Civil Rights Movement: Racial Equality In The United States

Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, life in America for African Americans was harsh. On paper, it seemed as if they were equal when in reality they were very much as segregated as they were during the founding times of the United States and just as unequal. Following the Civil Rights Movement, times appear to have changed for the better. However, have we truly reached racial equality in the country? In society? In our hearts?
In numerous ways, the Civil Rights Movement has brought substantial change and equality in the United States. One example would be redlining, or rather the lack of redlining. Redlining is to refuse a loan or insurance to someone because where they live is a financial risk. By making African American people live in impoverished …show more content…
The most famous example would be the murder of Michael Brown, an eighteen year old African American teenager at the hands of Darren Wilson, a twenty eight year old white police officer. In the end, Wilson was not charged with any crimes, but the corruption of the policing system in Ferguson, Missouri was revealed. It was disclosed that the Ferguson police force was unnecessarily arresting people and used racial slurs frequently. Additionally, it was proven that the police were arresting more African American people than white people. This shows how we have not reached racial …show more content…
Study shows that most people have either witnessed or experienced racial discrimination on the internet. Because the internet is where many think they are safe to say what they really think regardless of whether it hurts someone or not, people tend to forget that the people on the receiving end are people, not just a computer screen. While this can be very hurtful on the receiving end, this can be a good way of seeing what people think when it comes to race, whether it be positive or negative. The YouTube comment section is probably the most well known of the examples. The amount of racial discrimination, racial slurs, derogatory terms, and vulgar language is ridiculous. This shows just how far we are from racial equality. While the Civil Rights Movement enforced the law and put a stop to certain practices, many people’s attitudes towards racial segregation are still the same, and that is the problem since these attitudes are the base of racial discrimination. In order to create lasting change, you can’t just change the law, you need to change people’s attitudes and opinions. The law may protect the people, to an extent, the people are the ones upholding it. While a change in people’s attitudes and opinions can’t be forced, it can be manipulated with knowledge and