U.S.A. : United Slaves of America and the Bill of Whites Since America’s discovery in 1492 to the abolition of segregation in 1964, The United States has been steeped in a violent history resulting in the devolution of people of color. Some argue that with the abolition of slavery and segregation, racial discrimination came to an end. Many argue that America is the land of opportunity for all. However, recent events that began with the murder of Trayvon Martin. have many questioning if mass incarcerations, police brutality, and unequal opportunity are recurrent from the past. After a long controversial history and years of striving to be progressive, is America still a slave state? Is there still a struggle for basic civil rights? The land of opportunity might not be so aptly named …show more content…
Researchers later discovered that, “ In a series of studies involving more than 1,500 people, the researchers found that an unknown black male is conceived of similarly to an unknown white male who has been convicted of assault” (Hewitt 1). This may be the missing link to explain why African Americans are less likely to receive job prospects than their white counterparts. In 2004,the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago composed various fake resumes and sent them into large corporations. The resumes were identical apart from one small detail: the names. There was a set of resumes with stereotypical black names and a set with generic white names. To the dismay of many, “White-sounding names generated 50 percent more callbacks” (Lavergne Mullainathan 1). These innate biases may be the cause of James P Smith’s findings in his book, Black Poverty: Past and Future. What he found was alarming. Though African Americans are the vast minority, they are the largest racial group making over 27% of the impoverished demographic. Whereas whites only make up 9.9% of the impoverished population. Over 45% of black