Elizabeth And Hazel Two Women Of Little Rock

In Elizabeth and Hazel Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick, racism plays the main role during Elizabeth’s life. In 1957, Elizabeth, a young African American girl attained a high school, where all the students were white. It was a period of integration between blacks and whites, and that implied that people were extremely vulnerable. White people were furious with the fact that they had to be considered equal with black people and their children had to be in the same school with African Americans. In the same way, Hazel’s reaction on the picture that a reported captured symbolizes how white people felt for integration. On the other hand, black people appeared insecure, but peeved too because they were not being traded as equal. For

this reason, Elizabeth’s hard life show all the pain that blacks had during that time. When these two girls were students in Little Rock, African Americans and Caucasians acted as they were separated, although in May, 1896 the U.S.

Supreme Court had the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. That was determined as separate but equal, which was not successful because separate refers that they could not be equal. Speaking about this fact, today racism still occurs. The historical damage that our country has created to our society over decades is the most significant obstacle because people who grew up during segregational years, act as African Americans and white Americans are still separated. Eventually, this is a complication for today’s world because elderly people talk to the youngest ones with hate about the other race respectively and that results to the difficulty of equalization for African Americans and

whites.
More specific, the fact that blacks and whites used to attained in different schools depending on their race is one reason that students today have their own cliques. In just about 60 years ago, blacks and whites where going to separate schools and the academy with the white students use to get always new equipment. On the other hand, whatever was left, it was going to the schools with black students. For instance, uniforms, gym equipments, and desks were used items that were transferred to these schools because they were lacking of these objects. These generations raised and learned that blacks and whites were not equal. That’s why today, it is rare to see a group of students who half are African Americans and the other half white Americans. Another thing that should be prohibited in schools and in the students’ education is the “n” word. It is “typically” prohibited, but students use it all the time; either to each other as a friendly call, or to someone that they don't like. Having these people in our society these days is holding back our race relations, and it is more difficult to become more united and strong.
In addition, another historical damage that still holds back our country is the demographics. From our history, we see how people from years ago used to make their own small communities. African americans lived separate from white Americans, either because there were people with different customs, or because white people had higher income and lived in different kind of houses. While this was happening, the African Americans and whites became more close to their communities and wouldn't open themselves to the different race. That being the case, Elizabeth felt weird by moving to a different community because she had to meet new people with different race. Being to a place where people had different customs and different every day life made her feel strange, “Her new neighborhood was all white” (Margolick 42). In addition, this is also happening today. There are neighborhoods throughout the country that are next to each other, and one is all with white people and the other neighborhood across the street is mostly with black. Humans should understand that the place that they live does not make them who they are. Living in a place with someone that who is not the same rase as they are does not make them look sinister.
Moreover, a historical damage that still plays an important role is media. Back then white reporters showed African Americans as criminals and a good example is the photo with Elizabeth and Hazel. Back in 50’s, during Elizabeth and Hazel’s life, reporters showed that picture and the description was all about the “Ns”. Negative comments that have the power to control society’s opinions. Furthermore,the first reaction of media, during Elizabeth and Hazel’s lives about the connection of African Americans and white American people was Elizabeth’s first day of school. The first article that talked about that day was in Demographic newspaper, “Elizabeth Echford 15, the first Negro student to attempt entry to Little Rock Central High today, walks down Park followed by a crowd of some 250 shouting whites.” (Margolick 62). Whites were yelling to colored students as they walking to school, and reporters were taking pictures of them, while they described the situation. The fact that reporters used adjectives like “Negro” shows that they were against African Americans, and they tried to make the readers take the other’s side position. Also another evidence that shows this message is the fact that they didn’t use any adjectives for people who were against integration. As a result, this expository quote explains how society and the press reacted during that time period, when Blacks and Whites’ rights were about to be equal. Nowadays this is still happening. There is an image that has been created, that the mass media and social media present the African Americans as people who look harmful and they always are in unpleasant situations. This should not be happening in any country on the world, because it mades people in our country to feel more separated. Most people are not able to forget what happened in the past, and of course that results to a difficulty; the process of being more united.
Another element that makes historical damage an obstacle is the way that people used to work.

During the past, blacks used to be slaves and they earned a small amount of money. They had to do whatever Americans commanded and they could not have a respectful position in an actual job. Today, after the fact of slavery, the availability for jobs is still limited for African Americans. This is happening because people who grew up in 1950s had a hard time hiring to their jobs people with a different race than theirs. It was a period of segregation, so they learned that they are better than African Americans. This is not happening today though. African Americans and Caucasians are equal and they have the same rights. Although, people now days have in the back of their minds that this separation can be still going on. In the article This Town Needs a Better Class of Racist by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the struggle for of slavery has been mentioned. People give “titles” to others because they are different color, or because they don't have the same religion. This is something that creates a problem to the society, “Slaveholders decided who was a nigger and who wasn’t. The decision was arbitrary. The effects are not.”. Even though there has been some improvement, the people who are still close-minded are holding us back from improving our race

relations.

Last but not least, a historical damage that still arises is the way that the court worked. Decades ago, most of the judges were white Americans and there was not any African American judge. This happened to be an obstacle because whenever there was a black vs white situation, the black person would always loose. This is happening today too. Some judges are older and learned to judge people by their color. Other people, who are younger have been raised this way. That’s why, they are not giving the proper solution to a problem. This is one reason that our society can not recover from the historical damage and become united. Generally, the court and the justice in our country is one of the most important things that have an actual power to the society. Whoever judging a situation, sometimes uses one person’s personal criteria about life, and one’s own ideology.
As a result, every country has its own history. History has its positives and negatives components. Our history makes us who we really are. The past can change a culture and its society through time. Having such a big historical damage in our country, it has alternate a big amount of variables such as, educational system, housing, media, jobs, and court. There has not been a long time when the African Americans were considered “separate but equal”. Our society has still people at this time, that were alive and grew up with this idea, of separate but equal. Even though, we had such a big historical damage, it is not an excuse for humans to thing in this way. However, throughout time the generations that faced this obstacle will not be alive and we will be able to recover from it. The only problem that it is going to continue materialize is the new generations that need to be raised with a different attitude and with a different mentality. Our historical damage has create a society that refuses to have advantageous race relations and that is something that needs to be changed.