African-American Race Relations

Words: 2747
Pages: 11

In the book Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote about the current race relations in America. Coates talked about how life is like living as an African American in the United States. He talked about this country's history of violence against black people and how it's a struggle to live as a black American. With our knowledge of the content of rap, we can see more in the depth of our nation's struggle for racial equality using the rap song "Trapped" by Tupac Shakur, "A Bird in the Hand" by Ice Cube, and "Dollar Day" by Mos Def. Although the current state of race relations in the United States has improved over the years this country is far from being perfect and still needs to improve race relations. We can see how our condition relates …show more content…
In the United States separate but equal has no place during the time of Jim Crow. Southern laws designed to restrict the rights of black people forcing whites and blacks to separate from one another. The decision made in Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 the Supreme Court case that violated the 14th amendment and the Jim Crow laws were set up because of this. Under the 14th amendment, it declared that all humans born in the United States are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws. Under the Jim Crow laws, southern states separated blacks and whites in public areas. This meant African Americans had unequal opportunities in housing, work, and education.It is certain that African Americans will always get the short end of the stick. Jim Crow is the reason why there are segregated trains, buses, restaurants, and a lot other public places in the southern states. Although whites and blacks are separated they are not equal. That is why the civil rights movement began. It was the beginning of the United States to balance the playing field between blacks and whites. Cases like Brown vs Board of Education would help black people get the proper education they need. The Civil Rights Movement began to end racial segregation and discrimination against African-Americans. In the 1960s, two civil rights acts were past to create more equality between black people and white people. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended unequal voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, all public facilities. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 help provides minorities with equal housing opportunities regardless of race removing housing discrimination and social steering where real estates steer minorities, into certain areas of a city usually segregating the white population from the minorities. Although we have improved race relations in America between the black and white people there is still