Racial Equality In America Essays - Discrimination, Racism, Hatred

Racial Equality In America Throughout the history of the country, America has been considered a fairly racist union. Undoubtedly the greatest injustice in the United States to this day is the white's treatment of African-Americans, specifically slavery. The vast majority of non-black people of that time believed that blacks were not equal to other races. White Americans of the slavery period specifically held this view. It was nearly impossible for a black to live free in America, and it was even more difficult for a black to find a job. As time passed, however, many people began to change their views on race relations in America. After slavery was abolished, fewer and fewer people believed that they were supreme over the African-American race. Not only were blacks free, they were becoming accepted as people in our society. They were even becoming accepted in the workplace. Many employers were no longer bothered by giving a job to an African-American. America seemed to finally be turning around for the better. After all, African-Americans only asked for equality, and they were getting closer and closer to that goal with each passingday. Suddenly, however, some people began to lose sight of the mission they set out to accomplish. Instead of just trying to make America equal, they felt that they should attempt to make up for the times when it was not. Many places in society, such as the workplace, the court system, and the entertainment industry, seem to have shifted to being easier for blacks to advance themselves in than whites. The intent, to improve race relations in America, was good. The problem that comes about, however, is that it begins to enter people's minds that it is better to be black than it is to be white. African-Americans should certainly feel confident with themselves, but they should not be given a reason to feel superior, either. Nobody should be able to feel superior to another person simply because of race. Everything that this country has worked for in the last century is compromised by these changes. Black supremacy seems to be promoted more than racial equality, and racial equality must be this nation's goal. Undoubtedly African-Americans have suffered great hardships in America, however, the country today cannot allow their past to influence racial equality. Many aspects of society have become dominated by African-Americans. One reason for this is that there are many things in the United States today that only African-Americans can do. This would not be a problem, except for whites do not have these same kinds of areas that are exclusively for them. The music industry today exemplifies this kind of separation. Rock and roll music was formerly made up of only whites, but gradually African-Americans moved into that genre of music. This is a good thing for racial equality, except for when you look at the other types of dominant music today, rap and rhythm and blues. There is almost no white singers in these entire styles of music. On MTV, there has been only two white rap singers in the history of the channel, and one of them, Vanilla Ice, is the subject of constant ridicule by black rap fans and performers. Many people think that any person could sing these styles of music if they were talented enough. This is not true, however, because African-Americans in this industry tend to be unreceptive to white singers, and because of the overwhelming intimidation they cause, almost no white rap singers continue their careers very far. This same kind of division occurs in today's courtrooms. African-Americans today can claim that they were only arrested for a crime because of their race. For example, OJ Simpson's defense team used this kind of treachery to get an acquittal for him. Despite overwhelming DNA evidence, the defense claimed that a racist police officer set him upto make it look like he committed the murders. Some people may believe that the officer actually did set him up, and it is of course possible that he did. The fact still remains, however, that without the thought of racism in the mind of the jurors, he would have been found guilty by a landslide. The problem here is that only an African-American could use that kind of defense and be taken seriously. A white man could not claim this because no jurors would believe that an African-American would frame a white man out of racial hatred. It just isn't claimed, especially because the man on trail would probably be thought of as a racist for