A problem with the American Education System
So yeah, I hope people are going to be voting today! =D Go do it now!!!!
So today I find myself watching "The View"... how that happened, I'm not sure. But it has driven me to feel disgusted with how Americans are taught history. I am a college student who still meets people who are ignorant of the damaging effects of slavery and that slavery was not necessary to build the country of the U.S. I still meet people who do not understand that racism still exists in every walk of life in the U.S.
I find this a big problem. Because African Americans are left out of the history of the U.S., it is hard for the younger generations to understand what is fundamentally wrong with our country. We, African Americans, show up for a bit during the founding of the U.S.(maybe a half page about slavery... long enough for Lincoln to emancipate us (history writes it as a moral desicion, but that's not entirely true)), then for the Harlem Renaissance, then for a bit of WWI and WWII and then the civil rights movement. Maybe you can though the great migration in there somewhere... depends on the textbook. Black History Month and MLK day are filled with half of MLK's famous speech. We hear about the hope King had for America though his dream (about his children not being judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character), but the beginning of the speech is almost ignored every time. The part about Amercia jipping the Negro gets editted out.This happens a lot with American history. After all, how was it possible to claim to be a country of liberty but enslave humans and treat them as if they were less than animals?
This brings up another issue: color. Slavery in the U.S. was based off of skin color and the mother's status. Color is a big issue that many try to ignore. Skin color and ethnicity rule many of our lives. There is no such thing as being colorblind within the U.S. If that were true, why do black still make less money than whites? Why is the achievement gap only growing larger between the two races? Why are there more black men going to jail than white? This is not because blacks just want to fail at life. If we were so colorbind, then why are there so many people (black, white, asian, etc) against interracial couples and children? Why is it such a horrible thing to marry outside of one's race?
By almost covering up the injustices faced by African Americans, the younger generations of non-blacks are not understanding the bitter feelings that we hold. America has NOT been fair to us and still isn't. By saying these things happened in the past shows ignorance. These things still happen today.This past that people talk about is not even 50 years old yet. And the past is something we need to learn from. I just hope that when the history books are rewritten by some almost non-biased group, we, as a country, will finally be able to move forward. While I doubt race (or gender) will ever disappear, I hope that we can look at each other equally. After all, limiting my freedom limits yours.
~minimerc
So today I find myself watching "The View"... how that happened, I'm not sure. But it has driven me to feel disgusted with how Americans are taught history. I am a college student who still meets people who are ignorant of the damaging effects of slavery and that slavery was not necessary to build the country of the U.S. I still meet people who do not understand that racism still exists in every walk of life in the U.S.
I find this a big problem. Because African Americans are left out of the history of the U.S., it is hard for the younger generations to understand what is fundamentally wrong with our country. We, African Americans, show up for a bit during the founding of the U.S.(maybe a half page about slavery... long enough for Lincoln to emancipate us (history writes it as a moral desicion, but that's not entirely true)), then for the Harlem Renaissance, then for a bit of WWI and WWII and then the civil rights movement. Maybe you can though the great migration in there somewhere... depends on the textbook. Black History Month and MLK day are filled with half of MLK's famous speech. We hear about the hope King had for America though his dream (about his children not being judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character), but the beginning of the speech is almost ignored every time. The part about Amercia jipping the Negro gets editted out.This happens a lot with American history. After all, how was it possible to claim to be a country of liberty but enslave humans and treat them as if they were less than animals?
This brings up another issue: color. Slavery in the U.S. was based off of skin color and the mother's status. Color is a big issue that many try to ignore. Skin color and ethnicity rule many of our lives. There is no such thing as being colorblind within the U.S. If that were true, why do black still make less money than whites? Why is the achievement gap only growing larger between the two races? Why are there more black men going to jail than white? This is not because blacks just want to fail at life. If we were so colorbind, then why are there so many people (black, white, asian, etc) against interracial couples and children? Why is it such a horrible thing to marry outside of one's race?
By almost covering up the injustices faced by African Americans, the younger generations of non-blacks are not understanding the bitter feelings that we hold. America has NOT been fair to us and still isn't. By saying these things happened in the past shows ignorance. These things still happen today.This past that people talk about is not even 50 years old yet. And the past is something we need to learn from. I just hope that when the history books are rewritten by some almost non-biased group, we, as a country, will finally be able to move forward. While I doubt race (or gender) will ever disappear, I hope that we can look at each other equally. After all, limiting my freedom limits yours.
~minimerc