The Ethics Of Living Jim Crow Analysis

Impenetrable Wall; Social Injustice

The Pledge of Allegiance, created over a century ago, contains one of the most problematic statements in society: “liberty and justice for all”. Despite the remote attempts of the government to alleviate the obstacles that Richard Wright, an advocate of civil rights, endured in 1937, Michelle Alexander, another advocate of civil rights, in 2012 unveils that up to this day the obstacles are nearly the same. In essence, disregarding the 125 years of difference the situation has not changed radically, thus allowing the challenges of inequality to remain under the table. In particular ways, the United States is moderately becoming more racially just and ethical, with actions taken by the government

On several occasions, Wright reveals the injustices that he faced throughout his life. He explains how in one occasion he encountered himself in a “white neighborhood” and he was subject to immediate police inspection (Wright 1416). This demonstrates how in his time, black people were targeted everywhere because of skin color, which makes them automatic suspects in front of white eyes. Police searched him just to find absolutely nothing, and were forced to let him go, but not without a reminder that he is black and he should not repeat the same mistake. Moreover, Wright presents another example of the minimum to no power the black people had against whites. Wright is walking back with one his friends, a negro maid when a white night-watch slapped the maid on her buttock. Wright desired to do something, but he knew that it was a lost cause to fight against a white man (Wright 1417). Furthermore, Wright unveils the reality of the severity of the punishments of black people compared to white people. A black bell-boy was caught with a prostitute and because of the single act he was castrated and forced out of town (Wright 1417). Wright writes in 1937, where black individuals did not have a voice, they

Furthermore, both Wright and Alexander would agree that the voting inequality has been merely redesigned. In Wright’s time literacy tests, poll taxes, and the grandfather clause limited black individuals from participation. Today, Alexander explains that the new method is mass incarceration because black individuals are being targeted against they are more likely to be classified as a felon thus preventing them from participating in the electoral process. Without black individuals representing the black population the needs that are tied to the black population cannot be addressed in Wright’s time, Alexander’s time, and even to this day. It would be false to say the government is not attempting in a remote way to improve the system, affirmative action exemplifies this. However, affirmative action attempts to solve the problem in the wrong way. Instead of lowering the standards for black individuals the government should aim to eliminate the