Any kind of injustice would surely disadvantage other people. When a lady is afraid to cross an alley because a Black man is standing near it or when a White policeman is stopping to check a car because the driver was a Black woman, there is always a tinge of injustice that outshines the goodwill towards other people. We come to think of how could these people have these predisposed notions about other people when their only difference is just their skin color. Indeed, racism is a societal malady that still eats up people’s minds and hearts by throwing away the essence of our differences. Racism usually results in a belief that one’s own race is superior and this is entirely caused by the human tendency to form stereotypes that are usually exaggerated characterizations based on appearance, personality, culture, and even behavior of other people.
During the 1960s, racism caused a deep wound in American history that is forever marked in the minds of all Americans. It was 1955 when a black dressmaker named Rosa Parks did not agree to provide her seat to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama. Considered as a grave offense, Parks was put in jail until she was rescued by E.D. Nixon, who was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Triggered by an outpour of emotions on how Mrs. Parks was treated, Nixon initiated a move to call all Black citizens into boycotting the unfair measures of Montgomery’s bus system. The unwarranted triumph made during the Montgomery bus boycott was a non-violent demonstration to lash out the iniquities of racial integration while getting national attention about the real score about how American civil rights are unfair to colored people.
Also, during the 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a prime mover for escalating the call for equal rights. After the Montgomery incident, King led two massive racial protests in the 1960s that pushed the government to come up with major civil rights bills. With Martin Luther King’s protests, Congress was forced to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned racial discrimination in public places. Also, the past US president Lyndon Johnson supported the demand for nondiscrimination by issuing Executive Order 11246. The racism issue had turned around the federal employment rules. Equal worker rights have been implemented in the workforces of private firms. The words of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave discreteness and concreteness to the constitutional guarantee of “the equal protection of the laws.”
Although present-day Black people enjoy the same rights as their White counterparts, racism still exists within our midst via racial profiling. Also called “driving while black” (DWB), racial profiling practices by the police deeply undermine basic civil rights. Racial profiling is an unjust practice of pre-textual traffic stops. This unravels the belief that the police are not only unfair and biased, but untruthful as well. Each pre-textual traffic stop involves an untruth, and both the officer and the driver recognize this. We all know that the alleged traffic violation is not the real reason that the officer has stopped the driver. Everything becomes clear when the police will interrogate the driver if he or she is carrying drugs or guns.
This is the time the police will undertake the real mission of searching the car for suspicious items. Thus, racial profiling is another form of racism that wields prejudice against Black males. The law officers might capture some felons who are guilty, but this tactic has an unacceptably high societal cost. The perception that some police officers are engaging in racial profiling has created resentment and distrust among the police force, particularly in communities of color. Communities appreciate the benefits of community enforcers in reducing crime, but they also believe that truly effective crime prevention will only be achieved when police both protect their neighborhoods from crime and respect the civil liberties of all residents. When law enforcement practices are perceived to be biassed, unfair, or disrespectful, communities of color are less willing to trust and confide in police officers, report crimes, participate in problem-solving activities, be witnesses at trials, or serve on juries.
Indeed, racism is a grave form of injustice that threatens goodwill towards other people. We all need to reflect on the lessons of the past to be able to move on in the future. As Martin Luther taught Americans how to frown upon racism, we should all embrace the full arm’s length of celebrating everyone’s diversity. We all are human beings and we need not discriminate against each other just because we look different. We can all live in harmony, only if we shake away our pre-conceived thoughts about people. By keeping our tolerance at bay and learning to respect each other’s culture, traditions, behavior, and even nuances, American society will soon reap the benefits of a safer community that is free of hatred towards other people. Racism should be a thing of the past, but people should still be vigilant about it in the future. Unless everyone would be brave enough to face the realities of racism, this injustice will not cease and people will always experience being discriminated against.