Current Effects of Slavery

The US prides itself on being a cultural melting pot, but society is still inherently racist. Slavery has ended and outright racism such as the KKK is no longer an acceptable group to join. But racism has created itself in different ways that sadly effect all aspects of life. It has manifested itself in stereotypes, and biases that people don't even realize they are being racist. Racial profiling is an example of this. Police pulling over black people for no real reason, or the store clerk who follows the black person in the store. In fact I knew people who played off of this inherent racism. A team of thieves one black and one white would enter a store and split up. The store clerks would be so busy monitoring the black person, that the white person could steal whatever he wanted from the store. The justice system is also biased as well. The punishment for using crack cocaine is far more severe then that of cocaine, even though cocaine is the pure form of crack and thus more of a problem on society. But it is about who uses what drugs. Even the standardized tests, that help create the opportunity of college is biased. Studies have shown that the question of asking race before a test will effect how well that group does on tests. When the question of race was asked on the test, the score of blacks dropped while whites stayed the same. Similarly when whites and Asians were asked race, whites did worse then Asians because of stereotypical idea of cultures being smarter then each other. Stereotypes are ingrained in American society, and reinforced by the media. They turn the issue of crime into a racial issue rather then a poverty issue. The media plays off the fears and ignorance of people which helps promote the racism that still exists in American culture. It is sad but slavery effects are still reaching into modern society, and the effects will regretfully last longer into the future.


Paul Grever