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Although African Americans are living freely in this American society, they are not really FREE. This essay will explain my idea of what it means to be aware in today’s society. Blacks are still trapped in an oppressed mental state and refuse to wake up to the reality of what is really taking place in our communities. Being “woke” means being aware of your surroundings and things going on, with a particular focus in regards to racism and social injustice. “Woke” is the past tense of “wake,” and it refers to waking up. WAKE UP PEOPLE. Black people especially and persons of color have been the targets of bigotry, racial discrimination, and oppression since the arrival of the early European settlers.
It used to be said that everybody was equal. Back in the day everything was said to be separate but equal. Does this really mean that everybody is equal? NO. Well, back then this meant that all of the upper class white men were equal. The laws created were put in place to benefit these upper class white men. They had to own land. They also had to have quite a bit of money. The problem with this was that African Americans were left out. Everything was segregated, including schools. Blacks were not considered equal. Blacks were not thought to be human.
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Are you willing to speak out against the unfair treatment towards a specific group or culture of people? If your answer was indeed, “Yes”, that is just great. However, your awareness is something you should already be equipped with. It absolutely earns you no “woke” badge in my community or any other surrounding communities near me. Persons of color have always been the targets of bigotry, racial discrimination, and oppression for a very long time now. It is time for change. We as a people must stop dreaming of a better world and create change within our own communities which will in turn promote change within o country. Change is a must. Change must be
Although the U.S. Constitution states that “all men are created equal,” during America’s early days it only applied to upper class white men. This upsets many people in the United States. When the Constitution first came into play, only the rich white men were treated right. As the years progressed, more and more whites
While the formal abolition of slavery, on the 6th of December 1865 freed black Americans from their slave labour, they were still unequal to and discriminated by white Americans for the next century. This ‘freedom’, meant that black Americans ‘felt like a bird out of a cage’ , but this freedom from slavery did not equate to their complete liberty, rather they were kept in destitute through their economic, social, and political state.
In the nineteenth century African-Americans were not treated as people. The white men and women treated them as pieces of property rather than people. Throughout this time those men and women fought for their own independence and freedoms. However none of these freedoms happened until the late 1800’s. The black men and women of this time never got the opportunities to earn money or have property of their own.
Blacks were treated unjustly due to the Jim Crow laws and the racial stigmas embedded into American society. Under these laws, whites and colored people were “separate but equal,” however this could not be further from the truth. Due to the extreme racism in the United States during this time period, especially in the South, many blacks were dehumanized by whites to ensure that they remained inferior to them. As a result of their suffering from the prejudice society of America, there was a national outcry to better the lives of colored people.
Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever. Separate but Equal doctrine existed long before the Supreme Court accepted it into law, and on multiple occasions it arose as an issue before then. In 1865, southern states passed laws called “Black Codes,” which created restrictions on the freed African Americans in the South. This became the start of legal segregation as juries couldn’t have African Americans, public schools became segregated, and African Americans had restrictions on testifying against majorities.
White southerners believed that black people should keep to themselves, socialize and go to church in different locations and work for white people in servile jobs and for low wages. After slavery was abolished Africans lost their shelters and white southerners lost their work force. In response to this, the white men became landlords that charged high rent to slave families who did not have the ability to pay with cash. The former slaves turned into indentured servants as they tried to pay off their debt through services, which was ultimately an unattainable task due to the high interest that was tacked on (Wiener). Due to the Fifteenth Amendment the Redeemers, who were southerners who wanted to prevent equality for slaves, had to sneak around to disfranchise blacks. The Redeemers developed voting rules for each state called “literacy tests,” even though they were impossible to pass and just created to get rid of African American voters. They also required a poll tax to be paid because they knew that most blacks would not have earned enough money to pay for voting. Proponents of the “New South” promoted the “Separate but Equal” motto and under this, segregation of blacks and whites became normal as long as each race had “equal” facilities (Literacy Test and Poll Tax). Even though blacks and whites
It all started when the government agreed that the “separate but equal” rule was unconstitutional and was then abolished from the American rule book (1994). This was decided in the famous case of “Brown v. Board of Education” (1994). Now students of any race could go to any school they wanted without government interference. To enforce this, the ...
About 60 years ago, our society here in the United States was different then it is now. African Americans suffered from injustices by law after the abolishment of slavery. Great leaders stood up to these injustices as their lives took precise paths that lead to a revolution they had a vision in. In the first two volumes of the March trilogy by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, we see their fate's play out in peculiar ways and their dreams of justice eventually fulfilled. Fate and Dreams play key roles in several events in the text that has resulted in society as we know of today. The concept of being “woke” is emphasized throughout the text, Lewis’ destiny had the opportunity to go awry at critical points in the text, and John Lewis and Dr. Martin
In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.
Before the Reconstruction Era, rich whites were able to violate the rights of blacks by not classifying them as humans. With this classification, blacks were not protected by the Constitution because they were not considered “men” and the constitution clearly states, “all men are created equally.” Once Reconstruction began, three amendments were also added to the Constitution banning slavery, adding equal protection under the law for all citizens, and allowing due process.... ... middle of paper ...
Equality is something that should be given to every human being and not earned or taken away. However, this idea did not present itself during the 1930’s in the southern states, including Alabama. African Americans faced overwhelming challenges because of the thought of race superiority. Therefore, racism in the southern states towards African Americans made their lives tough to live because of disparity and inhumane actions towards this particular group of people. Even though Blacks were granted independence, laws were set up to limit this accomplishment.
Every single human being has a right to life, civil rights, and freedom. This is a right that Americans base their government on. Jefferson states that "all men are created equal" and man should naturally stand for every single person, no matter what color or sex they are. (53) Equality in all men however is untrue. Different race, religion or gender often causes conflicts between people. Conflicts results in discrimination against groups. This can be shown through King's fight for black's civil rights. Americans already have freedom and rights, however, the black people are still being looked down. For King and his people, they were treated without respect. The black people "have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights."(217) The black people have waited silently while everyone else received their God-given rights. They are rights that everyone should possess; however, the black Americans did not because of their color.
Under American law everyone is considered equal, the term equal refers to the many different ways people are treated the same in American society; even if they are not truly equal with each other. Everyone ranges from being poor to rich; they also range in
One social limitation for the African American were segregation.The Jim Crow laws separated every public facilities, one for colored people and another for white people. The facilities for whites were far better than the black people. For example the white students had new textbooks and went to clean, well-lighted schools. African Americans had to use torn, out-of-date textbooks. Often African American students were crowded into a single dirty, ill-lighted room. African American children had to walk miles to school while the white students school were far closer and given a school bus to ride to and from home. Segregating facilities is by far the absolute thing from equal and its plain out stupidity. It does not map out that we are all equal.
A social inequality that I would say I’m concerned with would be, racial and ethnic inequality. Racial or ethnic inequality is often established based on characteristics such as skin color and other physical characteristics, or a person’s place of origin or culture. Another meaning of racial inequality would be the advantages and disadvantages that affect different races within the Unites States. Race has become a socially constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Racial inequality can lead to diminished opportunities, which can also lead to cycles of poverty and political problems. With this minority members in a society can result in discriminating actions such as; exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination.