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Are African-Americans really free?
This question should have been asked back in the times of Abraham Lincoln, when slavery was abolished. At that time the answer would have been no. Today African-Americans have just as many freedoms as any other race.
Are the American Indians really free? Are the Puerto Ricans free? Are the Mexicans free? Are the many people, those that have come from other countries and became citizens whose skin is not white free? These people face the same prejudices that the African-American people do.
There was a time when the African-Americans had a right to complain about how they were treated. This is not so today. They have the right to attend school just like a white person. Today a Caucasian person has a harder time getting a scholarship or grant to get into college than an African-American. Some colleges will even turn away a Caucasian with a high SAT score because they need to fill their quota for African-Americans.
Some employers will turn away a Caucasian that is highly qualified because they have to fill their quota for African-Americans. Has anyone not noticed that many state and federal jobs are filled by African-Americans?
African-Americans are not the only people that have been subjected to slavery. The Caucasian came here and stole this land from the American Indians. The American Indians were forced out of their lands and forced into slavery. Many died trying to fight for the land that is rightly theirs. Still they are more demoralized than the African-Americans. The American Indians are not given the same opportunities that the African-Americans receive.
The Hispanics and other nationalities of darker colors are also without opportunities that are given to the African-Americans.
The sympathy for the African-Americans should come to an end. Their ancestors were slaves, that does not mean that every African-American living today has a right to cry racism when they do something wrong and are caught.
People living today had nothing to do with the slavery over a hundred years ago. The American Indians don't cry racism every time something happens to them. They have more of a right than anyone to fight for equal rights. Most of them are still living on reservations, and the government is still trying to take what little they have of their customs.
The American people did not cause slavery. Slavery was brought here by the Europeans, who were accustomed to having slaves and indentured servants. It was the Europeans who needed cheap labor to grow their crops so they could become rich and powerful.
It is time for the African-Americans to stop using the slavery of their ancestors to get something for nothing. There are many African-Americans who have achieved high ranks in society. Many have come from poor backgrounds. Those that wish to succeed and pull themselves out from the poor neighborhoods can, if they really wanted to.
There are a few Caucasians who still show discrimination. The laws can't control how a person thinks. Discrimination has been taught in their homes throughout the decades. These are the same ideas that have been taught in the homes of the African-Americans throughout the decades. When both races stop preaching their ideals to their children and grandchildren, then discrimination will no longer be an issue. It is the ideals of generations that are continually passed down that makes this issue continue.
Are African-Americans really free? The answer is yes, they are really free. They just don't know it because their parents and grandparents continue to promote the issue of slavery.
Learn more about this author, Marion Garcia.
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No
African Americans comprise approximately 12 percent of the American's 2007 population of 298 million. To make a general declaration on such a number of people of varying religions, cultures, social economic status, intellects, and ethnicities is an impossible task. Therefore it is necessary that we establish definitions and analyze the question in a social historical context.
I will use the term African American to describe a person, irregardless of race or religion,
that is a product of the African Diaspora. Traditionally this refers to those transported to the Americas from the African continent during the transatlantic slave trade, but is not limited to such.
The majority of Africans were brought to the Americas by these means. From the 1640 to the end of the civil war
The emancipation proclamation was the theoretical document which finally led to the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery. The text reads. Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude exists except as punishment for a crime.
Chattel Slavery was thus replaced with Penal Slavery. African Americans then had to suffer Black Codes. Black codes forbid African Americans the right to marry, own personal property and even read (Columbia, 2009). In addition to this stipulation any African American not 'caught working' was considered vagrant and thus arrested. The constitutionally acceptable punishment for these criminals was enslavement.
Although de jure slavery was abolished, de facto it was never abolished.
World War II saw heavy Russian casualties which have decimated the male population. Although this war occurred over 65 years ago in 2005 Russia still suffers from a demographic imbalance of 875 males per 1000 females. This has had a direct negative effect on prostitution in Russia and other forms of female exploitation.
China has also suffered the effects of the one child policy implemented very recently in our own generation. Germany still pays reparations to Israel for the Holocaust and the Federal government subsidizes reservation life of Native Americans.
Oppression is worldwide and if oppression is committed against a people today they will suffer the after effects tomorrow. African Americans have suffered 300 years of slavery followed by 100 year of Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws. No one group is completely free. Poverty, and oppression are on going and it affects not just African Americans but women, and other minorities including poor whites. African Americans should not forget it any more than Jews should forget the Holocaust. Some African Americans blame the oppression perpetrated upon them by an unjust system. The complaint is valid and by no means imaginary However most African Americans recognize the injustice and use it to strengthen their own resolve, this is why African Americans have not only the fastest growing middle class but have held and are still holding many position of power regardless of the odds being stacked against them. Among these positions are Four Star General, Secretary of State, Congressmen and women, Senators, Supreme Court Justice and Commander in Chief.
As I mentioned in the beginning it is ridiculous to speak on behalf of nearly 37 million people and make a blanket declaration of who is free and who isn't. However it must be said that no other racial or ethnic group in America has shown more progress in the face of a continuing history of oppression and injustice.
(2009). Black codes. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. http://search.ebscoh ost.com.proxy.usf.ed u
Learn more about this author, Raphael Jackson.
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