Being a black man in the Southern region of America, a place where slavery and segregation flourished for more than a century, can be quite troublesome at times. I know this firsthand.
I’ve been stereotyped and discriminated against by some of my white peers over the years. For a significant amount of the experiences, I’m still baffled about the reason why. A number of assumptions could be made, but it truly doesn’t matter. It’s something that I’ve come to live with, although I haven’t accepted it. However, I have accepted that I can’t please everybody, nor will I be liked and embraced by everyone.
Before I go any further, I want to clarify that I didn’t write this article to defame any particular ethnic group. I’m simply shedding my thoughts on the black race and what it’s like to be part of it.
In America, it’s no secret that the black race is viewed as inferior when compared to the white race. At one point and time, the aforementioned claim was supported with blatant acts of racism: blacks severely beaten, shot or lynched for insignificant matters; the inability to vote; and being burdened with separate seating, dining, schooling, and job selection than whites. This changed significantly as the years progressed and segregation was ended. The presence of equality began to appear.
But even in today’s time, there’s still a sense of inferiority that blacks, and minorities as a whole, face in comparison to their white peers. Although racial prejudice isn’t as brazen today as it was decades ago, it’s still evident. No longer is this just a black and white issue either.
For blacks, it’s refreshing to think our inferiority has diminished over the decades, but with occurrences like the murders of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, and Jordan Davis, you can’t refrain from worrying about how precious the life of a black person truly is. If you’re a young black male, the worry is even greater.
On the contrary, to say I’m completely surprised by the perceptions that people of other races have of blacks would be a lie. From the beliefs that a significant amount of our race is low-class and uneducated to the presumption that we’re all freeloaders who depend on support from the government to survive, it doesn’t shock me at all. To read more, click here
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