What is most amazing is that just a century or two before, the English were immigrants to America, and yet they could not recognize the commonalities between their own quest for a better life and the quest of thousands of immigrants who came to America to better themselves.
My question in relationship to this reading is quite simple. What can Americans do to erase the stereotypes and racial hatred that still exists today? This seems like a simple question, and yet, it is much more complicated than the first glance indicates. Obviously, this hatred and bigotry still exists in many (or even all) areas of the country. The fact that this problem still exists at all is a sad testament to American society. While we may pride ourselves on being one of the most progressive and successful nations on Earth, we still deny many of our citizens the same rights that whites take for granted. African-Americans are often relegated to the poorest schools, the poorest housing, and the least opportunities for advancement and betterment in our society. Sadly, most Americans do not even recognize that fact. Police forces continue to "racial profile" criminals and suspects, and African-Americans still have to conform to white society to get ahead. Can an entire society change how it looks at a people? Perhaps, but it would take a concerted and committed effort by all of society and society's leaders, and that does not seem as it will happen any time soon. The problem is not that people are black, but it is instead how whites, who still control the majority of society, including government and education, view those blacks. Blacks cannot get ahead when a majority of society is busy keeping them down and out. The saddest part of this equation is that so many Americans...
As the author notes, "Seventy-one percent of white respondents in one 2001 poll thought African-Americans had at least the same opportunities as whites" (Author 172). Actually, this reading has proved that is simply not the case, and that black Americans do not have the same opportunities, because black Americans, for the most part, have to struggle with poverty, poor schools, and stereotypes even today. In truth, most white Americans are quite ignorant about the situation of blacks in America, and perhaps if more whites actually lived in black communities for a while, and saw what they have to face, they might change their minds about not only how they view blacks, but what opportunities are truly available for them. It is a sad statement that so many whites feel they know blacks so well, and actually are quite clueless about the realities of being black in America. Blacks are not the only race that face bigotry and hatred, but they are the oldest race in America, and so, they have suffered longest. Maybe someday it will be different, and the races will learn how to get along and respect each other, but that has not happened around the world, and so it makes the reader wonder how it could ever actually come true. That is a sad statement about race relations in American, but also around the world. My vision for the future would be a society that can recognize its' differences and celebrate them, rather than make them a determination about race, gender, and equality. However, this seems like a perfect society - one that has never really existed, and one that may never exist due to the innate prejudices and belief systems of humankind in general.
References
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