In history classes, we often teach children that those who do not learn from their past are doomed to repeat it in their future. Simply logging on to Facebook, picking up a newspaper or having lunch with friends will tune you into the problems of today that look very similar to what previous generations were facing from the 20s to 80s. As Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, said, black men are more likely to be discriminated against in employment, housing, public benefits, jury duty, and more than during the Jim Crow era, (Alexander 106). People have taken to the streets in protest like the Civil Rights and Vietnam War era. Society is awakening from its zombie state of ignorance and finally openly discussing and debating the roots
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So long as officers refrain from uttering racial epithets and so long as they show the good sense not to say “the only reason I stopped him was ’cause he’s black,’ courts generally turn a blind eye to patterns of discrimination by the police,” (Alexander …show more content…
However, while society negatively targets people of color, that is not to say black people cannot be a part of the elite one percent. It just means that black people must fight harder than the white people to achieve their goals. The struggle is even worse when a black person has a criminal record. According to Alexander, “as many as 80 percent of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives,” (Alexander 9). Once you are labeled a felon, you become a second-class citizen in your own country, meaning: “as a result of his conviction he may be ineligible for many federally-funded health and welfare benefits, food stamps, public housing, and federal educational assistance. His driver’s license may be automatically suspended, and he may no longer qualify for certain employment and professional licenses. He will not be permitted to enlist in the military, or possess a firearm, or obtain a federal security clearance. If a citizen, he may lose the right to vote; if not, he becomes immediately deportable,” (Alexander
So long as officers refrain from uttering racial epithets and so long as they show the good sense not to say “the only reason I stopped him was ’cause he’s black,’ courts generally turn a blind eye to patterns of discrimination by the police,” (Alexander …show more content…
However, while society negatively targets people of color, that is not to say black people cannot be a part of the elite one percent. It just means that black people must fight harder than the white people to achieve their goals. The struggle is even worse when a black person has a criminal record. According to Alexander, “as many as 80 percent of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives,” (Alexander 9). Once you are labeled a felon, you become a second-class citizen in your own country, meaning: “as a result of his conviction he may be ineligible for many federally-funded health and welfare benefits, food stamps, public housing, and federal educational assistance. His driver’s license may be automatically suspended, and he may no longer qualify for certain employment and professional licenses. He will not be permitted to enlist in the military, or possess a firearm, or obtain a federal security clearance. If a citizen, he may lose the right to vote; if not, he becomes immediately deportable,” (Alexander