Racism In The Red White And BlueEssay Preview: Racism In The Red White And BlueReport this essayRacism in the Red White and BlueRacism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each others as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
Since the beginning of colonization, America has been controlled by religiously and ethically diverse whites. The most profound cases of racism in the “United” States of America have been felt by Native Americans, Asians, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Muslims. Major racially structured institutions include; slavery, settlement, Indian reservations, segregation, residential schools, and internment camps (Racism in the U.S., 1). Racism has been felt and seen by many in housing, the educational system, places of employment, and the government. Discrimination was largely criminalized in the mid 20th century, and at the same time became socially unacceptable and morally repugnant (Racism in the U.S., 1). Although racism was
Baylor 2beginning to be looked down upon, and considered immoral ways of thinking, the inequalities between races continued to linger.Long before the white man set foot on American soil, the American Indians, or rather the Native Americans had been living in America. When the Europeans came here, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of present-day Mexico (American Indians, 1). During the Colonial and independent eras, Europeans were accustomed to owning land, and claimed the natives property because they considered the “Indians” to be nomads or savages not capable of owning or treating their own land. The conflicts led to the Indian Wars, the Indian Removal Act empowered by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 (American Indians, 1). During these wars Indian tribes were the underdog due to their disadvantages in numbers, weapons, technology, and defense. This led to hundreds of natives being slaughtered, massacred, put into forced displacement, having a restriction to food rights, and impositions of treaties. After their land was taken many Native Americans faced tons of hardships. In the Declaration of Independence the Natives were brought out to be “merciless Indian savages”. Due to the belief of Manifest Destiny Native Americans were forced to leave and put into their own reservation camps.
Shortly after in colonial America, slavery began to mature. At first the legal status of Africans in America was poorly defined, and some, like European indentured servants, managed to become free after several years of service (Kolchin, 1), But this rarely occurred. Colonies began making laws that tightened up all slave relations. Laws were
Baylor 3changed stating that all black slaves and children of black slave women would serve a term of service for life. By the 1770s, slaves constituted about 40 percent of the population of the Southern colonies, with the highest concentration in South Carolina, where more than half the people were slaves (Kolchin, 1). In 1808 slave imports were outlawed but yet the slave population in the United States continued to grow. During the next 50 years, the slave population of the United States more than tripled, from about 1.2 million to almost 4 million in 1860 (Kolchin, 1) In this period of time the opposition of slavery didn’t exist. Many owners continuously exploited and savagely beat members of the lower class. Since slaves were mostly agricultural workers planters would often resort to harsh treatment to get them to work harder and show who they were owned by. Many used whipping and branding to display this. What slaves hated most about slavery was not the hard work but their lack of freedom, the lack of control they had over their own lives. So away from their owners slaves often tried to go about their own way of life. They sang, played games, prayed, told stories and tried to make the best of their little but purposeful time. In the North slavery was abolished and a group of abolitionists were formed. In the South people still had slaves and they tried to come up with arguments for doing so. Some defenders of slavery said that they saw it as gods plan for civilizing heathen peoples. With the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 seven southern states broke away from the United States and formed the Confederates States of America because they did not agree with the abolishment of slavery. This confrontation of differences led to the beginnings of the Civil War. In 1863 President Lincoln issued the
Baylor 4Emancipation Proclamation which was then followed up by the 13th amendment which did away with slavery for good in 1865. Although slavery was ended, it was followed by an intense struggle during Reconstruction over the status of the newly freed slaves. In subsequent decades, black Americans continued to struggle against poverty, racism, and segregation, as they sought to overcome the bitter legacy of slavery (Kolchin, 1)
Closer to present day we have seen the true hatred of some peoples views and the strength and power others have to stand up and rise against the oppression. In 1866 the Ku Klux Klan was formed (civil rights movement, 1). Pro white groups that fed of the fear of minorities and caused death and destruction to many minorities and people that were on their side. From that time period segregation placed a big impact on the U.S. African Americans at this time were considered to only be 3/5 man, and did not have or deserve the right to vote. To make this legal the Supreme Court established a system of poll taxes and literacy tests in 1898 (Finkleman, 1). This scheme was to prevent almost all blacks from voting or serving
• a government program that, if implemented would help blacks to vote (fusion tax, 50). To this time there have been only about a thousand black people in law or government who have ever served in any government with a real, visible and sustained racial split (Finkleman, 1). Thus many of the most experienced black attorneys and attorneys general of the nation have never seen legal action for civil rights violations under color of law, i.e. the Ku Klux Klan. The government at this time did not take any action to enforce the KKK laws, and was simply interested in building black civil rights organizations after losing the fight for white rule over the country after the Spanish Civil War. The KKK was a white supremacist organization that did not want to interfere with black people, and it did not care if black people were being treated unjustly or for racial reasons. To give a sense of the role of the KKK as a white supremacist organization, if you ask the KKK president or the KKK’s official history, he doesn’t like white people. For example, that’s when he says “No to racism. Stop fighting over ‘black racism’ with those who don’t pay any attention and vote white.” If you look in his records he doesn’t allow for many white people to come to him and say, “No, no, thank you.” If you look at what he says this seems like a joke. They’re trying to be the ‘pro and white,’ which the white people see as a means to do so. They believe that they can ‘fix’ everything if they make whites pay a price. What they don’t seem to be paying is if whites do get treated unfairly or were put under civil rights law they’re not going to help. This is all very important, and it gets in the way of all future research. • One of the questions we have this particular year (fusion tax and literacy tests) was a question that came up a couple of years ago in the Supreme Court. Under the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment they have the right to opt out of voter registration and all other matters, if they choose to do so. Why hasn’t the Supreme Court dealt with this issue? Why is it under attack? All the time I’ve interviewed people who have told me that no states have ever been able to regulate the registration of voter registrations with one or more state legislatures. Why don’t they use the Supreme Court’s current reasoning and say: “Look, I understand the Supreme Court’s reasoning. First of all, states do not have the right to pass anything like this now. Second, this doesn’t mean that they can deny people the right to vote at the whim of either one state. Third, it doesn’t mean that states are not going to have to enforce this under any circumstances.” What will happen when
The KKK and other racist groups did not stand for the right to vote. They were all on the front line and were trying desperately to find something that would appeal to blacks, a black man of the lowest status, who would not want them to become dependent on government.
Huge national groups also formed, based on racial prejudice, as the Democratic Party and other white racial causes. Their national causes consisted of hatred for the U.S., racism, and black unemployment, for the black person as well as, in short, an inability to live a normal life in an isolated white environment, in which blacks were the only able-bodied group. This was a big part of their political goals of black and white domination of a globalized world.
For many years black men were also on the front line for the right to vote. In 1936 they were named as “Committee of Rights” to the Union of African American Voters, as they were a part of the national Republican Party, and supported by the Republican party (Bowers, 1). This was in the hope that the Blacks could be included in their movement to elect leaders who could represent the people and that this group would help them in the fight against the racism they felt. In other words the KKK, the U.S. Negro Party, or at least the Democratic Party, would be able to unite to help Black people gain the votes. The Democrats won a major victory under the leadership of Senator Jesse Jackson in 1936 on a promise to turn Black people into voters. In 1938 Jesse Jackson helped to bring about the Civil Rights Movement by nominating African American voters who were willing to go against the black racism he saw to be an unfair and inequitable system. The United States would never see another civil rights movement under the leadership of African American leaders.
Black people were also in the forefront for the right to vote in the elections from 1933 to 1945. The vote totals from 1932, 1933, and 1940 were more than 8 million votes, making them the best known black voting groups. They were represented in 40 countries.
In 1938, for example, the Democratic National Committee began in the Democratic Congress in the US as an “Afro-American” party, and the Democratic Leadership Council in the Southern Congress.
The Progressive League was formed that sought to create a party dominated by Black people of the working class. Its leader, the late Paul Simon of Chicago, was part of the party and worked with the party to establish it as a party controlled by the Black community. Both Progressive and Labor leaders helped to organize the national Progressive League.
In 1942, the Democratic Party of Great Britain and Europe was built and led under the leadership of Sir J. James Doonan, a black man who was at times to blame for the mass murder of black
The KKK and other racist groups did not stand for the right to vote. They were all on the front line and were trying desperately to find something that would appeal to blacks, a black man of the lowest status, who would not want them to become dependent on government.
Huge national groups also formed, based on racial prejudice, as the Democratic Party and other white racial causes. Their national causes consisted of hatred for the U.S., racism, and black unemployment, for the black person as well as, in short, an inability to live a normal life in an isolated white environment, in which blacks were the only able-bodied group. This was a big part of their political goals of black and white domination of a globalized world.
For many years black men were also on the front line for the right to vote. In 1936 they were named as “Committee of Rights” to the Union of African American Voters, as they were a part of the national Republican Party, and supported by the Republican party (Bowers, 1). This was in the hope that the Blacks could be included in their movement to elect leaders who could represent the people and that this group would help them in the fight against the racism they felt. In other words the KKK, the U.S. Negro Party, or at least the Democratic Party, would be able to unite to help Black people gain the votes. The Democrats won a major victory under the leadership of Senator Jesse Jackson in 1936 on a promise to turn Black people into voters. In 1938 Jesse Jackson helped to bring about the Civil Rights Movement by nominating African American voters who were willing to go against the black racism he saw to be an unfair and inequitable system. The United States would never see another civil rights movement under the leadership of African American leaders.
Black people were also in the forefront for the right to vote in the elections from 1933 to 1945. The vote totals from 1932, 1933, and 1940 were more than 8 million votes, making them the best known black voting groups. They were represented in 40 countries.
In 1938, for example, the Democratic National Committee began in the Democratic Congress in the US as an “Afro-American” party, and the Democratic Leadership Council in the Southern Congress.
The Progressive League was formed that sought to create a party dominated by Black people of the working class. Its leader, the late Paul Simon of Chicago, was part of the party and worked with the party to establish it as a party controlled by the Black community. Both Progressive and Labor leaders helped to organize the national Progressive League.
In 1942, the Democratic Party of Great Britain and Europe was built and led under the leadership of Sir J. James Doonan, a black man who was at times to blame for the mass murder of black