The Problem of Hatred, Racism, and Discrimination in America

Now what did America let kill us? Who is “Us” in the first place? Was whatever that could’ve killed dangerous? Was it a weapon? Did the people it harmed ever do something about it? Did they ever fight back? It’s so many questions that are to be answered. Although, it’s a lot of questions to be answered, no one can come to answer them truthfully. One thing America that has held part of the country back in a sense is that there’s no explanation for anything that has been done or that is happening. This one thing that has harmed so many is still getting overlooked today, as if it’s nothing wrong. People treat it like its normal and when it happens it’s just a regular day to some.

What is this thing that is the cause of all these questions? Well my friends it goes by the name of racism. If I know correctly racism means to discriminate and antagonize a person because of one’s race or beliefs. Now to America it means to let one suffer until they explode and do something dumb to be incarcerated for. For many years the African American community has been treated wrongly and unfairly. A lot of people have lost their lives because of the stupidity of someone thinking they’re better. This problem has been going on for many centuries. Matter of fact racism has been around since the 17th century. The sad thing is that it has never once stopped. Not once has everyone in America been looked at equally. How will this country ever be truly great if we don’t love each other equally? It’s even young children learning these sickening ways from the ones older than them. How can a young minded individual be taught something that they don’t know the true meaning of? At least give the children a chance to choose the path they want to take. The way America is no one can choose for themselves. It’s so much influence on this situation and not on the good. Racism has come too far against the black community in America. The saddest part of it all is that no one knows the pain except us African Americans.

The black community has had a lot of public figures that did their best to insure the future. Martin Luther King Jr. for instance, was a strong African American man that stood up for his rights while being nonviolent. Martin Luther King Jr. went through so much adversity each and every day and the vision got harder and harder to keep alive because of the hate. He actually was killed because of the white hate being thrown at him. Another African American figure goes by the Malcolm X. This historical figure also changed the way people thought about things. Back in Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X day the police was very racist and police brutality was at an all-time high. Malcolm X spoke about fighting back against the police in order for us to show strength and unity. Trust me, Malcolm X along with Martin Luther King Jr. was changing the game with the way the black community was taking head to them. With that being said the white man did not like that whatsoever. African Americans were never meant to lead in certain people’s eyes and it makes them sick when we do. Racism really destroyed a lot of good things that were in play.

Can we actually and sit here and say it didn’t? Seriously, people lost their lives behind this matter. For example, Emmett Till was killed because he was accused of looking at a white woman disrespectfully. This young man was kidnapped from his home and lynched for something he didn’t do come to find out years later. No one can sit here say racism and hate for black people wasn’t the reason for that murder. The proof was right there and no did anything for that young man’s death. This is how deep racism gets for the younger generation that may not know how serious it is. Just because people aren’t getting lynched these days doesn’t mean someone won’t snatch a person up for the reason of racism. A tremendous amount of people of the black community were lynched, raped, and beaten because of the color of their skin. Back in time from the early 1900s to 1960 black people literally had to watch their backs because it was nowhere safe for them to go. Just imagine the feeling of always having to look over your shoulder hoping you didn’t look at someone so called more superior wrongly.

I can’t even begin to imagine the fear that the black community walked in. Even a black man of power wasn’t good enough for society. That’s why a powerful group called the Black Panther Party was established. This amazing organization was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It was founded to ultimately challenge the wrongdoings of police officers. In the late 1960s to the early 1980s police brutality was very outrageous. I’m sure everyone has heard of Rodney King if an example is needed. The police officers are the biggest ones who acts of racism. It’s all starts from a white man wanting to show he doesn’t like black people, so he joins the force and then thinks he has the right to do whatever he pleases. That is what the Black Panther Party protected the black community from. It was and still is an overwhelming amount of racist police officers today. Just to know some of these officers who are called to protect and serve are a part of the Klu Klux Klan organization is frightening.

The KKK is the ultimate racist organization known to mankind. This homeland terrorist group has been around ever since 1865 making life difficult for the black community for many years. African Americans have lived in terror for way too long because of this organization. What the KKK demonstrates is so horrific that using the word racism for them is an understatement. They show still to this day pure hate toward people that of color. They believe the white race is more superior to any other race on this Earth today. They also believe that the white man owns everything and that black community owe them something. The thing is, these beliefs are demonstrated by non KKK members. These are the beliefs of any racist. This kind of people thinks African Americans don’t belong in this world. The KKK just goes to the extreme by taking illegal action basically. It made it even worse because most of these KKK members back in the mid-1800s were police officers and judges. It’s not like they have ever really been punished for their wrongdoings because they’re the ones who have that say so. In a lot of situations African Americans can’t win for losing. Even in the school systems it was hard for blacks to get a decent education.

In the early 1900s till around the 1950s blacks have gotten up equal education. Blacks literally used to be so behind on the education scale. Black kids use to get old textbooks from the white kids and by then the textbooks were all torn and had things written in them on almost every page. Blacks at that time were getting the very little of what school systems had to offer. For the longest time schools were segregated. Although the school systems were segregated it was a little girl who desegregated an all-white school in Louisiana named William Frantz Elementary. Her name is Ruby Nell Bridges and she integrated an all-white school at the age of six in 1960. It was so bad that her mother and U.S. Marshalls had to escort her to and from school every day because of the violent mobs. It’s also another group of African Americans that made history with the school systems. This group was called the Little Rock Nine. It was a group of nine African Americans students attending an all-white school; which goes by the name of Little Rock Central High School located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sad to say, but the black race has been dealt a bad hand when it comes to school systems, police officers, and just society period.

Society acts like being a black man or women in a world full of other races is out of the ordinary. Wondering if a black man should be in a room full of white men shouldn’t even be a topic of discussion. I never really thought it were such xenophobic people in America, but there are. All racist people are just people that are scared of what they don’t understand in all actuality. They hate the black community because they understand the culture. Why should black people suffer for being brought to a country they didn’t ask to come to in the first place? White racist people primarily hate that it’s black people in America. The thing is, the white race is one who brought blacks over. That’s where society gets confusing. Racist white people hate blacks because they’re in America, but America wouldn’t be half of what it is today if it wasn’t for the black community. So, in all reality racist people should hate themselves because they’re the real reason behind the hatred. Why discriminate on something that you brought into play? Black people shouldn’t be discriminated against just for being brought to a world that they didn’t ask for. All the black community is doing is making the best of the situations that they’ve been in. Tragically, our best has never been enough. The community still gets the shorter end of the stick and when things go good for black people it’s broadcasted as a surprise to the world.

For instance former president Barack Obama, when he became president it was the biggest shock in the world. No one could believe that a black man was in office for the first time in history. Everyone had this astonishing look on their faces that was. Even though it was a surprise that President Obama won the election it still wasn’t good enough for America. President Obama encountered a lot of discrimination his first few years in office. Primarily whites once again were the ones showing so much hate towards a man that was position of power. See everyone in the black community thought that once President Obama won the election that a lot of things would turn around for the black community. In way some things benefited blacks and in a way it didn’t. One thing that helped not just the black community, but everyone was Obama Care. Though that helped a lot of people of all racists that still didn’t stop the threats that President Obama had being sent to him. Can you imagine having death threats just because you’re black and in power? It goes to show that being a black man with power is more terrifying than the most notorious killer in America. If we look back on some of Barack Obama’s accomplishments they’re quite impressive. He captured and killed one of the most if not the most dangerous terrorist in the world, rescued the country from the Great Recession, reversed Bush-era torture policies, and etc. He’s the first black man to ever achieve any of these things. Non-surprisingly he still received hate because of his skin color.

Studies show that racial behavior is learned at an early age, as early as three years old. The question is, do the racial behaviors of the child stick with them throughout adulthood? They can develop these thoughts over time and have them fully developed into their head going into their teenage years. Research also states that if the child is exposed to different cultures at an early age as well then those same racial behaviors can be changed. Hopefully with the help of society different minds can change and be more welcoming to different backgrounds in the near future.

The problem is that society has a strong hold on the young minds of children. In order for society to help change the racial mindsets it would have to be a lot of change and not just in America, but all over. That means certain TV shows would have to go off air and others would have to be created. For example, the TV show Family Guy would have to be taken off the air because it displays racial behavior. In the television show “Family Guy”, the characters are always throwing “black jokes” around and that ultimately shows children old enough watching the show that it’s okay to make these remarks to people in the real world. If America plans on having a chance with situation then these certain things will have to be done. Another thing that would have to go would be racial propaganda. The racial propaganda is displayed in pictures, cartoons, magazines, and etc. Nothing will end if this certain propaganda is constantly advertised as a good thing. Racial propaganda has been displayed even in little kid cartoons. The “Looney Tunes” cartoon show even displays racial propaganda within it. Society uses any and everything to put different ideas into people’s head. That’s why changing the racial thoughts of young children who have their minds made up would be a difficult task to achieve. Luckily, we know we could have a chance in changing the mindsets. Although society plays a great deal in this all, the upbringing of a person plays a tremendous role as well.

If a person grows up being taught to hate a particular race then nine times out of ten they’ll grow up hating that race even more. With that being said a child just isn’t born being racist. Being racist and having a racial mindset is a taught behavior. That’s why a child has to be around and be taught different backgrounds early on before he or she reaches teenage years. A person can be taught to be racist and discriminate just like anything else. It’s just like being taught to read or use the bathroom literally. All that child or adult has to do is believe in what that person is telling them and from that point on that child or adult can start being racist right then and there. It’s all about how the person is brought up. That’s why we need society more than ever to give people a different look on different cultures and backgrounds. This is where certain television shows get taken off the air because America needs positive influence more than negative. Why continue to fill a country with more hatred?

Hatred, racism, and discrimination are just an illness so to speak. It’s all a man-made illness made by those who think they’re more superior. These people show racist behavior, which demonstrates hatred and so forth, because they think they should have the right to rule over certain people and have control on what they do. Jane Elliot states that racism is in effect because people don’t understand the effects of it on the ones that are getting mistreated. She says that once the people who show racism behavior get the same treatment back they don’t know how to respond because now since its being done to them it’s seen as wrong. She actually does an experiment called the “Brown Eye” experiment. In this experiment she gets a big group of people with blue and brown eyes and splits them up by eye color. Once she splits them up by eye color she starts to show special treatment toward the brown eyed participants. After she does that she puts them altogether and asks everyone how they felt about the whole experiment. Of course the majority of the blue eyed participants were white. Once they got the floor to speak they opened up about how they felt mistreated and how they thought Mrs. Jane Elliot was rude and pushy. She broke it down to them in a sense that now they’re getting treated how the brown eyed participants usually get treated that now everything is rude and disrespectful. She also stated to them that if they saw a black man on the street getting treated like they did that they wouldn’t stand up for him in shape, form, or fashion. She summed it all up by stating that how can someone hate a person for the color of their skins. Something a person can’t control is the color of their skin, so if you’re going to hate a person at least hate them for their personality and not something have no control over.