Advancement Of Colored People: A Short Story

We have all sat through multiple history classes and learned about slavery, segregation, and the Civil War. We have all seen brutal movies and presentations based on racial injustices and the lack of equality. So often, we forget that these issues are still so present in our community. Slavery is illegal in the United States but other forms of racial profiling, insensitivity, and racism continue to be a recurring social barrier. Racism is still very much alive. The United States is “equal” yet somehow segregated. There isn’t quite a quick fix to this problem. Clearly, this has been an ongoing issue and requires major progression in our personal global

Alabama was often the epicenter of civil rights activism and steadfast perseverance for African Americans during the 1960s. It is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led his congregation and where four little girls were murdered and 22 citizens were injured when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed. It is also where Dr. King and other activists planned the march on Washington, where he and others leaders like John Lewis were met with violence but ultimately claimed victory in the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965. And who could forget the powerful images of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963, where young, non-violent protesters were met with high-power water hoses, beaten with batons and threatened by police

Racism in the United States has not remained the same over time since its creation. Racism has shifted, changed, and shaped into unrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that “[w]e have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it” using the criminal justice system and colorblind rhetoric. (Alexander 2). The result is a population of Black and Latino men who face barriers and deprivation of rights as did Blacks during the Jim Crow era. Therefore, mass incarceration has become the new Jim Crow.

Despite nearly one hundred years passing since the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern States were still faced with the most distinct forms of racism. The so-called “Jim Crow” laws that were present in United States at the time, served to segregate blacks and whites from all aspects of public life, including schools, public transport and juries. Often faced with extreme right-wing terrorist groups such as the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan, many among the African American community chose to live in a society of oppression that to actively campaign for equal rights for all humans regardless of the colour of their skin. It wasn’t until the 1950’s and 60’s that the people attempted to challenge the established order by engaging in influential protest movements with the help of key activist groups and their leaders. In particular, one key example of a powerful protest campaign was that which occurred in 1965 in Selma, a small town in Alabama. Here, the African American community united in an effort to ensure that all citizens were equal before the law in regards to their ability to register to vote. Their work in banding together and marching from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, was vastly important to both the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as well as the assurance of the Black vote within the United States. Consequently, this essay seeks to emphasize just how influential this act of protest was to the movement as a whole, whilst analysing the

The issue of racial disproportion in the United States has been an ongoing topic in history since slavery. As Americans we are affected by racial injustices everyday. One may not realize how their own racial identity plays a part in their everyday life experiences. The dynamics of racial oppression and privilege with the United States is incredibly complex ranging from the time of establishment to present day. The present day racial inequality within the criminal justice system and incarceration rates has peaked in the United States over the last 30 years. According to the NAACP the number of incarcerated individual has quadruples from roughly 500.00 to 2.3 million people. In 2008 African American and Hispanics comprised of 58% of the

The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil

As a column of white supremacists marched into Wilmington that November, they sounded the death knell for Reconstruction-era civil rights gains, sending Southern African-Americans on a path of inequality and mistreatment under the early 20th century era of “Jim Crow” – a path that the country would not turn from until the 1960s, as decisions like Brown vs. Board of Education gradually began to turn the tides away from segregation and towards a path of equality and justice for

In a country where many believe the hatchet of racism was buried with its first black president, many people of color, both non-black and black are still frustrated and disappointed in the progress to be made. Many progressives prefer to see America as a colorblind nation, a nation where if you work hard and do right, you 'll fulfill the American Dream. Often this dream is accompanied with challenge after challenge for people of color. Of course what first must be asked is if racism is still present in our justice system and in the fabric of our country? What must be understood first is that answers to these complex issues are never black or white, which leaves far too much gray area to be discussed.

Growing up in America, children are taught by their grade school teachers to be proud of being American. They chant “Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492” and harmoniously sing patriotic songs such as The Star Spangled Banner while being utterly oblivious of America’s corrupt political system. It may not be until one is pursing their final years of high school, or perhaps even in college when they are aware of America’s history of possessing a highly restrictive political system. For minorities, America is not the land of the free. It is the land of oppression to progression, yet we still wear our scars and our heads up high. Struggles to expand the breadth of political and civil rights in the United States have been critical to fostering greater inclusion and equality for racial/ethnic minorities in America. Various reforms such as the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Acts were implemented during the civil rights era as they helped promote greater inclusion and equity to, but not limited to, African Americans and Mexican-Americans.

Just recently, USAToday published a disturbingly authoritarian article written by Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Throughout the 1960’s, the Civil Rights movement defied white supremacy and the supremacists who fought to uphold Jim Crow laws in the South. A famous example of a challenge to Southern racism would be Brown vs the Board of Education. After the Supreme Court ruled to de-segregate school systems, violence and resistance erupted in the South. Just like during Reconstruction, the federal government had to intervene to protect the rights of American citizens. This research paper will also observe current events, such as the removal of the Confederate Flag from the Capitol building in 2000 and later from the Capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina in 2015. These events, along with the public opinion in the 1960’s, demonstrate the feelings of resentment some individuals maintain towards African Americans for a war that was lost, are still preserved within the

Civil rights are the protection from discrimination by both the government and individuals, which are rooted both in laws and the Fourteenth Amendments’ equal protection clause. With protection for women, African Americans, native Americans, Asians, and Latinos the perception of equivalence has developed over time. Even with our efforts to live in a colorless culture, cognizance of race still impacts countless opinions and actions. Past the inadequate treatment of ethnic minorities, women, and the LBGT communities, inequalities on political, social, and economic conditions also continue. More whites are able to participate politically at a greater level, enjoy a superior standard of living, and avoid prejudice in the criminal justice system because of these

As slavery was abolished in 1865 the problems still continued, laws were not enforced enough, and society started to create their own laws, and organizations such as the Black Codes, the Jim Crow Laws, and the Ku Klux Klan, which segregated and made every single person who was not white feel like an underdog, African Americans were segregated and blamed for many crimes, public lynchings to which people brought their children, and family to watch, the line of human decency was far gone, being black always meant danger, “I 'm black, I don’t have to do anything for ‘em to get me. The first white finger they point at me, I’m a goner...They own everything. They choke you off the face of the earth… They kill you before you die” (Wright, 325). No doubt things have changed since the late 1800’s, the involvement of African Americans in the everyday life of America makes them feel represented, from President Truman’s decision to integrate any person of color in the military in 1948, to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, but there is still so much hatred towards black people, and so much injustice, the United States claims to have a Justice that is blind, yet a study in CNN shows that Black men are more likely to be wrongly convicted, once again a failed system, where problems like racism are scarcely addressed because of fear

To discuss racial issues in today’s political climate is to walk on a tight rope in an effort to open Pandora’s Box. With the media coverage of police brutality and the rise of groups such as “Black Lives Matter”, Americans are once again faced with the topic of racial discrimination in our justice system. Despite how divisive this issue can get, both sides must concede that something is terribly wrong here: black men are incarcerated at a rate six times more than whites and one in three black men will go to jail at least once in their life (Rehavi). Most would agree that racial profiling is a large contributor to this phenomenon, yet the difference of opinion begins to split

While we are far away from the epic proportions caused by the Ku-Klux-Klan lynching, the atrocities of the racial segregation, and the extreme social and gender inequality, Americans are still enduring social inequality, glass ceilings, Whiteness, and institutional discrimination among other social phenomena. As a consequence, we must be open-minded to recognize the American flaws, in order to build a better future for the new generations. One can be in self-denial, attack others who valiantly and realistically point the existence of these issues, or accept our