1.

- How the situation changed for the black population in the US after the Civil
War, then in the XX century and how it is today? Use examples from what we saw
in the documentary 13th. 
After the US Civil War in 1865, the Congress established the thirteenth amendment
into the Constitution of the United States of America, that declares: " Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction." The african american population were set free.
But, as the southern region based its economy in agriculture, slaves were utterly
important for the maintainance of plantations, and the harvest of products. So,
gubernamental powers exploited the clarification in the amendment that stipulates
that there will be no slavery or any conviction of someone, unless they have been
declared guilty of a crime. For any wrongdoing, which were not even crimes, the
police would capture and put African Americans behind bars. In addition to being
lynched, they were tortured and forced into hard labor. Little by little, the way
whites used to inferiorize African Americans was through segregation. They were
placed in a perpetual second class. But they got tired. The Civil Rights Movement
arose in the United States to stop segregation and seek full respect for African
American rights. Prioritize equality. With transcendent figures such as Dr. Martin
Luther King, Rosa Parks, Jo Ann Robinson and Dorothy Cotton. In spite of the broad
progress that was made in the area of respect for African American rights, American
society demonstrated nonconformity, discrimination, segregation and hatred.
Conveniently, there was an abysmal increase of incarcerations after the civil
protests, since they assured that the crime was the only effect of giving rights to
the negroes. And, consequently, such events were key to the stigma and bias that
African Americans are violent, criminal and dangerous. After all, African Americans
in the present have equal rights under the law, but not the full respect of the U.S.
population that continues to portray them as vandals and corrupters of the integrity
of the nation.
2.- What is your opinion about the segregation laws that were relevant during the
first half of the XX century? 
Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial
segregation. Existed since the post-Civil War era until 1968, which were meant to
marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an
education or other opportunities. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws
often faced arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death.
Black codes were strict local and state laws that detailed when, where and how
formerly enslaved people could work, and for how much compensation. The codes
appeared as a legal way to put Black citizens into indentured servitude, to take
voting rights away, to control where they lived and how they traveled and to seize
children for labor purposes.
The most ruthless organization of the Jim Crow era, the Ku Klux Klan, was born in
1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. It grew into a secret society terrorizing Black
communities and seeping through white Southern culture, with members at the
highest levels of government and in the lowest echelons of criminal back alleys.
Jim Crow laws, the Black Code, and the KKK are clear examples of the legal impetus
for racial segregation in the United States. It was stipulated in detail, in official
regulations, the way in which the black population was to be treated. Identifying
right’s sabotage, forced labor obligations and bigotry, disrespect and hatred that
would be publicly displayed. All this directly attacked African American dignity and
integrity. For a long time, they were submissive to the unilateral decisions of
disrespect towards them, although they finally rebelled and fought for what was
always theirs: freedom, equality, justice and respect. At all times there were civil
revolts and riots. Sadly, because they were isolated and not supported by the entire
African American population, they were repressed and silenced; until there was no
way to stop them. My opinion does not matter, nor do I think it is relevant, as there
are no words to express justly the pain and damage that was profaned to the black
community for so long. All pro-segregationist, racist, exclusionary and
discriminatory regulations are unacceptable and intolerable. But the saddest thing is
that white Americans believed and, some of them, still believe they are superior to
African Americans; they think they have the right to defame and hurt people of
different skin tone, but equal guarantees before the law.
3.- Have you ever been discriminated against or experienced racism? How did that
made you feel?
Yes, I have been discriminated solely because of my skin tone. It made me feel
upset. Not for me; I didn't grieve, cry, or get angry. I felt bad for those who were
racist, because their small, unconscious and ignorant minds have failed to evolve.
They have not allowed themselves to learn that we are all equal and that my skin
color, way of dressing, origin, etc; do not make me less or more than them. It is
painful to see that people do not change and that there is still a lack of ethical
values in the Mexican society of the 21st century. I will never feel sad to be the way
I am, but it saddens me that there are victims of racism and instead of raising their
voices and demand an apology, they give in and allow their dignity to be damaged.
4.- Which could be the effects of discrimination and racism?
Discriminators influence the daily life of their victims in areas such as employment,
income, education, and medical care. Discrimination has been the cause of high
poverty rates, lack of access to high-paying jobs, elevated mortality rates, and
death. People are judged and treated differently based on uncontrollable factors.
Victims’ lives are modified by others based solely on morals, beliefs, and physical
appearance. Those who are receiving discrimination have ill health, lower
psychological health, higher blood pressure, lower well being, and lower self-
esteem.
2015 meta-analysis found that racism is twice as likely to affect mental health than
physical health. Depression, stress, emotional distress, anxiety, post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal thoughts are common conditions in people that
have suffered discrimination and racism.
5.- Why liberalism is important to address these issues? 
Because liberalism is committed by definition to making claims about the limits of
governmental authority, and a theoretical investigation of these claims must
provide good reasons for drawing the limits at one point rather than another. This
means that liberalism is fundamental in stopping, in the legal and social ambits, the
constant impact and evolution of discrimination and racism by imposing moral rules
to prohibit and abolish, to the extent possible, the spread of superiority ideas in the
population.