Racial Discrimination In Today's Society Essay Sample

📌Category: Racism, Slavery, Social Issues
📌Words: 584
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 18 June 2022

Most of today’s society takes time to be respectful to those who are different from them. People educate themselves to be sure they are not judging someone without knowing their story, and to be sure that anyone who feels as if they do not fit in with the rest of the world can be treated equally. But this was not always the case. Racism is still appearing all over the world, and although America abolished slavery 157 years ago, people of color are still discriminated against

Frederick Douglass was a black man who was born into slavery in 1818 and escaped freedom in 1838. He became a leading abolitionist and social reformer, and in honor of his writing skills, he was asked to give a speech at the 1852 Independence Day celebration. Having experienced s

lavery, Douglass talks about how ironic it is that he has been asked to speak on a day that for him and other people of color has a horrible history. He says in his speech, “The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common” (Douglass 24). When he writes these words, it is still ten years before slavery was abolished. Douglass brings attention to the fact that many white Americans are celebrating freedom and liberty on the 4th of July even though many enslaved people are left out of that celebration. They have no freedom and no liberty. He later says in the speech, “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour” (27). In a way, he is scolding America for celebrating the holiday and celebrating freedom. Douglass wants people to see the day from his perspective. Hearing his side of the story helped Americans begin to see slavery differently.

When Douglass was in his late 40s, President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural speech. He wants peace for all, no matter their race or background. In his speech, Lincoln proclaims that “both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we not be judged” (Lincoln 40). He believes that the only one who can judge the world is the God that people worship together.    Over 150 years later, racism is still a huge problem in America. A woman named Jesmyn Ward, born in 1977, shares her story of moving from state to state and the experiences of racism and other problems along the way. Ward was often asked why she, a black woman, would return to the South, which is still full of racism, after living in the West, East, and Midwest. She says that she had moved because “I love the beauty of the place, and I love the people” (Ward 10). Ward mentions how in the 1800s, most of the millionaires in the country were white men who were made rich through slavery and cotton in Mississippi. Here, she is mentioning something that Frederick Douglass had to live through. While Jesmyn is living in the South, she constantly has white people telling her to turn down her rap music, or casually throwing the n-word into a conversation as if it is nothing.  

Hundreds of years ago, slavery was still very active. Black people were sold, beaten, forced to work, and received nothing good in return. Although it was abolished after the Civil War, racism is still present in today’s society, and black people deserve to have their voices heard and their stories told.

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