The Causes Of Racial Inequality In The United States

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

The key factor to the shift to African chattel slavery was the revolt known as Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676. Bacon was an English aristocrat who just came to Virginia Due to a disagreement with royal governor William Berkeley, he gathered support from both white and black indentured servants and began a series of revolts against the governor and the landowners. These revolts just added to the preference for black labor and slavery. Even though Bacon died before anything could happen, the threat of such a biracial alliance challenging the power of the master class prompted the colony’s elite to switch to an enslaved black labor force. The demand for black slaves rose and this caused an increase of Africans into the colonies. By the 1700’s, slavery was deep-rooted in the colonies’ government.#

Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 was major weight added to the scale that shifted Virginia’s plantation labor from indentured servitude to African slaves. Confrontation between the Native Americans and settlers in western Virginia spearheaded an uprising that demanded Governor Berkeley to provide more land to the poor whites. Berkeley stood by his decision to maintain peaceful relations with the local Native American population, which sparked a series of uprisings and massacres that grew into full rebellion against Berkeley and his men. Berkeley fled when Nathaniel Bacon and his ranks burned Jamestown to the ground, which led to Bacon’s rule over Virginia for a short while until England sent warships to regain control. This conflict altered the planter’s view on indentured servitude, understanding that slaves could never become free men, demanding land and creating successful rebellions. For fear of civil war among whites, the elite planters helped launch us into a racially divided slave society.

“Oppression, you seek population control, Oppression, to divide and conquer is your goal, Oppression, I swear hatred is your home, Oppression, you mean me only harm.” (Harper). Oppression is a serious issue in our society today. Although it may be less serious than the past it is still a matter of importance, having to deal with sexism, religion and most importantly racial issues. Throughout the decades we have seen various ethnicities deal with racial oppressions. Many of the problems of the past still exist, and they may push the victims of the oppression beyond the emotional point of no return. A Hispanic male such as myself, can be the victim of several types of oppressions, including racial oppression.

Economic, social, and cultural factors all played roles in the expansion of slavery in America. Economically, Africans became free laborers by substituting the position of indentured servants and Native Americans. Socially, blacks were considered outcasts and was treated as property instead of human beings. Culturally, slaves were discriminated against because of their skin and were treated dishonorably wrong. This concludes that "prejudice itself did not create American slavery." (Foner 132,

Tobacco farming required much labor, and colonial America could not supply that labor with just the settlers already living there. This need for labor was satisfied by indentured servants and African slaves (3). Indentured servants raised the population by bringing in people who could not afford their way over to America (Weeks 1). The indentured servants were promised freedom and land after serving for a set amount of years (Pecquet 469). Soon after, as the indentured servants were getting less and less land than promised, if any at all, Bacon's Rebellion broke out in Virginia (Lorenz 14). This forced the colonists to find a different servitude option. They turned to African slavery to quench their desire for a cheap, reliable labor source (Weeks 1). At least 350,000 Africans were needed to produce the amount of tobacco to supply for the demands of the people (1). African slavery started racial tensions and

Even though Bacon died before anything could happen, the threat of such a biracial alliance challenging the power of the master class prompted the colony's elite to switch to an enslaved black labor force. The demand for black slaves rose and this caused an increase of Africans into the colonies. By the 1700's, slavery was deep-rooted in the colonies' government.#

Indentured servants flocked to America in hopes to reach the long term goal of buying their freedom and inquiring land from landlords outnumbering their landlords. Opportunities were becoming scarce as land was being turned into plantations and farmland. Additional fees and punishments were instilled on them. Freed servants were being pushed further into the country. This tension sparked Bacon’s rebellion, led by a painter, Nathaniel Bacon. In 1680, wages began to rise for the poor people, making it harder for landlords to convince anyone to take the roles of servants in the new world. At the same time, plantations were thriving in the South making the demand for workers increase. Merchants switched gears to pull in capturing slaves from Africa. What survivors were left from the commute to America, lived a harsh life in the South. The tobacco plantations in the north housed, better living conditions for them; eventually stabilizing their own population. In the south, the social stature was based off the amount of slaves you

Slavery’s rise as the dominant force of labor in the Virginia colonies allowed for racism to spread and therefore justified the use of Africans for slave labor. Racism came as a direct result of slavery and allowed the divide between the Africans and Europeans to intensify. The profit that came from slavery encouraged many powerful landowners to switch to slavery, and eventually leave indentured servitude behind. In the colonies, slavery became vital to the new colonial society for economic reasons, and brought on a birth of racism that distinguished Africans and Europeans.

Nathaniel Bacon and his men, comprised of indentured servants, black slaves, and frontiersmen, ran through the streets of Jamestown, plundering the plantation homes of gentry and eventually burning Jamestown to the ground. This group was a testament to the rebellious potential of the plantation labor force, namely indentured servants. Plantation owners had grown wary of indentured servants and due to the hard labor, few free workers were willing to work on plantations, leaving no viable labor source for the gentry to generate wealth. Over time, as slaves from Africa gradually replaced indentured servants, the upper class instituted discriminatory laws prevent slaves from uprising. Thus, the upper class did not intentionally propagate prejudice

In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.

Based on chapter 1, I learned the beginning of Race. If I am not mistaken the primary cause of race are colonialism, taxonomies, and scientific racism. Before European came to the Native Americans land there were no civilization. But there were no such thing called race. Indian Americans were free and generous. Because of colonization 95% of Native Americans population was killed in two centuries. The interesting thing to me in this chapter is Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on 1863. However five years earlier, 1858, he had declared, he is in favor of the superiority to the white man. In opinion even if he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, i don't think Abraham Lincoln completely believes in full racial equality of

Studies show that police are more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In New York City, 80% of the stops made were blacks and Latinos, and 85% of those people were frisked, compared to a mere 8% of white people stopped (11 Facts about Racial Discrimination). America is known as the land of opportunity. Immigrants and people come from far and wide seeking success and achieving their dream in this land. There is a reason for that and throughout history this reason hasn’t changed. America is a melting pot. The most diverse country in the world. We have Asians, African Americans, Chinese, Indians and much more all living together as one. You go into any big business, law firm or

When we speak about race equality, we only think as far as black and white people, when it’s actually a lot more in depth than just the two. Racism is when a person or people of a certain color or origin feel as though they are better than another group of people, who are different than they are. Racism has been going on since time can date back. In this world, especially in the United States, we need race quality. According to different races, you’ll get different answers on the other races. Not all Caucasians are racist, not all African Americans are ignorant, and not all Muslims are terrorists, so on and so forth. With white law enforcements killing innocent black people, the new “Black Lives Matter” movement has started, the “white privileges”

America is supposed to be the land of dreams where any working man can strive and achieve the same status as any privileged can possess. But with social injustice in America at an all-time high, this dream seems to be falling apart at the seams. Social injustice is simply another form of injustice. Social Injustice can vary from one person's point of view to another. Ann Marie was a 36 years old, she was a writing teacher who was coming back from a spa, missed her bus and decided to walk home. The police stopped her on suspicion of prostitution. Officers said she that was looking into the windows of passing vehicles. When she tried to show them the receipt from the spa, officers took it from her. She was afraid that the only physical evidence that supported her case would be gone, so she tried to take it back, knocking the police’s notebook to the ground. That got her a charge of harassment to go along with the prostitution accusation. She eventually beats both cases in court. The social injustice for many people it can be seen as the few getting all the benefits with little being trickled down to the few, and having to fight for the scraps. The social injustice is the fact that the education of people is far from where it should be. People in the United States suffer from the injustice in the politics, especially the criminals and immigrants. The injustice system affects lots of people and their communities. The archetype of injustice can be found through stereotype,