Racism And Discrimination

Racism has turned our society into one full of hate and discrimination based of skin color and cultural beliefs. Unfortunately, discrimination has done more than just separate individuals socially it has also divided them into high and low economic classes. We have created a society in which people who are born into lower classes are unable to climb the social ladder and reach an elite economic status. Our society has made it almost impossible for those who are not in power to ever reach such a position. We have created a society in which those who are suffering will continue to suffer and be looked at as a having no value or ability to contribute to the success of the economy and structure of society. Racism has existed since the creation …show more content…
For example, during the African American Civil rights movement in the 1950’s, people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, actively fought for the civil rights of blacks. However, Malcom X disagreed with integration of blacks and still wanted them separate from whites, but he wanted them to be on the opposite side of the spectrum and no longer be oppressed by whites. In his “Message to the Grass Roots” Malcom X expresses, “we have a common enemy. We have this in common: We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator.” He explains that this common enemy is one in which the oppressed should realize that they are being oppressed and fight against and turn the tables onto them, and oppress the white man in the same way they have been oppressing them for years. Unfortunately, this common enemy still persists and when the white men run businesses that discriminate based on race the minorities will still be oppressed and stuck in a situation that they are unable to get out of. Further, people in power are able to create the type of social pyramid that we see today by associating race to specific jobs and positions, keeping lower SES individuals at the bottom and vice versa. The worst part about this stratification is that the people who are at the bottom do the most work for the success of our economy. The working class are those who contribute day in and day out, and their labor is under appreciated and goes unnoticed by the upper-class. In the “Address to the Workingmen” by the Boston Quarterly Review they further this idea and announce that “We are the real producers. By our toil and sweat, our skill and industry, is produced all the wealth of the community.” This is such an important idea in our society, and it proves just how much we take for