Essay On Slavery In America

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. "The Political Legacy of American

Slavery." The Journal of Politics 78.3 (2016): 621-41. University of Chicago Press. Web.

Slavery, although abolished about 150 years ago, still influences how white Americans think and feel. It is responsible for partisan identification, attitudes on affirmative action, levels of racial sentiment, and attitudes towards blacks- for the most part in the American South. These attitudes are weakly tied to the circumstances of poor blacks . It is difficult to quantify how sentiments can manifest itself into actions, especially in a country in which physical racism is illegal and generally looked down upon.

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Victimization is the greatest hindrance in the discussion for economic improvement of blacks since it excludes the idea that black people are in charge of their own lives and make their own decisions. By all means, blacks, today, are not in the hands of whites. The issues facing the black community are not ones that can be solved by any amount or type of legislation. Poverty is the result of cultural and moral flaws, such as teen pregnancy and gang participation. These flaws, in order to improve, must be addressed by the black community itself. This source argues that cultural factors are responsible for the poor economic stances of poor

Gang culture, drug selling, drug consumption, unemployment, violence, etc. are examples of things that are for the most part choices. It is patronizing to remove the variable of personal responsibility for this group. Politicians often use the term ‘legacy of slavery’ as a way of escaping responsibility for the consequences of the policies that they execute. Prior to government intervention- specifically in the 1960s-, black culture was improving: teenage pregnancies and venereal diseases were decreasing, as well as intraracial homicide rates. Poverty-stricken blacks need further self-reliance to improve their