Role Of Race In America

Race has played a central role in America since the very beginning. Since the moment we first arrived in America we held the mental statement that the white race was the superior race. The first race to feel oppression from the white man were the Native Americans that presided in these lands before us. Since then we have managed to use those who were brought over/ immigrated here for our own personal gain and yet mistreat them. African Americans, in my opinion, endured the most oppression for the longest period of time. Africans slaves were first brought over to the United States in 1619. Slaves were used for labor such as in plantations where they would grow and harvest crops. Slavery was not huge in America until cotton boomed. Once the southerners found a stable source of income from “king cotton”, they planned on maintaining it. Africans were being brought over and then sold to southerners as if they were animals. Most families were separated from one another during auctions. African Americans tried fighting back at first, but stopped because the consequences they would face were too painful or led …show more content…
Stereotypes play a major role in these racial issues. It is these same racist views that lead news reporters to call a black teenager who stole one cigarette a “thug” while calling a white teenager who molested kids “a confused adolescent”. These same racial stereotypes have led many unarmed black men to get killed by police men merely because they looked suspicious. I consider that a racial problem because an unarmed black man is more likely to end up killed by the police than a white man that just performed a shooting in a public place. Although we have come a long way, we are not where we need to be in terms of racial equality. The racial problems/ inequality we face today are a result of American History. Hundreds of years of discrimination are what have led to today 's race relations in American