One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (George Balch, “The Pledge of Allegiance”) is a line read with a hand proudly placed on one 's heart. As a child in elementary school each morning we had to pledge our allegiance to the flag with those very words. As an adult, I see now those words were said and are continually said with no merit or truth to stand behind it. We are not indivisible, there is no liberty, and there is not justice for all because black America is left out when the term “all” is used. Analyzing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations”, Julia Craven’s “We Absolutely Could Give Reparations To Black People. Here’s How”, and Valerie Strauss’ “From Ferguson to Baltimore: The consequences of government-sponsored
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In terms of black americans they represent anything but. They were brought here against their will and though they are no longer slaves they are chained by actions of white America. Strauss states in “From Ferguson to Baltimore: The consequences of government-sponsored segregation” that in Chicago “whites could leave, blacks had to stay”. They couldn 't afford to go anywhere better, nor could even find anywhere that was more suitable to live. Due the inability to move the overpopulation, overcrowding in schools, and the fact that it just wasn 't a desirable place to settle down made African Americans turn down dark paths. For instance, “These conditions helped fuel the rise of gangs” as Strauss states. Once the gangs started to organize the crime rate increased and police presence became greater. This is not only taking the black criminals off the streets but making every dark pigmented person out to be scrutinised by the cops. Michael Brown from Ferguson is a prime example of this scrutinization and leaves fear in the hearts of other black americans. Discrimination not only kills but it hinders opportunities like obtaining jobs. Coates mentions, “Black college graduates still suffer higher unemployment rates than college graduates” (page 45), which adds to the point being black in america takes away a person 's social and economic freedom freedom. Though we still say with ignorance “liberty to all” in our
In terms of black americans they represent anything but. They were brought here against their will and though they are no longer slaves they are chained by actions of white America. Strauss states in “From Ferguson to Baltimore: The consequences of government-sponsored segregation” that in Chicago “whites could leave, blacks had to stay”. They couldn 't afford to go anywhere better, nor could even find anywhere that was more suitable to live. Due the inability to move the overpopulation, overcrowding in schools, and the fact that it just wasn 't a desirable place to settle down made African Americans turn down dark paths. For instance, “These conditions helped fuel the rise of gangs” as Strauss states. Once the gangs started to organize the crime rate increased and police presence became greater. This is not only taking the black criminals off the streets but making every dark pigmented person out to be scrutinised by the cops. Michael Brown from Ferguson is a prime example of this scrutinization and leaves fear in the hearts of other black americans. Discrimination not only kills but it hinders opportunities like obtaining jobs. Coates mentions, “Black college graduates still suffer higher unemployment rates than college graduates” (page 45), which adds to the point being black in america takes away a person 's social and economic freedom freedom. Though we still say with ignorance “liberty to all” in our