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Throughout history everyone has been preaching about being equals and erasing the invisible line that divides one another, but what does it mean to be “equal” or to have “equality”? According to dictionary.com, the term equality means “the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities”(collins English dictionary 2012 ). When learning of the term and viewing society while growing up, how can we say that people are being treated equally? The answer is we can’t because we are not, therefore I will discuss the inequality being done in society from how it started in the past to now.
More specifically the continually oppressed African American communities.
Inequality started aways back even before slavery, but of course, servants there would be no record of it because society has a way of covering up its ugly history to an extent. Now take a trip back to the past we know from history class that slavery started in America in 1619 because the “labor of black slaves was cheaper, [and] more plentiful labor source” (History.com Editors 2009) than that of their poor white counterparts known as “indentured servents”.
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Even the derogatory terms used to describe the two groups were showing favor towards the white people because why are they titled servants but the black people were titled, slaves? Granted that neither one is good, but it’s obvious that one term weighs more negatively than the other. Not only that but even after slavery ended and the 13th amendment was ratified oppressors still found ways to belittle the African American community by hindering their progress in society and in ways “keeping them at bay”.
After the war, blacks were supposed to be able to go out into the world and create a living for themselves, but with the southern states being granted the power to shape their government Black Codes were enforced.
Black codes as defined by History.com editors were “... restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War”(History.com Editors 2010). These “laws” were just another way to hinder the growth of equality for African Americans and keep the racist white agriculturalist in power and their legalized slavery going. Even after all the fighting from the civil war to regain our freedom, our subjugators do not want others to share what they stole from others. They want to take and take till they can’t take anymore.
Fast forward to the 2000s, after segregation, Martin Luther King jr. to our current progressed (still unequal) society. As time went on the African Americans have made tremendous ground in regaining their ground as people and not property, but even from the years, 2000-to 2020 things are still not on a level playing field with all races. Taking the economy for example one can notice that, “racial gaps in income and earnings, with White households earning more than their Black counterparts, remained largely constant or even widened between 1967 and 2015” (Kraus, Rucker, & Richeson 2017;1). The monetary gap between black households and white households is great, but with the accomplishments of a few people from the black community such as Oprah, Lebron James, and even Pres. Barack Obama, it is hard to see it. That is because people focus on the fact that black, or officials are in the position they are in and think that all is fair, but in actuality, the people are just overestimating the progress that the country has made throughout the years instead of seeing it from the past to now. Like AsyearAswas mentioned earlier, America has a way of twisting the trutGod, especially in the Declaration of Independence. It is stated that “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Independence Hall Association 1995), so let’s break this down shall we? “...All men are created equal...”(Independence Hall Association 1995) meaning all white men, “they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…”(Independence Hall Association 1995) the authority they believe that god has given them by being white and male in America. Combining what we have it blatantly can be translated to “the power God has given us for being a white male in America, we have the right to life, liberty, and happiness.”
As stated by President Obama, “words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States” (President Obama,2008). This means that we need actual action and not fancy words because words only hold so much power, yet if we exercise what we preach the effect will be everlasting. Nowhere does it mention African Americans or even women beings, in fact not even long ago African Americans weren't even considered a whole person. African Americans were only considered ⅗ of a person when it came to voting if they could even pass the literacy test, and get around the grandfather law.
In addition, we can only blame society for not changing and keeping a stagnate view on one of the problems of our nation. On second thought, this isn’t even considered “our” nation because if it was we all would have equal rights and opportunities. This is more along the line of “their” nation because we, African Africans, were kidnapped and shipped like animals across the ocean forced to a new land that was also taken from others to do the bidding of our captors. This country was built off of inequality and racism, but let the history books tell it as though they were fighting for freedom from the British, but all they are doing is just recreating the same inequalities that Britain did and just gave it a new name.
To conclude, inequality is a matter that has always existed no matter what historians say. No one ever notices it until it affects them or someone close to them, and then they get to thinking about what else they have been slighted on. From slavery days, and Black Codes, to today's economy the African American society has been the primary victims of racial inequality for over 100 years and enough is enough. About the Obama quote in paragraph 6, we must take action against this societal inequality. Not only between Whites and Blacks but also Hispanics, Native Americans, and other minorities. Only then will the United States become this utopia of peace, justice, and freedom that everyone believes that it is.
References:
If We All Had Equal Rights And Opportunities. (2022, May 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/if-we-all-had-equal-rights-and-opportunities-essay
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