For centuries, the United States has treated African-Americans as second-class citizens. Actually for a good portion of it's history, the United States didn't consider Black people citizens at all. To go along with this total dehumanization, a system of laws and practices were set up in order to continue the total disenfranchisement of African-Americans for years even after slavery was begrudingly abolished. A system of programs in the 1960's and 1970's such as Affirmative Action were put in place to make society feel as if it had addressed it's most painful chapter and made amends for it although not even an official apology for the mistreatment of African-Americans as a result of slavery and the after affects of racism was ever given.
In the year 2007 many non-Black citizens of the United States see no reason why a majority of
African-Americans still feel like second-class citizens. They don't see why millions of young black people have no hope for a happy future. In fact, many Americans think that it is time to repeal the minute measures that were put into place to ensure non-discriminatory treatment for African-Americans. They don't see why Affirmative Action is needed and some of them vocally say that it is discriminatory against White people.
The reason why African-Americans feel like second-class citizens is because we are. Black people in this country are more likely to live in poverty as their white counterparts by many times over. They are also less likely to receive a good education or medical treatment. Black people are more likely to go to prison and receive harsher sentences than White people in the United States. We even die sooner than White people in this country do. Simply put, not much has changed in the lives of the majority of African-American people in the United States, the comfort of the poverty level has simply increased. Not much has changed because the lasting affects that racism has on succeeding generations of African-Americans have never been addressed on any serious level.
Even after Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for any rational person to deny the racial discrepancies that still exist there is no serious debate going on to address the obvious problems.
Many people find it easier to simply think that African-Americans are not working hard enough to pull themselves out of the negative situation they are in. There is no validity in these opinions as it is ludicrous to think that the majority of Black people in the United States are making the conscious choice to stay in the rut that they are in. No group of people in the United States has worked harder than African-Americans so the notion that they are lazy is totally false.
African-Americans are demanding that we not be treated as second-class citizens anymore. We are demanding that the systematic issues that have held us back for centuries be rectified and changed. Black people deserve a chance in this society to reap the benefits of all of the hard work that we have done to make this a great country. We are not asking for a handout or charity, but only for what is due to us and that's a lot.
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