The Idea of Race

The idea that black people are lesser began in a period we are learning about in history class right now. But in a different class, this idea is a main theme in the book we are reading. This book is To Kill a Mockingbird. The book takes place in the south during the great depression. In the book, it is clear that in this time period, many people were terrible towards the black community and they took advantage of it. This is all because the people back in colonial times enslaved the Africans they brought over to help them run their farms.

Our country has come a very long way since the slave trade and other very racist acts. Americans now can be very racist now towards people living in the middle east because of what a very small group of them did. America now has a black president, which is a huge milestone considering his ancestors may have been enslaved by some of ours. But racism is still a thing in the America we know today.

The slave trade was big down in the Caribbean during the 1700's. Many people around that area had plantations and needed a lot of help to work them. The population in Jamaica and many other places that thrived with slaves are mostly ancestors of slaves. I took a cruise to Nassau in 2009 and I noticed a large population of these people were black. Its not until this year that I realized why. The evidence of slavery is still around us today, and the people in the Bahamas and Jamaica are living evidence.



Another way slavery is still evident to the US today is many prejudice people who commit hate crimes and set stereotypes. A recent crime that is believed to be a hate crime was George Zimmerman shooting the black teen Treyvon Martin. Zimmerman was found not guilty and many people were very angry at this whole trial.


Another famous case was Rodney King vs the L.A.P.D. King attempted to drive away from a police officer who was trying to pull him over for speeding. He was stopped and tasered multiple times, then he was beaten on senselessly by the policeman's club until he was unconscious and they continued to beat on him. Although the incident was caught on camera, the policeman were found not guilty. This went on to cause the LA riots which killed 50 people and left 4,000 injured. Over a million dollars in property damage was done, all because of a few mens prejudice.





The idea of race is still very evident today in crimes, population of certain area, and racial stereotypes. Many people can still be very racist today although nothing will compare to when the Colonies shipped over people and put then to hard labor all because of the idea of race.