Amber's Blogg: Racism Throughout the Years

     Racism:the hatred of one person by another. Or the belief that another is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that reveals the basic nature of that person.
     Most people believe that that definition is only about the racism between White's and Black's, but the truth is racism is all over the world and has happened all throughout history. In the past 500-1000 years, racism has been evolving from one side of the world to the other. Whether its between Whites and Blacks, Pure Germans and Jews, etc., racism is a term for every person on every continent in the world.

White's and Black's: Racism between whites and black's started when the first English colony in North America-Virginia- started to import Africans in 1619. Most slaves were held by white's even though some were held by Native Americans and free blacks. Slavery was most often seen in the South where there was good soil to grow cash crops. The farms were called Plantations. It was said that the slaves work more hard and efficiently when they had an overseer, which were usually white males. By the 18th century, the colonial courts and legislatures created a Caste System, which established if you were exclusively Black Africans or were from African decent you were considered a slave. From the 16th century to the 19th century it was estimated that about 12 million slaves were shipped to the Americas and an estimated 645,000 was brought to the U.S. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution finally made slavery illegal.
     In the 1950s, a new type of white's versus black's racism started to occur. The Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. was aimed to outlaw racial dicrimination against African Americans. Many Boycotts, for civil disobedience were occuring as forms of protest. The most known boycott that was very successful was the Montgomery bus Boycott in Amabama. There were "sit-ins" and "marches". Many acts os government came out of this. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned dicrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accomodations. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, that restored and protected voting rights. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, which opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups. And also the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.

Pure Germans and Jews:The racism between the Pure Germans and the Jews is more commonly known as the Holocaust, which is the systematic persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews. The Holocaust started around the 1930's, when the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. The Nazi's believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews were a threat to the German community.Many other groups were targeted, but most of them were Jews. In 1933, almost 9 million Jews lived in Europe. By 1945, only about two out of every three Jews were killed as part of the "Final Solution".

     There are many Court Cases for Slavery and The Civil Rights Movement, but since the Holocaust was in Europe there werent any that had to do with the U.S.
      In Dred Scott v. Sanford, Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri, who was trying to win his freedom from his master. He lived in Illinois, which was a free state, and in an area of the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise. He unsuccessfully sued in the Missouri Courts for his freedom. He then took a new case to the federal court, where his master maintained that no pure-blooded Negro of African decent and the descendent of slaves could be a citizen in the sense of Article III of the Constitution. The decision was that Dred Scott was a slave under Article III and Article IV od the U.S. Constitution.
     In Brown v. Board of Education, black children were denied admission to public schools attened by white children under the laws requiring or permitting segregation to the races. This Case was decided together with Briggs v. Elliott and Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. The decision of this case was that unequal does not pertain to the context of public education.

     In June of this year a group of artists were asked to make a giant public mural outside of Miller Valley Elementary School. The mural was to represent a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation.  Many complaints came in saying that the faces on the mural needed to be lightened up because of the childrens ethnicities. While painting the mural many people drove by shouting racial slurs. So, the painters lightened up the mural just to stop the controversey towards it.

     I believe that racism is just like burning the flag. Its disrespectful to our nation. Our nation is made up of many different cultures. Its 2010. Why should there be discrimination to other races.

     Why is there still racism? Why do people waste there breath just to hurt others or bring them down? Why do we do this to a country that is supposed to be free?