Black Lives Matter: Racism In America

Today, let's focus on an issue that once was one of the biggest problems progressives raised awareness for, racism. The problem of racism has recently made a major comeback in progressive movements. Many democrats are running with movements like Black Lives Matter saying it is an issue still and want to help blacks in our society any way they can. Republicans, oppositely, believe that blacks are now given enough equal opportunity that nothing more is needed for them and they need to be looked at the same way as whites. 

Before we discuss the similarities between the two sides, let's go deeper into this by looking into the history of racism in America. It started out with slavery, which was practiced widely in America in the 17th century through

the 19th century. Slavery began when 20 African slaves were brought ashore at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. All throughout that time frame, European settlers saw Africans as source of free labor and put them to work to work on plantations all across the south. After the American Revolution, many northerners started rising up against slavery and comparing it to the oppression the British caused the settlers in America. This was the beginning of a fight that would last centuries and change the face of America. Abraham Lincoln is credited with freeing the slaves. He issued the emancipation proclamation mainly for the sake of uniting the country again. Then the 13th amendment abolished all slavery in 1865. 

The issue of racism didn't end there, however. Many people still didn't want to see blacks have equal rights. They implemented many policies that were aimed against blacks getting civil rights, so blacks had problems succeeding in America even though they weren't slaves anymore. Martin Luther King Jr. is credited with achieving equal rights for black Americans. He led the civil rights movement which included marches and sit-ins with the objective of ending the segregation of blacks and whites.

Alright, we have now established the history of racism in this country.

Now let's look at the arguments made for it today. It is no mystery that it still exists, considering the existence of white nationalist groups. Although, the actions to be done about is split between the political parties, as explained by Samantha Neal in "Views of racism as a major problem increase sharply, especially among Democrats." "Eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (80%) support Black Lives Matter, compared with just 23% of Republicans and Republican leaners." Black Lives Matter, of course, is a movement that has taken the country by storm in ending police racism. However, it is not without it's critics. The opposition to the movement is the claim that the only reason that some police may come down harder on blacks is the impression that many blacks give by the way they dress and the actions they commit. They also argue statistics that can be seen on the US News website that more whites are killed by blacks than blacks by whites in interracial homicides.

The common ground in this issue, like many, can be a little difficult. Let's agree on one thing though. Democrats and most Republicans want to see equal treatment that doesn't hinge on race. How about we start looking at all people just are they are, people, and not worry about skin color at all. Forget any policies that give treatment to anyone due to skin color. If you disagree with this, I'd love to know why. Feel free to

comment!

Cella, Matthew, and Alan Neuhauser. “Race and Homicide in America, by the Numbers.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/race-and-homicide-in-america-by-the-numbers.

History.com Staff. “Slavery in America.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery.

Neal, Samantha. “Views of racism as a major problem increase sharply, especially among Democrats.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 29 Aug. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/29/views-of-racism-as-a-major-problem-increase-sharply-especially-among-democrats/.