Examples Of Racial Inequality

Racial inequality has plagued our history since the early years of civilization. From slavery in ancient Rome to segregation in schools in the US, colored people have always faced some form of mistreatment from the people whom they live with. Even when anti-racism laws are in place, people will manage to find a loophole to go back to their old ways. To combat the problems racial inequality brings to society, racial inequality should be taken care of in an effective and non-violent manner by speaking out against racism, eliminate stereotypes and making amends between the different races. Many major changes in history have started through peaceful speeches against hateful messages, whether through voice or through written papers. In Martin

For example, in Brent Staples’ “Just a Walk on By”, he states “she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse… Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny… I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” After a woman mistakes him for a mugger based on his skin color, he realizes that to those around him, he’s no more than a dangerous killer. From this one experience, scared of it happening again, he changes his actions to make himself as least threatening as possible. This is shown in the autobiography we he writes “I employ what has proved to be an excellent tension-reducing measure: I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers… Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.” Seeing how hurt Staples was after this moment, we should teach kids how the shouldn’t assume how people will act based on their race. While some may argue that the women may have acted out of fear due to a past experience she may have faced, it still doesn’t excuse her from assuming that all black men are dangerous killers. We should discourage stereotyping to eliminate more people like Staples from having to change their habits to avoid getting

Racism is based on the belief that one race is superior to the other inferior races. As such, instead of exercising a superiority complex against other races, we should build bridges and support one another in the ride to equality for all. The LA Times’ photo of white Senator Robert F. Kennedy and hispanic Cesar Chavez exercises the belief of amending tight relationships between the races as the senator offers the man food after a fasting for a mass promoting non-violence. By setting aside races, Kennedy chooses to support his non white men in the goal of equality for all. Seeing how different our cultures are to each other, it’s easy to simply push each other away and push the blame on each other. Many may argue that we don’t need the help from other races, that we can do without each other. However, we need the support from other races just as much as we need support from our own race. The line “Follow this decree because… the Negro is your brother.” used in King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail shows how white people should help their fellow colored men not just because it’s morally correct but because we’re all kin to each other. These men, black or white, show that in order to build an equal society for everyone, we have to first put ourselves in their shoes and build bridges, not