History

Do you think that there is still racism for the African-Americans living here in America?

I'm writing a term paper this summer about To Kill a Mockingbird, and I wanted to know if racism still exists.

Unfortunately, yes, there is still a lot of racism in this country, which is very, very sad.  It isn't limited to African-Americans, either, sadly.  It is a shame that racism still exists! 

In 2006, it was estimated there are over 800 hate groups in this country, so yes, racism is alive and well in the U. S. today. Many people point to Hurricane Katrina as an example. Over 300,000 people living in New Orleans weren't able to be evacuated, and the majority of these people were Black Americans.  African-American leaders, such as Jesse Jackson, say the response to this catastrophe is an example of the federal government's indifference to Blacks and other minorities.

The outward face of racism has changed since the days before Civil Rights laws were passed, but many people feel this has just forced prejudice and stereotyping to become masked in society, which is more dangerous. If you look at statistics on poverty, homelessness, education, the judicial system, and unemployment in America, you'll find the majority to be minorities. Consider the incidences of Michael Richards ("Kramer")  and the "Imus incident", as it's now called. This illustrates that a politically correct society still masks ugly racist attitudes today.

These are my personal thoughts and ideas, but I believe you'll find them to reflect

Yes there are still racists in America, but on the other hand, there are very few of them and for the most part they are of an older generation.  I find it very heartening that most of the debate over Barak Obama is due to his ideas rather than his race.  Another heartening example is that when I gave an assigment to an 8th grade class that involved looking at letters to Eleanor Roosevelt during the Depression, one of the questions was to infer from the content and language of the letters, whether the writer was white or African American.  My students were first bewildered (how can you tell that from a letter) and then angry at the question.  Students today also find the Jim Crow laws of the fifties and the actions many Southern racists to be completely unbelievable.  I had some who thought I was putting them on when I told them that in the South, blacks and whites had to use different bathrooms and water fountains.  They could not believe that such a situation could have ever happened in America.  To me this disbelief is very heartening.

Is there still racism? Yes, there is, but not to the drastic extremes that some would have us believe. Groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union would love for America at large to believe that minorities are still persecuted in the same way that they were decades ago. This is not the case.

In fact, minorities today sometimes enjoy far greater privileges than the majority: Affirmative Action, specialized scholarships that are limited to "minorities only," groups and organizations which exclude angloids, and other perks are all doled out to select races simply based on skin color. There's America's real racism. Is it any wonder that there are feelings of residual resentment and intolerance among some white middle-class Americans? What's more, why are members of the discontent majority simply "rolling over" and allowing such discrimination? As recompense for atrocities that, in some cases, are centuries old? Let's be real, folks. Yep, there's racism, and nope, it isn't the version that your grandfather was familiar with. Not a popular answer perhaps, but a very realistic one.

GROUP NOT NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to #6: why?