suppress their citizens’ birthright.
The United States claims to value equality, but many often discriminate people who seem different. From the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s reflection in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to present day, many people in society conjectures that everyone has the same rights and privileges, however, there is still inequality. All people in America are not given the same advantages others have when unjust and prejudicial treatment remains. It is evident that injustice can spread throughout society.
According to Gregory Mantsios in “Class in America: Myths and Realities,” social class has a large influence on your educational achievements through life. Examining the test scores of half a million children the, poor and rich, also known as the bottom and the upper quartile, Richard de Lone found the crucial influence of social status on SAT scores. Another study by William Sewell comparing the rich and poor found that the upper class was two times as likely to get more training after high school and four times as likely to complete a postgraduate degree primarily due to their socioeconomic class. Decided at birth from your class standing to your life chances.
Al Sharpton radio host, and minister once said, “We have defeated Jim Crow, but now we have to deal with his son, James Crow Jr., esquire.” (cite) He then goes on to say that his “son” is smarter, slicker, and more cunning than him. This metaphor describes that even though the Jim Crow Laws have been ratified, there is a new racial discrimination in America that is growing and is harder to defeat than the last. The Jim Crow Laws were the set of laws that set the whites and blacks separate from each other in the 1900s, although they have been defeated, America today may be equal lawfully but not on an individual level.
Racism in America has always been present. The foundation of America is based on the exploitation of black bodies. There was first slavery where black people weren’t seen as human beings but as goods meant to be exchanged and used for labor. Then, there were the Jim Crow laws where laws were instilled in order to separate black and white Americans. The letter “Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates shows that black bodies in America are as much in danger now than it was centuries before.
Institutional racism is alive and thriving in modern-day America. There is nothing extreme in this statement. African-Americans have been exploited through segregation and slavery for centuries. And today they are still disproportionately threatened, incarcerated, and killed by police in the streets. To understand the sheer size and intricacy of systemic oppression in it`s entirety is nearly impossible and inevitable fruitless.
There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive
In James W. Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” he states that social class affects the way children are raised. He discusses the inequality in today’s society and how the textbooks in high school do not give any social class information. The students in today’s time are not taught everything they should be taught. He states that your family’s wealth is what makes up your future. Loewen discusses that people with more money can study for the SATs more productively and get a better score than someone who has less money.
It has often been said that “that this is a greatest period for people of all races to live in.” Yet with change in society over time , there has a been a divide over the truth about that statement. In dialogue about race issues within the United States, one controversial issue has been about systemic racism towards people of colour, in particular, black americans. On one hand, Ralph Ellison, a recent predecessor to our present time argues that no matter what the future holds, people will judge others based on their association, their image, which will. In relation, a modern black activist group, Black Lives Matter, argues that even though change has come to America race relations, black people are still endangered by the system.
Racism is defined as the poor treatment of people based on color. For as long as humans lived, millions of people have been treated poorly because of their skin color. Racism has carried throughout the many years of American history. Since the abolishment of slavery, a huge spike of racial discrimination flourished the United States and it still does. Stereotypes, racial profiling, and discrimination are signs of racism that still are shown to many people today.
Racial inequality has plagued our society for centuries and has been described as a “black eye” on American history. It wasn’t until the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1965 that minorities were given equal protection under the law. This was a crucial step on our society’s road to reconciling this injustice. However, the effects of past racial inequality are still visible to this day, and our society still wrestles with how to solve this issue. In 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson said: “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair.