African Americans and the American Dream
Throughout the centuries, African Americans have faced the hardships of racism and segregation within the United States and around the world. There have been battles, protests, and riots in an attempt to end racism and create equal opportunity in the black community. Although there has been an end to slavery and African Americans have gained the rights obtained by the Declaration of Independence, they are still being denied their natural born rights every day through the use of racism. In order to capture the dream of equality, racism and segregation must be put to an end and we must all look at one another as brothers and sisters. Many people say that the American Dream is based on a person’s point of view and their own personal goals in life, but how can the Dream be achieved if not every human being has the same equal opportunities as the person standing next to them? Until there is an end to racism and everyone is viewed as equals, the American Dream will never truly exist.
During the times of the civil war, African Americans were still considered “property” in Southern states. Many African Americans were not able to enlist in the war, but most African Americans did enlist in the attempt to obtain freedom. Many lives were lost in this fight for freedom, but soon the fight was over, and the Union had won. Years later, racism was still in effect and the segregation of African Americans was everywhere. Although slavery was over, African Americans faced a new dilemma, Jim Crow laws. “To try and maintain the status quo, the majority of states and local communities passed ‘Jim Crow’ laws that mandated ‘separate but equal’ status for African Americans. These laws meant that black people were legally required to attend separate schools and churches, use public bathrooms marked ‘for colored only’, eat in a separate section of a restaurant, and sit in the rear of a bus". One influential speaker would soon change the course of history and stand up for the rights of not only himself, but his fellow African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up against segregation and gave many speeches including his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream”, explaining to the African American community and the white community his dream that one day “all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at Last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”. As there came an end to segregation in 1964, blacks were given more rights and freedom, but there still has yet to be an end to the fatal racism that infects our country today.
Although African Americans have gained many rights and come a long way since the Civil War, there are still issues in today’s society when it comes to poverty and income. “When it comes to the economy, the black unemployment rate (12.6 percent) is nearly double that of whites (6.6 percent), almost the same ratio as in 1963. The average household income for African-Americans ($32,068) lags well below that of white families ($54,620) and declined by 15 percent from 2000 to 2013”. In many cases, African Americans have a difficult time finding a job because of the racism found within many stores and other workplaces. “The discrimination was so subtle that only a systematic experiment could reveal it. This was not the loud de jure discrimination of the era of ‘no blacks need apply,’ but instead today's quiet bias of ‘Oh, we already filled that position’ or ‘We were actually looking for someone with more experience’ or ‘Maybe you'd be better suited to this lower-paying job.’”. Many African Americans today face a life of poverty and struggle because of the extremely low income they make each year or no income at all. In order to rid the United States of racism and injustice in the workplace, equality must come through and everyone must have the same opportunities.
Lastly, the African American society has had numerous acts of injustice in courts, and many incidents involving the law and police. There have been many cases in which an African American has been shot on accident or convicted of a felony they have not committed. “Records for 2011 show almost 700,000 such incidents, with almost nine out of 10 incidents involving African Americans or Hispanics. Citywide polls show an enormous gap between blacks and whites in approval of the stop-and-frisk practice, with a substantial number of blacks, at 80 percent (and even a plurality of New York's whites: 48 percent), saying that the police are biased in favor of whites”. Of course, there is no way of telling 100 percent of the time whether or not a case is unjust or there is racism is involved, but “it is screamingly plain that it adds to racial tension and misunderstanding while deepening minority cynicism about the police”.
In society today, racism and segregation are very much alive. There is injustice and unfair advantages for whites that many African Americans do not have and as long as racism continues in the United States, equality will never be reached. Without the chance for equal opportunity, the American Dream can never be obtained. There is, and never will be, an end to racism and for this reason, equal opportunity will never exist thus, causing the American Dream to be unreachable.