The History of Racial Discrimination in the United States Essay Example

Many of us go about our day-to-day lives and do not have a fear of being discriminated against or scared for our own lives. We do not feel like the color of our skin, or our gender may be a reason for someone to hate us or use physical force. However, this is not the case for everyone. We can see this with our Black community in the United States. Often, they are afraid of going into a socially dominant white facility, or being pulled over by a police officer, things that do not even cross most of our minds. This is because racial oppression still exists in our world today. Some of us would say it does not but to say that would be ignorant. We may not always want to agree to it because it means there is something wrong with our society, but it is the truth. African Americans are still facing many hardships and oppression.  

We can start with the history of African Americans in our nation. During the 1600’s this ethnic group was about to face a major change in the way they were living. For many of them they were about to lose their own lives and their loved ones' lives. In 1619 Europeans began to establish the town of Jamestown Virgina and loads of work were brought on their shoulders. They had the idea of lessening the work for themselves by bringing over 20 Africans ashore to help this British colony giving them a cheaper option and diminishing the need of help for their own men. For many centuries African Americans were being used as work horses in the Southern part of the United States since the North Established an abolishment. The North had no use for slaves because of their lack of need for help in their industry, however the south saw nothing wrong with it. In 1791 Hati was experiencing a slave rebellion which left the South scared of losing their own slaves because of this they proceeded to produce the fugitive slave act. This act made it a federal crime to help in assisting an enslaved person trying to escape. Although the South faced many troubles with creating this law since the abolishment in the North, but they had many people on their side including law enforcement. In 1808 congress outlawed the import of new slaves but over the next 50 years the US tripled in how many African Americans were enslaved leaving the number around 4 million in 1860. After the Revolutionary War, the South became faced with an economic crisis. The soil used to grow Tobacoo became dry and unusable. Rice and Indigio were not making enough profit therefore cotton was introduced. Cotton was making a huge profit in England and many people were looking for American cotton. This left the South with potential to be leading in the cotton industry since they are the cotton states. The cotton gin was produced during this time giving the south the opportunity to grow their income, however more slaves were going to be needed. For many years slaves fought back to reach freedom and many well-known people helped free thousands of slaves including Hariet Tubman. Then finally in 1861 after the Civil War the emancipation of proclamation took place. Although this made a significant difference for many African Americans the discrimination towards them still holds a place in our nation today.  

African Americans in the United States are not the only group to see discrimination towards them. Many other ethnic groups feel the hardships of oppression on a daily as well. We can see this by simply earning wages of the black community. In the United States black Americans earn $0.87 for every dollar a white man makes. Coming in second to last is Native Americans who also do not make as much as the white community with $0.91 per dollar. A similarity between Hispanic groups and African American groups can be seen in housing in the US. These two racial groups tend to live in poverty. Most of the time in very low-income high crime neighborhoods. This is sometimes because of the way our government works by placing these ethnic groups in housing. It is a cheaper option for most of these families who do not always make enough money to live in a high-income neighborhood or white families do not always want to accept a colored person in their neighborhood. During a survey asking different ethnic groups how often they felt discriminated against it was not surprising to me to see that black Americans said they felt the most discriminated leaving them with a 31.88 percent, and Hispanics with 27.15 percent of who felt daily discrimination.  

Stereotyping in the United States has been a problem for centuries. People often feel better about labeling an entire ethnic group as something bad to place blame on someone other than themselves. For example, people often stereotype African Americans as being dangerous. You hear stories of people locking their car doors when they see a black man coming towards them down the street or clutching on to their belongings in fear of being robbed. This stereotype has caused a mass fear of black Americans, men especially. During the slavery years white people labeled African Americans as a threat even though they were the ones causing the harm on the black community. This is still shown today as racists actions towards this ethnic group still happen, yet they sit here still and label them as a danger to us. Another stereotype that you can see in the United States towards this ethnic group is that all black men are gangsters, drug dealers, pimps, criminals, rapists, etc. This idea portrays through movies giving most black male characters a similar role. It is rare to see a movie about a successful African American, yet we can see many black men who have succeeded in the world.  

Today in the United States many African Americans still feel hardship and hatred. We see many young black lives taken away from this earth by police brutality, by the people who are supposed to be protecting us. Just in the past decade we have lost over 50 African Americans to police brutality while being unarmed. With the most recent and well-known death by police brutality Geroge Floyd. George Floyd was killed by a police officer while being arrested for using a counterfeit bill. This police officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck not allowing him to breathe even though he was screaming “I can't breathe.” This caused a huge uproar in our state of Minnesota but also nationally. The movement of Black Lives Matter (BLM) has been around for almost 9 years but within the past 2 years it has really taken off as more discrimination is being seen against this ethnic group. Many African Americans still see unfair treatment in the workplace, housing, government assistance, clinics, etc. You name it and I am sure someone has felt discriminated against there.  

As the years go on it is sad to see how much discrimination truly takes place in our nation, the melting pot, as we are known as. Yet there is a divide between different racial groups. It amazes me how for so many years we have lived side by side with all different ethnic groups but there are still walls being placed in between. You would think by now we would have all learned to accept one another but at the same time it feels impossible. I think this year 2021 has really drawn a line in the sand dividing people who want to make a change in our society and people who see no reason to have to make a change. Black Americans need a change. The United States needs a change. People need to feel accepted for who they are.