12/6/16

Imagine living in a world where people look at you and immediately have negative
thoughts, where people dont even want to walk on the same side of the street as you, a world
where you are persecuted based on the color of your skin. Although this sounds extreme, this is
the world I live in. While not everybody that looks at me has this feeling towards me, it is more
common than an average American would think. For living in one of the greatest nations in the
world; the society that we live in is far from perfect. The main challenge that our community
faces that separates it from a perfect one is racism. This is the issue that I feel downgrades
todays society the most. I would love to live in a world where people dont judge you based on
appearance but sadly thats not the case. The reason that racism is such a big problem in todays
society is because it is the root of many problems that stem from it; these problems affect many
different groups of people and create hatred in a society that is already filled with enough of it.
Some people might believe that racism is not a real problem in the United States today,
but those are the same people that dont experience it firsthand. Coming from a half Black/half
Mexican victim of 23 years, I can say that it is everywhere, even when others dont see it. I come
from a small city near San Jose, California called Cupertino. There were a total of 28 African
American and less than 200 Mexican kids in my entire high school, so you can say that I have
been a minority for a long time. Standing out has never been an issue for me, and not in a good
way. Cupertino is a quiet town where sheriffs have nothing better to do with their time but to pull
over minorities and run their license plates. Being a minority in my neighborhood is so
uncommon that people lock their car doors or cross the street to walk on the other side when they
see me walking towards them. When I walk into a liquor store, the cashier carefully watches me
as if Im going to steal something. These situations make me feel like certain groups of people
have more of a tendency to act this way towards me and it causes me to have racist thoughts of
my own. Although I try my best to eliminate racism from my life, that is a lot easier said than
done. Racism is contagious and can easily be passed from person to person. These little events
happen to not only one race but multiple groups of people based on race, religion, sexual
preference, or even gender and result in more hatred for one another.
Among spreading animosity, racism promotes the well-being of specific social groups
over others in our society by impeding the welfare of minority groups. According to a study done
by economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan; White names receive 50 percent
more callbacks for interviews. We also find that race affects the benefits of a better resume. For
White names, a higher quality resume elicits 30 percent more callbacks whereas for African
Americans, it elicits a far smaller increase. (Bertrand and Mullainathan) In this study, they
responded to many job openings in the Chicago and Boston newspaper with resumes of
applicants with similar experience and different names such as Jamal or Lakisha and Greg or
Emily. These results are sickening to me. Sadly, there are many other ways that racial bias

impedes the welfare of specific groups such as the mass incarceration of black people. As stated
in my last paper, this issue is based on the assumption that blacks and Latinos commit more
crimes than white Americans, which is proven to be not true. For our country that prides itself on
equality for all, this doesnt sound like a society that promotes equal treatment.

-a cartoon that illustrates what its like being black in America

Racism has been a problem in our country since its beginning and has dated back all the
way back to slavery in the 1700s (Just in the US). Our country was founded on racism and
functioned that way for many years by allowing only white males to vote and own slaves.
Slavery was the cause of white males feeling that black people are inferior to them. In the history
of our nation there are important movements and staple political figures that lead to each major
step to the elimination of racism. Slavery in the US proceeded from the beginning (1776) until
1863 when the Abolition Movement was at peak discussion. At this time President Lincoln
passed the emancipation proclamation, which ended slavery, for the most part. The next major
milestone to eliminating racism was the effect of the Civil Rights Movement from 1960-1968,
which was influenced heavily by Martin Luther King Jr. The effect of this movement led to the
passing of multiple civil rights acts which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion,

or gender. Now lets fast forward to current day; a time when black men around the country are
being slaughtered by law officials for little-to-no reason other than they are scared of what
could happen. The Black lives matter movement has arisen from these murders, and aims to
combat violence and systematic racism towards black people. The Black Lives Matter movement
has gotten various laws passed which stricken the punishment for unwarranted shooting by
police officers but is far from over and still has a long way to go. Obama was the main political
figure for this movement and even though it was not his primary focus, he did assist in its
recognition by the public. While all of these milestones in history were very successful, they
were costly to attain. Two of the events led to the assassination of the major political figure and
all three events took many lives, whether from the civil war, the riots in the 60s, or police
brutality. Just as in the past, every goal that we wish to attain that will help eliminate racism,
requires a problem that all people can recognize, a movement, and an influential political figure
to get some laws passed.

-An organization of Asians from around the world that support the Black Lives Matter Movement

As Ive stated many times in my writing; Racism is the root of racial bias and inequality
in our society. There are many organizations out there that are committed to exposing and
attacking major issues, while also combating the new problems that stem from these roots. For
example, the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) is the largest
and most well-known civil rights organization and aims to identify racism and protect all who are
affected by it. Our mission is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality
of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. And weve been doing it since
1909. This was taken directly from the NAACP website and is their mission statement. The
organization was formed in 1909 in response to the mass lynchings that were happening in
Springfield, Illinois. Over 100 years later and the NAACP still fights toward exposing racial
injustices that other wont address. In their early years, they looked to fight lynching of blacks,
which was a big problem in the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s. They then moved
on to focus more on economic justice during the depression. During the civil rights movement,

they aimed to pass anti segregation and basic rights laws. Today, the NAACP has many branches
that look to fight all these issues that stem from racism. While much of NAACP history is
chronicled in books, articles, pamphlets and magazines, the true movement lies in the facesthe
diverse multiracial army of ordinary women and men from every walk of life, race and class
united to awaken the consciousness of a people and a nation. The NAACP will remain vigilant in
its mission until the promise of America is made real for all Americans. (naacp.org). The reason
that I designate a section of my writing to the NAACP is to demonstrate that if you feel strongly
enough about a cause, there are most likely organizations that feel the same way. Organizations
are a great way to be educated about a particular issue or join that movement if you feel strongly
enough about the cause.
Although our country is very diverse, that doesnt mean that all races are treated equally.
Racism is one of the biggest problems that our nation faces and provides social disadvantages to
many minorities. Even if youre not a person that faces the challenge of racism, put yourself in
someone elses shoes and imagine what life would be like. Doing so should evoke specific
emotions because nobody should be judged based on their race. Racial discrimination is not fair,
and devalues our nation as a whole. The issue of racism is one that has riddled our country since
the beginning and although I dont believe that I will see the end of it in my lifetime, there are
steps that both our nation and myself can take that will lead to positive progression of the issue.
As I mentioned before, for an issue to be solved, there needs to be an evident problem, a
movement that pulls in the general population, and a political figure to spearhead the passing of
laws. The first step to fixing a major issue is acknowledging that there is a problem. Just as in the
past, major victories require the support of many, not just those affected. As a nation, we need
more people to be educated about racism. Today, actions are being taken to educate the public
such as protests and schools implementing social justice in their curriculum. The movement will
be created once an issue gets enough attention from the media. When the attention is focused, a
political leader with the same values will step up and lead us to our desired change. In the past, I
truly believed that Barrack Obama and Bernie Sanders would be those people to lead us but
things didnt work out as I hoped. For now, all we can do is stay positive, join organizations, and
hope that the real leader that we deserve will come. While the success of others is not your
responsibility, I believe that every human being should focus a little more on how we treat each
other rather than the well-being of yourself. If all of Earths citizens made this their core value,
change would inevitably follow, there would be no room for racism and our world would be a
better place. I would much rather live in this world than the one I currently live in. We can all
have dreams cant we?

Works Cited Page:

1.

Bates, Tracy. "Too Real for Words." Pinterest. *Used for a Picture*, 30 Nov. 2014. Web. 05 Dec.
2016.

2.

Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than
Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination." NBER. National Bureau
of Economic Research, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

3.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History, Vol. 2 by Eric Foner, 3rd Edition.
Moorpark, CA: Academic Internet, 2012. Print.

4.

NAACP. "NAACP | Oldest and Boldest." NAACP. NAACP, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

5.

"Who We Are." Asians 4 Black Lives. Asians 4 Black Lives, 03 Mar. 2015. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.