Have race relations in the United States today improved since the 1930’s? Is it better, worse, or the same?
Race relations have improved a lot since the 1930’s, but many people still think there is a long way to go until full equality is reached. Even though some people think that racial relations are bad, it seems that the majority think that they are good, and improving steadily. Even though people think that, it doesn’t mean they think that they are good in other countries. In 2008 we elected our first black president which improved race relations even more. Even after the civil war ended the institution of slavery, the lynching of African Americans continued. That plummeted rapidly over the following decades and finally disappeared completely mid-way through the last century. In 1942, 68% of white Americans thought that blacks and whites should go to separate schools. By 1995 only 4% still thought that. In 1958, 45% of white Americans said they would maybe or definitely move if a black family
…show more content…
Incidents concerning racism are now receiving a lot of media attention. Twenty-five years ago, a group of police officers beating on a black person would not have gotten as much media attention as the Rodney King incident. Rodney King was an African-American who was pulled over and beaten by four Los Angeles police officers for reckless driving while under the influence of an illegal substance. That unfortunate event was pivotal in the sense that the whole world gained consciousness on what was really going on as far as racial tension was concerned. There have been many other publicized incidents in the news after the Rodney King incident. For example, there was an Ethiopian man sodomized with a plunger by an on-duty New York police officer. The United States has grown and changed so much in the past 25 years, but we still have a long way to go. Future generations will probably be more accepting of other