The Atlantic Slave Trade Does Still Impact Racism Today

Throughout history in America there has always been the idea of racism. When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still very apparent in America. It is true that since the end of slavery, the U.S. has made great strides towards becoming a less racist country. In reality, racism will never be extinct. In today’s society, all American citizens of all races have the same rights as one another, yet there is still racism. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people. It is human nature to make conclusions about other people, this is what leads to racism. Today’s racism is not limited to whites

Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.

“If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else” (Malcolm X) is a contestable ideal. Do we Americans allow our law enforcement to continue killing innocent African Americans whose own ancestors contribute to the success of this nation? No! We cannot sit on the sidelines and watch innocent lives ruined over and over again. We must auscultate to the cries of our four fathers. In order to halt the self-destruction of this nation we should fight for change in the police force, attempt to cease the embodiment of racial profiling, and support the efforts of those striving to bring about change.

Everyone has their own understanding of what slavery is, but there are misconceptions about the history of “slavery”. Not many people understand how the slave trade initially began. Originally Africa had “slaves” but they were servants or serfs, sometimes these people could be part of the master’s family. They could own land, rise to positions of power, and even purchase their freedom. This changed when white captains came to Africa and offered weapons, rum, and manufactured goods for people. African kings and merchants gave away the criminals, debtors, and prisoner from rival tribes. The demand for cheap labor was increasing, this resulted in the forced migration of over ten million slaves. The Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from 1500 to 1880 CE. This large-scale event changed the economy and histories of many places. The Atlantic Slave Trade held a great amount of significance in the development of America. Africans shaped America by building a solid foundation for the country.

The author says that yes, police lives do need to be protected, but they also need to be held accountable. Similarly, black lives should be protected as well, but they should not be “provided justice for their wrongful termination.” In other words, both lives should be protected, just as any life should, but both lives need to be held accountable for their wrong doings, and not punished by social media for doing what is right. Although the author does try and strengthen the support for black lives and blue lives in the article, almost all of the statistics he uses, discredit blue lives. For example, a statistic he uses is that “For every black person killed by a white cop, 71 blacks are killed by other blacks.” Another one used is, “However, the amount of police officers killed on the line of duty pales in comparison to the number of Black deaths at the hands of the police. In 2015, 42 police officers were shot and killed. That was a 14% decline from 2014. Even though the author attempts to vouch for black lives and blue lives, he tends to be a little more biased towards the black

Police shootings are unfortunate events but whenever there is a shooting, the topic of race emerges. Police shootings have always been the highlights on news channels and there is always the racially biased narrative that keeps repeating itself yet no one seems to dispute this narrative. However, did you know that studies show a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a African American male than an unarmed African American male is to be killed by a police officer? In fact, a recent “deadly force” study by Washington State University researcher Lois James found that police officers were actually less likely to shoot an unarmed black suspect than unarmed Caucasian or Hispanic suspect in simulated threat scenarios. Some would argue that there are still police shootings all over America and they occur when police officers

Modern day racism and hatred against African-Americans can be traced back to slavery in the Colonial Americas. Over 10 million slaves were taken and brought into the New World. These slaves if they were to survive the way would face a harsh life of servitude to their white masters. Africans slaves were and plentiful and cheap labor source in the 1700’s. Slavery was very controversial in the colonies. The practice had many believers and critics. Slavery was a brutal but big part of American history.

Although African Americans may make up 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of monthly drug users, they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses. The chances of a policeman stopping blacks are higher than the chances of them stopping whites. It is proven that the police force will ignore the situation of a white person committing a major crime. Compare any case of a black person involved with drugs to the case of Dylann Roof, a white twenty-one year old that opened fire and killed nine black people, and nothing makes sense. Witnesses say he proclaimed his hate for black people right before he began shooting. When he was arrested, the police were very polite to him and never treated him

Many say that black people hold 26% of the shootings but are only 10% of the total population. This is invalid as many will know that in the inner cities and poor neighborhoods like the streets of chicago many are involved in violent crimes, resulting in a heart-breaking death. Many will put in that statistic and rely on it with no further information. The millions that see this are influenced, and many people mostly youth begin to believe the false stereotype amongst white cops in particular. “ The second piece of evidence is another statistic showing rates of Police on Black Violence to Black on Police. “The article by the wall street journal says “Officers are killed by blacks at a rate 2.5 times higher than the rate at which blacks are killed by police” As many say cops kill black males unproportionally the FBI says otherwise. The third piece of evidence is also from the Wall Street Journal.“Officers’ use of lethal force following an arrest for a violent felony is more than twice the rate for white as for black arrestees, according to one study” If their was an existing bias it would be in favor of blacks over whites. In many cases in poor neighborhoods where a vast majority of the inhabitants are blacks or hispanic, the crime is higher, and there still continues to be less violence against

Police ruthlessness against african americans have been among us for a considerable length of time . from slave days until the 20 century . Every last one of those passings of these youthful african americans have brought about a great deal of hurt and agony to a considerable measure of families. The most well-known killings in the unified states have been activated upon african americans. The vast majority of these killings are cause due to " generalization" while somebody will look upon an african american and consequently think " It 's a dark man, they might be perilous, destructive ,or even horrendous" . There are a large number of situations where police have not been charged for unlawful murdering .cops additionally have their own particular mystery codes that helps them in each circumstance that they may wind up in, either on the off chance that they are pure or not . Families need to live with the way that no equity will be given to them,because sadly the law dependably wins .

This means that when the police see a suspicious black person walking down the street in the middle of the night, that person is an automatic dead man. Believe it or not, police officers have also killed white people as well. Police officers do not just shoot people for no reason. Actually, the last thing a police officer wants to do is kill someone and let their actions haunt them for the rest of their lives. The only time an officer should fire their weapon is when they know for sure that the person they are pursuing is putting others’ lives, including the arresting officer’s, in danger. The amount of respect citizens have for the police today is pitiful because civilians assume their only goal is to patrol and arrest instead of protect and

Last year, blacks were killed very often and in bad demeanors by cops. Alton Sterling was pinned to the ground, hands up unarmed, was shot twice in the chest and died. Nothing happened to those cops because they say it was self-defense. Another incident where a black male was pulled over his hands clearly shown on his steering wheel, was shot dead with his wife and son in the car. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in his own neighborhood just because of his appearance, the man was set

Many historians have argued that the Atlantic slave trade was motivated either by race or economics. Personally, I find this to be true. With new European colonies being started around the world, there became a need for a labor force that could help economically and financially in the cheapest way possible. When the people figured out that they could go on voyages to Africa and come back with 200+ sets of hands for manual labor, they exploited this. Slaves would be bought and owned by citizens to help do everyday tasks and a tremendous amount of manual labor. However even though a great portion of slavery was for financial reasons, it soon became a thing due to racism as well. These Africans that were brought over were thought of as “not human” and used this as a reason to participate in the treacherous act that is slavery. Many elements that denominated from economics and racism were the causes for the Atlantic Slave trade.

Over the last few year there have been many cases involving the death of a young African Americans being killed in ways that fellow black people would describe as vicious unreasonable manslaughter. The case involving Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was eighteen years old, and was shot to death by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer. (Bucanan par. 1) After the trial, Wilson was set free as the jury saw him as innocent for his actions. Due to this, and other cases where white police officers were let go after fatally shooting a black man, riots began to arise in different cities. (Bucanan par. 5) The most note-able of these riots would be the Ferguson riots where stores were looted and destroyed and police militarization was required to help settle the protests. (BBC News) The whole reason of the occurrence of these riots is because the black community feels the injustice of law enforcement and that the police force abuse the power bestowed upon them behind the badge on their chest. More specifically there is the issue of racism among the men and some women in the police force. And this is what people of other ethnic background leads to believe is the reason behind the unnecessary manslaughter and police brutality on black people. Like all debates there are always two sides to perspective. For the black community, the main point of view is that policemen are being overly and unnecessarily brutal with their arrests. And men

Racism is still a major issue in our society that is affecting the lives of individuals. Life in the early 20th century was devastating in the South because it was full of racial discrimination, and segregation that existed towards blacks. For instance, in Black Boy by Richard Wright, he talks about his early life experience living in the Jim Crow South as a black boy. As a child in Mississippi he suffered from hunger, poverty, racism, and violence. He had many problems with his family, but what drastically affected his life was racial prejudice he faced for being black.