Racism: Friend or Foe

by Itzel

An African American man is in desperate need of a decent job to support his family . He applies everywhere and finally he is asked for an interview . The is hopeful that he will get a job , as he enters the office the white man who is suppose to interview him tells the man to leave at once , that he doesn't want his kind . The African American man leaves without a word , he is frustrated , he is spirit broken and still he continues in many daring attempts for a job . What just happened there was racism . The white man was racist toward the African American man , that is why he refused to give him a job .

Racism is a huge problem that has been around for many years . Racism hadn't truly started until the time when people enslaved other people . People enslaved many races , but some of the races weren't useful as they would say . They needed a race of slaves that they could use . When African Americans were enslaved , they found that African Americans were useful . After a some time white people needed a reason to enslave African Americans , that is when racism began . They decided they were simply better at everything that African Americans , that they were stupid and that they should pretty much obey the dominant race, whites .

The Holocaust happened not that long ago in Germany . It was a time of constant fear and pain for one type of religious group , the Jews . The Jews weren't that different from the Germans , but the Germans thought otherwise . They found ways to scapegoat the Jews . Some tried to stand up for themselves but that almost always never turned out fine . After Jews were scapegoated everyone seemed convinced that Jews only caused problems . Then with the scapegoating came a genocide . The Jews were tortured and then killed for years .

African Americans didn't go down without a fight . They found ways to get their rights during the Civil Rights movement . Martin Luther King Jr was a great civil rights leader . He lead massive marches , boycotts , and strikes . Malcom X was also a civil rights leader , he believed violence was necessary to get their point across . Martin Luther King Jr's famous " I have a dream " speech told people what should be done without violence , that violence is never the answer . Without violence though , kids wouldn't have gotten free meals . The " battle " wasn't white against black , it was segregation against integration . It may have taken quite a few years , but in the end African Americans got the same rights as whites .

To conclude my article I would just like to say that racism only causes problems to everyone . If people could just try to get along with other races , they'll see that they aren't what everyone else thinks about them . Racism should stop once and for all but it will not be easy to all of a sudden get rid of something that has been around for centuries . Racism today still is toward African Americans but it's just not as bad as it was then , today's racism is more towards immigrants . An immigrants only purpose to come to America is to work to support their families and still they are deported and falsely accused . If we all try we can end stop discrimination and racism through out the world because we can't , we just can't let racism rule the world , we can't accomplish anything if racism is around .

Photo Credit

Library of Congress