The Nature of Racism in America
History, Problems and Solutions
There is no easy way to talk about this, but it needs to be talked about now more than ever. Yes, racism has existed for a long time. No, the US is not the only country that is struggling with this problem. However, it is the most powerful nation in the world right not, yet it can’t seem to manage what has always haunted it’s history.
Now, I won’t use the language of original sin, when I talk about slavery, since many Americans seem to forget that that description would fit the Native American genocide better. To indicate that there was no dramatic injustice done to another ethnicity on the continent before slavery is to deny history. And that kind of forgetfulness is exactly the problem! Especially since Natives are still facing immense discrimination, poverty and sickness (corona overwhelmed the tribes’ healthcare systems).
While it’s important to acknowledge the plight of all minorities on the North American continent, it was the brutal murder of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis that sparked nationwide protests, which were well deserved. The death of George Floyd opened the eyes of many people, not just Americans, to the racial injustices and cruelties that are perpetuated by a system of oppression.
Of course that system did not just appear out of nowhere over night. The struggle of Afro-Americans in the US has been long and hard. Many a time politicians failed to remedy a split in the American populus. After the Civil War change could have been enacted, but the Reconstruction Era was severely lacking and ultimately failed. A system of segregation triumphed and laid waste to what could have been a more equal society.
Black people would face racism and brutality (lynchings). Every now and then the divide across racial lines would unload itself in great massacres, such as the above seen Tulsa massacre of 1921, when a white mob burned the district known as ‘black wall street’ to the ground and decimated the cities black population.
The civil rights era brought progress, no doubt, but Martin Luther King Jr. knew that more needed to be done. He also knew that men who were openly racist were not the movement’s biggest problem. In his letter from Birmingham Jail he wrote:
“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”
Which brings us to today. I am not here to condone looting or violence against civilians from either side, although notably that violence is overwhelmingly coming from the police force. I am however here to condemn each and everyone who is nitpicking or downright not supporting peaceful protest because of property destruction and violence. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated above, there is NO ‘more convenient season’. The corona pandemic which hit African-American (and Native American) communities the hardest is the perfect time to say ‘No more!’.
I am here to propose solutions. Solutions that are not my own, but that I find would be effective in dealing with the problem of police brutality in the United States. Those are the solutions are the following proposals by campaign zero:
Don’t be mistaken, to end police brutality is only one step towards real equality. In order to achieve a truly equal American society for black people, there needs to also be economic and healthcare reforms. Both of which are areas that show a far more subtle discrimination and racism. As with the police force, the problem is not ‘a few bad apples’, it’s a system of inequality. To reform the police system is only the first step, but other major changes such as Medicare For All need to follow.
Now, I am very much aware that this piece is eventually going to get me in trouble with some people. To that I say: Good! Or in the words of one of the greatest US presidents: “I welcome their hatred.”
I will link some of my sources and some of the resources you can go to below. In all honesty, I could’ve written a whole lot more, but I feel like containing this to a ‘to the point’ sort of article would be most effective.
