Quote:I don't think it has much to do with slavery at all.  But the treatment of blacks after slavery.  We're not so far removed from the era of segregation that there aren't any people alive today who not only participated in segregation, but were also victims of it.  And Racism is very much alive and well today.  The difference between today's racism and yesterdays are two things:


1. How far it's allowed to go

2. How people express it.


People today try to be more careful about their racism.  They claim they aren't racist.  "I have black friends" they might say.  Maybe they don't even realize they're racist.  But somewhere inside they see black people as inferior.  They see them as different.  They don't look at them as individuals. When they see a black person the first thing they see is the color of their skin. Now your garden variety racist is practically harmless.  An annoying pest, to be sure.  But when it comes to the police, it's unacceptable because it's dangerous.  


Beyond that, there are still the more hardcore racists out there.  The ones that are only subdued when they can be seen.  But behind closed doors they use the n word, and excuse it by saying "Well rappers say it."  Because we all know that rappers are paragons and examples that should be followed.  It's the old "But Jimmy's dad let him drink alcohol when he was fifteen!"  


Parenting certainly is a major part of the problem when it comes to crime.  It's also a problem when it comes to racism.  Parents pass many of their beliefs on to their children.  Sometimes their children don't listen, and sometimes they do. 

Two other major factors for crime, however, are the war on drugs, and poverty.  Drugs are a quick way to make some money.  They know that there'll be customers.  Because where else are they going to get it?  If someone could go to the store and buy drugs, then dealing drugs wouldn't be a lucrative profession at all.  Poverty itself tends to lead to crime because people want to move up in life.  They want nice things.  And why shouldn't they?  Are they less than anyone else?  People might say "Well, they should work for it like everyone else then!"  And that's true.  The problem is -- not everyone in life starts out on the same difficulty.  Not everyone has parents and teachers who will look out for them.  Not everyone lives in a neighborhood where the options are 'turn to crime' or 'be a victim'.  Much of this is a result of past racial discrimination.  Forget slavery.  For years blacks were forced to drink out of separate drinking fountains, they weren't allowed in various establishments, and they had to sit on the back of the bus.  They were told they weren't good enough to be with the rest of the people, that they were inferior.  Even people who's skin color appeared white, but had one black parent were looked down upon.   They might be able to get away with going into whites only areas, but as soon as anyone figured out that they had a black parent, they got the same treatment.

 

Maybe racists who spout the n word are a dying breed, but those who view blacks as inferior aren't.  Many people still see skin color first.  We have to be the ones to take the first step to stop seeing the color of a person's skin as anything more than a description of what they look like, and instead see the content of their character.  That's how MLK's speech goes isn't it?