Racism Against Blacks

African Americans are usually looked down upon in todays society, mostly because of their
history. They are seen as a lesser value of the human race within the United States. Analyze why
black people receive the treatment that they do, how they receive it, and what is being done
about it.

Javier Silva
Garcia and Stoll
27 October 2014

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African Americans have received horrible treatment throughout their history of living in
the United States, and it still carries on till today. Poor treatment of blacks has been brought from
way back when the white English settlers would bring Africans to enslave them, and make them
their property. Throughout history, black people have always been in the lower social class, or
not even apart of the social class. When the first Africans showed up in the United States, they
were treated as if they were animals, objects, or property. The US citizens saw them as just
another human, they saw less than half of what they themselves are. As time passed in the United
States, blacks started to gain freedom, and more rights little by little. It took hundreds of years
for an African American to have the same rights as a white person. Even though it says in the US
Constitution that nobody is above the law, and that every man is equal, racial discrimination still
remains in the states, especially with minorities. The government claims to see all races as
equal, but everybody knows that it is not the truth. Although The United States is a racist
country, African Americans have received horrible treatment by their fellow US citizens.

In the states, people have been so racist in certain communities that they have forced
people out of the residential areas because they couldnt handle the amount of racial
discrimination that they were receiving. A family of 4 moved into Orange County California but
immediately regretted that decision after they, [were] awakened by rocks shattering their house
windows. They found all eight tires on their two cars had been slashed (Miles). This family was
new to neighborhood and didnt know anybody, or the area. They didnt do anything wrong, the
just lived their every day lives, just like everybody else. The family was sound asleep, when the
people attacked them by damaging the property of the family. By popping all eight tires, they
were forced to replace all of them with their own money because they didnt know who did it. In

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Orange County, black people make up 2.1% (Bureau). Because there arent many black people
in that neighborhood, the people in that community want to keep them as far away from their
family as possible, even if they do no intend to harm or affect their way of living in any way.
Within the family of 4, they have a young son attending grade school. The family soon found out
that, their six-year-old son related a story of classmates who said he couldnt play with them
because he was black. He also said a kid told others that they could not talk to the boy because
he was black (Miles). The little boy received hate from a small boy because he was white, even
though a kid at that age shouldnt even have a clue about racial discrimination. The possibilities
of a kid being introduced to racism are very slim, but are still possible. The kid that said that to
the African American wasnt racist; he was just a monkey see, monkey do. He didnt know to
be racist, his parents most likely brainwashed his about colored people, and warned him to stay
away. The final family member is a young adult in his early twenties. The family is now settled
in slightly better, but, A year after they moved in their son revealed that people would often
shout the N-word racial slur as he rode his bicycle to work (Ibid). This young man was
minding his own business on his way to work, while people are trying to make jokes about it. He
wasnt harming anybody in any way, yet they yell racist comments at him for no reason
whatsoever. All he was trying to do was go to work, and get his day of pay, but these rude people
say mean things to get into his head. With the publication of the interview, [The families] names
are not being revealed for safety reasons(Ibid), could not reveal their identities because they
know that if they do, that things are only going to get worse. Many people in the United States
are racist to minorities, even if they dont affect them in any way. When people are forced to
leave the community within just 1 year of living there, due to racist threats, it is saddening that

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that they would do such a thing just because they do not like somebody because of their
background, or color of their skin.
The black community has received racial discrimination from their own citizens, but they
have also taken this from their own government. The United States government has been
recognized for their unfair treatment to specific minorities, but they have taken it to another level
by excluding them in specific aids that are necessary for them to live. The United Nations held a
meeting with many countries, and mentioned that, Among the aforementioned problems, the
report also criticized the United States for racial segregation in education; racial profiling;
unequal access to legal aide; criminalizing the homeless, who are disproportionally minority;
Stand Your Ground laws, which disproportionally affects racial and ethnic minorities; and
discrimination in housing (Arceneaux). The government excludes black people from the aid that
is necessary, because of their skin color. Without this aid it makes in nearly impossible to get by
day, by day for them, as a whole. The African American people dont like the unfair treatment
that they are receiving, so, If you asked the average Black person about the state of racism in
America, youll likely be greeted with boos, hisses, eye rolls, and for-letter-words (Ibid).
Black people are fed up with the way that they were treated, and cannot stand the way they will
continue to be treated. They have noticed the treatment that they have received, and obviously
want that to change. Not only have the people in the United States have noticed the horrible
treatment against black, but, Other countries across the globe have pointed out Americas
hypocrisy, but thanks the United Nations there is a more through and fact-based assessment of it
(Ibid). Since white people are mostly the ones being racist, African Americans are justified in
hating (or even harming) white people as a form of reprisal for the latters historical, and
continuing, transgressions against blacks (Sowell). Most black people are justified in naturally

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hating white people because of what they have done to their ancestors in the past. This material
is taught to everybody in elementary and middle school, so most people have access to this
information. African Americans use history as a reason to hate white people because they used
them as slaves, so they get revenge on them, and use this as an excuse.
After the tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001, Police alertness, along with
racism, has gone up. In 2008 when Obama was elected as President, a poll went around to
secretively hide questions about how racist the majority of people are to blacks in America.
According to (Brazile), According to the poll, 51% of Americans now express explicit antiblack attitudes, compared with 48% in a similar 2008 survey The 3% is not large But it
indicates we have not reach the post racial world Obama hoped for. One of the main things that
Obama wanted to do while in office, is to lower the racism rate. The poll was taken before his
first term as a president, and the second was taken towards the end of it. It may seem that many
people arent racist, but when you ask them personal questions like the ones in the poll, they are
deep down inside. Obama didnt reach the goal he wanted to, but he knows that this is a real
issue in America that has to be fixed. Although 3% is not a big percentage, since it is going the
opposite way, it looks worse than it actually is. People with power seem to abuse their power by
discriminating blacks. It has been said, negative racial attitudes affect the way people are
treated by police, the way kids are treated by teachers, the way home-seekers are treated by land
lords, and real estate agents (Ibid). Black people have to deal with racism everywhere they go.
If people see that racism is still happening, they will continue to be racist because they see that it
is okay with society. Racism hast changed much since the past because, Racism was now said to
require power, which minorities do not have, so that even the most anti-white, anti-Jewish, and
anti-Asian sentiments were automatically exempt from the charge of racism (Sowell). The

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people at the top of the social class, which are mostly white people, are racist because they have
power over the classes below them. Most bosses, police officers, government officials, and many
more jobs contain racist people because they know that they have more power than the
minorities. So they chose to brag about it because it is hard for the minorities to reach where they
are. As time passes in America, the racial divide increasingly reflects the generation gap
Increasingly elderly Americans who are far more racially and ethically diverse, leading to
reductions in future oriented public investments (Brazile). As the Caucasian people grow older,
the keep their distances from the younger minorities because they dont like they way that they
act, and dont want to know what they do because they always think that they are up to no good.
As the American people get older they start to notice the little things that they younger
generation does, and think that all of them are going to do the same. Its known that people
always remember the bad things someone does, but hardly remember the good things that they
do.
All around the United States police officers, highway patrols, and city sheriffs have been
targeting minorities because they racially profile them for doing little to no crimes. The officers
abuse their power and the,
The NYPDs stop-and-frisk practices raise serious concerns over racially profiling,
illegal stops and privacy rights. The Departments own reports on its stop-and-frisk
activity confirm what many people in communities of color across the city have long
known: The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every
year, and the vast majority are black and Latino (Stop-and-Frisk Campaign).
The stop-and-frisk method was developed to randomly search an individual who they believe is
in possession of something illegal like drugs, or a gun. But this also violates the Constitutional

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right that we are given which gives us the right to privacy. It also violates the right to decline a
search without a warrant or probable cause. So not only is it illegal, but it is wrong because most
of the targeted victims are blacks and Latinos. This proves that the police racially profile young
minorities. The police rarely go for the white people because they think that they real
troublemakers are the minorities. Police officers sometimes exaggerate on minor offences when
dealing with minorities, but a little girl remembers,
When I was a first grader riding in the backseat of my mothers car, we were pulled over
in a routine traffic stop. The white police officer approached our vehicle, and before
saying anything else to my black mother, he asked, Do you know what I would do to you
if you ever even looked at my wife or kids the wrong way? My mother shrugged, and
suggested that he would lock her in prison. He responded, Id kill you. (Cunningham).
This police officer highly exaggerated in the crime that the mother committed. The now woman,
still remembers what the police officer told her mother, and fears that the same thing, or
something similar will happen to her. Since that day the police officer threatened my mother, I
have tried to rationalize what I considered an irrational fear of the police. It was silly, I thought,
to reflexively put that second hand on the steering wheel whenever a patrol car neared. If Im not
doing anything wrong, why be fearful? But feeling a certain discomfort in our own skin is a
unique yet ubiquitous experience for black Americans (Ibid). This lady was still traumatized
because of what happened to her mother when she was a kid. She was scared that the police
officer was going to pull her over for no reason, and make up a dumb reason. Or her was going
to use a small offence, and make it seem worse than it is. Instead of feeling protected by the

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police officer, she felt that he was a threat because of past experiences with them. As a police
officer, their job is to serve and protect, but instead they harass and commit racial prejudice.
As a whole, America is a very racist country, but what citizens do is publicize rare stories
to make ourselves feel like we are not racist. What most people do is, find 1 or 2 blacks or
Hispanics who succeed against all odds, and elevate their story and continue repeating them, so
we can say, see, we really are a color blind nation (Arnade) What this is doing is spreading
these stories so it can temporarily blind us from the real world situations. If this remains, then the
US will remain racist deep inside, but as a whole, they need to completely abolish it. Instead of
repeating those stories, America could help those stories multiply so that different stories can be
told about reality. It doesnt only have to be those 1 or 2 people that make it. It could be those
hundreds, or even thousands.
Since the United States has not really done anything about the racism problem, crimes
against minorities have been occurring, while the criminal gets away with it. The United Nations,
urged the US to halt the excessive use of force by police after the fatal shooting of an unarmed
black teenager by a white policeman touched off riots in Ferguson, Missouri (Nebchay). The
UN wants American police officers to limit the amount of tragedies to lower down, along with
the excessive police brutality, especially against innocent minorities. This isnt the only time
something like this has happened, George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who
fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, igniting a national debate on racial
profiling and civil rights, was found not guilty late Saturday night of second-degree murder
(Alvarez). This might have not been a police officer, but her was apart of the neighborhood
watch. Zimmerman thought that Trayvon Martin was up to no good because he was a young

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black teenager walking around the neighborhood with his hood on. Zimmerman racially profiled
Martin, and thought that he was up to no good. When a white person commits a crime against a
black person, it is not okay, but they are only left off with a warning. Because the government, or
the court system hasnt done anything about the innocent killings of young black teenagers, its
more likely that it will keep happening.
In court cases, African American receive more charges for pretty much the same crime.
One of four former Vanderbilt University football players accused of raping a student in a
campus dormitory last year testified Wednesday that athletics officials told [Brandon
Vandenburg] he would lose his scholarship if he didn't cooperate with police investigating the
case, so he felt he had no choice All four are charged with several counts of rape and have
pleaded not guilty (Johnson Ii). This young, white football player allegedly raped a girl from his
school with the help of 3 of his friends. They did not plead guilty, and it helped that he came
from a white background. A football player named, [Darren Sharper] is unlikely to be released
from jail following a ruling by an Arizona judge denying him bail. Sharper, who is accused of
drugging and raping two women he met at a West Hollywood nightclub, had been free on $1
million bail earlier this year (Service). Comparing the two cases, they are both football players
who raped women. Vandenburgs didnt receive any charges, while Sharper had to pay 1 million
dollars for the same crime. Although Sharpers case was slightly worse, it was not a 1 million
dollar difference between his case, and Vandenburgs. The US court system favors certain races,
and discriminates against minorities, and they have a more sever sentence compared to what
other people receive.
In essence, there have been many times where all types of people have been racist against
blacks in the United States. African Americans receive horrible treatment by their own citizens

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that live in this racist country. Black people are portrayed as all the same, and never see as a
mentally growing race. People shouldnt racially discriminate blacks because if nobody ever
gives them a chance, they will treat everyone the same because they dont want to deal with the
same things all over again.

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Works Cited
Alvarez, Lizette, and Cara Buckley. "Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 13 July 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Arceneaux, Michael. "The UN Calls United States Out On Its Racism [VIDEO]." News One RSS.
NewsOne Original, 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Arnade, Chris. "America Is Still a Deeply Racist Country." The Guardian. Guardian News, 12 Jan.
2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Bureau, Census. "United States Census Bureau." Orange County QuickFacts from the US Census
Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau, 08 July 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Cunningham, Doug. "America's New Post-racial Racism." Early & Often. Suntimes, 14 Aug. 2014.
Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Donna, Brazile. "In 2012, Racism's Tenacious Hold on U.S." CNN. CNN Contributor, 1 Nov. 2012.
Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Johnson Ii, Lucas L. "Ex-Vandy Football Player Testifies in Rape Case." Ex-Vandy Football Player
Testifies in Rape Case. Associated Press, 8 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
Miles, Kathleen. "Black Family Driven Out Of Orange County, Calif. Due To Racism (VIDEO)." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Nebehay, Stephanie. "U.N. Urges U.S. to Stop Police Brutality after Missouri Shooting." Reuters.
Thomson Reuters, 29 Aug. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Service, City News. "Former NFL Player Darren Sharper Accused of Rape Back in Court in Los
Angeles." Former NFL Player Darren Sharper Accused of Rape Back in Court in Los Angeles.
City News Service, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
"Stop and Frisk Practices | New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) - American Civil Liberties
Union of New York State." Stop and Frisk Practices | New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
- American Civil Liberties Union of New York State. NYCLU, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

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