Racial Discrimination and Class Prejudice

If someone said racism to you, what would you first think of? Would one think of black and white people straight away? If so, you need to understand that racism isn’t just about skin colour it’s about where you’re from, what religion you are and often different parts of a country are split due to racial discrimination. The idea of racism has been around for hundreds of years, it’s because human’s natural instinct is to put others down to make themselves look better. When Africans were taken across the Atlantic for the slave trade, they were demoralized so much so that they would rather take their own life than commit to a life of slavery.

In southern America in 1619 White farmers and landowners needed cheap labour to work on their plantations; this is why the slaves were first brought to America. The Americans regarded the black people as animals; they didn’t agree that they were even the same species. However this all changed when slavery was banned around America in 1807, and every man was free. Eventually black men begin to gain land of there own and work for themselves, but this did not go unnoticed.

Even after the civil war the black people in the southern states of America were still discriminated against and treated awfully. Groups of men used to go around at night and just burn, torture and kill any black people that they think have stepped out of line. Racial discrimination is still a very big part of our world today, racism is not just black and white, in Zimbabwe white farmers are being pushed out of their land; where their families have lived and farmed for hundreds of years, whilst their own land is being distributed as the black farmers believe it is there land.

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Nevertheless the white families are left penniless. In England today Muslims very often feel discriminated against, as English people are scared of them, English people think of them as terrorists after a lot of bad press, but this is not the case. If the cloud of doubt were lifted just a little, millions of people would have better lives. I find it hard to understand how people accept the status that they are given; they should surely be able to choose how to live their life and what to do.

In “Roll Of Thunder, Hear my Cry” one line really stuck out for me, “Comical objects to cruel eyes that gave no thought our misery” this shows how the black people recognize their place in society and even if they don’t believe in it they accept it. Martin Luther King gave an inspiring speech, which changed the views of millions of people around the world “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. "”

Equality is a hard concept to grasp for many people around the world due to the fact that lack of education is still a big problems lots of different countries especially L. E. D’s, this is mostly due to class. However this year in America, a country renowned for their vicious racists, have elected a black president. Barack Obama, the aforementioned president, is a pinnacle of light to such a diverse nation. Seeing as a mere thirty years ago black people were still fighting for entirely equal rights. Barack Obama is now thought of as the most powerful man in the world.

Never the less this does not discount racism in America as there is evidence to suggest that the poor black people and ethnic minorities do not still receive the opportunities given to white people. Class prejudice happens all around the world, in England today this is a big issue, but the homeless often sell ‘big issues’ around the streets so they can scrap a living from the tower of success. Every class in Britain is stereotyped, it is almost as if the country is divided into, people your allowed to talk to and people your not. These are often referred to as classes.

People get stereotyped on their class all the time, then it often falls into smaller categories such as race, or where you live. Stereotyping is a habit that we all need to get out of. Racism and Class prejudice is a growing problem in England today, if we do not take action it may get out of control. Infect some would argue it already is with the steady growth of gang crime and people getting hurt just because of where they are from. We don’t want to have people beaten on the streets or worse killed just because of their background. Everyone deserves a chance in life without being pre judged by other people.

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