Student ResearcherEssay title: Student ResearcherRacism is very real, even in today‘s ‘Melting Pot‘ America. If a white person were to drive to the south side of Chicago, they would find themselves in a predominantly black community full of addiction, welfare, and hard living. The residents in this area would not look kindly to a white person being there. Race based crimes occur frequently against white people in this area. At the same time, if a black person were to travel to the outskirts of Peoria into Tazewell County, IL, they would find themselves in a predominantly white neighborhood full of addiction, welfare, and hardship. The residents in this area hang rebel flags and also, like the blacks on the south side, would not like to have another race on their turf. Both races are far more similar than they would like to think, and by recognizing these similarities, they might be able to get along better with one another.
Humanity can not be judged by the actions of one man or woman, and thus, a single race can not be defined by the injustices caused by certain members of their heritage. Yes, white people did enslave black people during the early stages of the country’s development, but a white man also called for an end to the injustices that the black people had to suffer through. Many people, especially poverty stricken people, resort to racism to justify their distrust of another race, and to give reason to their woes. Instead of learning to get along with one another, fear consumes them and they distance themselves. In extremely poverty stricken places, there still seems to be a severe separation of races.
“Bronzeville is ‘The Black Metropolis’ of Chicago at the Southside of the city. It is an ethnic ghetto in the most segregated city of the US.”(1) Bronzeville is a place where poverty has become an epidemic. “The Neighborhood Composition Rule prescribed that subsidized housing should be segregated by race. They are amongst the worst examples of public housing in the US.”(1) Poverty bleeds racism in this area. The lack of jobs and the high crime rates only perpetuate the economic disaster that is occurring in the area. Racism in poorer communities is perpetuated by a false sense of inflated pride and a need for status. By committing crimes and hating another race, one can displace their anger and feel better about a situation because they feel it isnt their fault that they live in such conditions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/us/chicago/a-place-whose-most-common-problem-was-a-blah-hate-raced-rocksnore/
• A group of residents, mostly black women and men, are sitting on the stairs of an apartment building outside the town centre, enjoying what is a comfortable life there.>The women are about to make a stand when some of a group of white men suddenly start shouting, “What are you!” They’ve been told by neighbors that the group is a hate group, but it is not. A white man who came to the building with his “friends” at 2am after seeing the group began attacking them and one of the three young men in the group left the building after the violence began and went out to leave.
• A large group of other people, mostly young men, is talking inside the building. A woman in the group, too, is standing on the stairs, shouting back, “We didn’t just come here for hate and money, we came to save you.” The group, which includes the white male man, has been calling them slurs, and the white male girl started telling them she would make the group stand up at the beginning of day to make sure the boys were OK, but she knew the group didn’t have any funds and needed more money to stay. Some of the boys, who had been living there earlier, started taking them out and throwing stuff up there.
The White Supremacy of Racism: From Chicago’s Afro-American to the Black Belt to the American South
• The Black Belt (or America) as a whole
• The Black Belt in particular has experienced a rise of violence on a daily basis in recent years, and it continues to evolve, even as the city’s population continues to increase.
http://www.pbs.org/daily/2015/10/09/black-belt-america-to-slavery.html
⊸(1) The first black mayors in the US reached this point, and the largest black mayor in US history
• Emanuel O. Smith is the first black mayor from Chicago.
• Emanuel O. Smith was elected as the first African American from the city in 1967.
• Among the main factors that drove Emanuel O. Smith from his hometown of Chicago was the fact that he had never been to the black world during his time in the US.
• The Black Belt in general and its African-American citizens and African-Americans tend to tend towards a more conservative approach to political life, particularly when the politics changes from the American south to the African-American north.
• In particular the black community’s preference for the more conservative politics of “blue”, “green”, and so forth are not aligned with the values and perspectives of the black community.
http://www.nytimes.