Where Do We Go After Ferguson?

In the articles Fear of a black president by Ta- Nehisi Coates was about the critique of president Obama’s leadership on matters of race. The critique was on the Obama remarks on the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, which Obama has said “if I have a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” After Obama spoke those words the author said the case of Trayvon Martin passed out of the national- mourning phases into a racialized political fodder. This article upset me because I think Obama should speak freely about race since many white politicians who are proud racist and for segregated can give their opinion without the media hate, but when Obama, do they call him the anti-Christ, racist terms or there are intensely discordant. I think Obama remark

despite mass uprisings by blacks in resistance to unrelenting violence and the law’s delay, despite tacit urgings by blacks to be afforded some means to survive, despite bold attempts to live separate lives in America […] blacks, in the main, found themselves denied of every possible avenue to either establish their own socioeconomic independence or participate fully in larger society (“Panther”).

The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.

Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t

During the Civil Rights Era, many black power movements strived to prevent the New Jim Crow from happening. The black man was being oppressed during segregation and treated like animals. The white supremacy, only visualize African Americans as slaves, people who should not be a part of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X drove men and women to fight for his or her rights. However, that was not enough to stop the white supremacy from oppressing African Americans. The Civil Rights movement did put an end to public segregation. It did not put not put an end to the laws being made by the government, which is dominated by the white race. In the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander discussed how the Civil Rights and black power movements helped African Americans gain their equal rights, but did not help to gain political power. Mass Incarceration is where the African Americans’ lives end because of the social structure created by the government. Blacks are mostly in the lower class because after the Great Depression, Roosevelt only created laws for whites. This allowed the white community to build and move out the cities into better neighborhoods. Leaving the black community behind. The government placed businesses and built big buildings to keep all the blacks in one place. Base on how the black community was viewed as a race and social status, gives this race a higher chance of being behind bars.

One aspect of life for black people in the United States of America that has always remained consistent is white racial hostility. A history of slavery, segregation, unequal protection of the law, and second class citizenship inflicted by a white power structure that dominates on a national level has created a harmful reality for black people. Every aspect of black public life must either be under the control of or in opposition to white supremacy. Every state-sanctioned institution works to use black bodies as tools for the production of capital in any form, yet simultaneously exploits and maltreats black people so that they cannot fully participate in and benefit from the systems which they are indoctrinated to invest in. White America leverages its money, comfort, and tyranny on Black America. It is for this reason that separate spaces are not merely essential to the viability of black counter-publics but inherent to their existence, since black involvement in white spaces and systems typically leads to black assimilation or marginalization. Within these black counter-publics, hip hop and mass connection through new media forms direct attention and allow for personal expression which shapes black worldview and public opinion, but this simply makes black people more comfortable with their oppression and less involved in politics.

This document describes the results of blacks are no different than whites. It is stated that we are taught that they were to hide the truth of matter in which would state otherwise. The literature of the blacks cause racial and social problems between them and the whites. This document really undergoes the value of isolation and the attempt to keep the blacks located into a rural area where they don’t associate with whites. This is what whites wanted in the South and the North, they truly wanted segregation. The wanted separation from colored people. In Chapter 7 Negro Population stated the following: “Therefore, the dominant American valuation is that the Negro should be eliminated from the American scene, but slowly.” These words right here provide proof of segregation among races. The whites feel if black population was decreased the economic structure of America would hold value and

“Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time. I have a dream.” – Martin Luther King Jr. It is because of the Brown vs. The Board of Education court case that allows the University of Texas at Austin, along with hundreds of universities, to be have a diverse student body. This case opened new doors to racial opportunities. What started off as a plea for equality, would change the world in its own way. Brown, who is not defined to one person but rather a group that wanted freedom of segregation from schools, would go against the Board of Education in a duel of words to bring an equal education towards all citizens. Tirelessly fighting against racial

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

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

"'The Supreme Court decision [on Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas] is the greatest victory for the Negro people since the Emancipation Proclamation,' Harlem's Amsterdam News exclaimed. ‘It will alleviate troubles in many other fields.' The Chicago Defender added, ‘this means the beginning of the end of the dual society in American life and the system…of segregation which supports it.'"

“True compassion does not sit on the laps of renovation; it dives with an approach to reconstruction. Don't throw a coin at a begger. Rather, destroy his source of poverty.” ― Israelmore Ayivor (Chandler, 2007). This quote not only explains what the purpose of the reconstruction was, but also the means on how to succeed. Africans after The Reconstruction not only didn’t have rights, but living became worse than what it was. There became a competition between rich vs. poor, native-born vs. immigrants and workers vs. capitalist. Blacks never had an equal chance to live and work to provide for their families, and this caused social tension all around. The whites never wanted anyone to be superior to them, and they began to take harsh actions against blacks because they saw the potential

African Americans in America are fighting to gain back their identity that was stripped from them almost 500 years ago and is still being withheld until now. It would seem as if that there was some type of progress going off the fact that we now have a black president but as far as I am concerned it is all part of this façade to allow the people to get comfortable and think that the fight is over. We must ban together as a people in order to overthrow white capitalism in America. No matter how many ways you look at it the Drive that was behind all that has occurred from the last 500 years or so is money. Abram Harris believed that Economy was a push behind it all, which I will touch on in the next few paragraphs.

As many of you may know today is a day for rebellion, against the slums, the ghettos, the bloody heels of crying children and bad jobs, today we arise as a nation for freedom and equality to stand against segregation. Today we rebel against the aggressors, to make a stand, so that every man, of any race may stand, and coexist as equals. Almost one hundred years ago all of the African Americans made free by the emancipation proclamation. But yet today one hundred, One Hundred, years later we still have to use the colored bathroom, the colored bars, the colored water fountains, and sit on the back of the bus.

We want to see the cooperative concept applied in business and banking. We want…” The excerpt reads further as a long dissertation of specific goals of the organization, which include black participation in government and economy, defiance against profiteers of slums, and the overall shift to a socialist America. In the socialist train of thought, society is invested in the integrity and economic participation of its people, and, therefore, blacks become almost invaluable to America. Here, each individual is seen as vital to the nation, because, if not, then the whole foundation of the socialist philosophy collapses. And so, it is implied in this document that a change for a new system of government in a new America is needed, which greatly contrasts from simply making people aware of a perfect world with guaranteed civil rights.