The “Jim Crow Laws” started the civil rights movement. They were based on something called segregation. The idea behind segregation was for black people to live separate lives. Separate but equal. They did this with everything from restaurants to buses. The blacks were treated the same as whites to some point such as taxes. For example, on the buses the blacks and whites had to pay the same fare but where the whites went and sat down the blacks had to get off the bus, walk round to the back of the bus, get back on and sit down, if they were lucky. If a white person wanted to sit down the black person would have to move, even if they were disabled. Rosa Parks was a black woman who used a bus to get home from work, she refused to give her seat to a white man. She was arrested, Rosa used her one phone call to ring the NAACP. Martin Luther King Jr a member of the NAACP set up a bus boycott. The buses would lose money as black passengers made up to 80% of all people who used the bus service so the blacks would get their rights. Martin Luther King went on to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the SCLC. He became mostly famous for his speech called, “I have a dream.” This speech is linked to the present day by Halle Berry the first black woman to win an Oscar. She paraphrased Martin Luther King in her acceptance speech. She said, “One day maybe we will be judged on merit not on the colour of our skin.” This is very similar to Martin Luther King’s speech. This proves that racism does go on in America and that black people want to stop it.
Similar to Martin Luther King was Malcolm X. He was born in the state of Nebraska in the U.S on May 19 1925. He was named Malcolm Little. Malcolm changed his name in 1953 to Malcolm X. He did this because he converted to the temple of Islam. Malcolm X was sentenced for eight years for armed robbery, this was when he decided to convert himself. When he changed his name he became assistant minister to the Detroit Temple and was later promoted to the New York temple. Malcolm was soon silenced by the nation of Islam because of his remarks over president Kennedy’s assassination. He left the temple to begin his own organisation the, “Muslim Mosque.” Although Malcolm X was an excellent speaker he did not use this skill in protests but instead would start riots making his methods more illegal. These protests would make the white people think that the blacks were dangerous or a hazard, causing them to be racist towards them.
Quite a recent racial problem in America was the beating of Rodney King. On 3rd March 1991 at about 12:30am, Rodney King, a black man, was speeding in Los Angeles, California. He was stopped by 4 policemen who beat him with their batons, 56 times in 81 seconds this included 6 kicks to his head. This atrocious assault, which was entirely out of order, produced 11 skull fractures, brain damage and kidney damage. When all four officers were charged they were found not guilty. This caused riots in Los Angeles, 54 people died, 2,383 were injured and 13,212 were arrested. It was decided that there would be a re-trial. Two of the four officers were convicted. They both each received thirty months in prison. During the Los Angeles riots a Black man called Damien Williams received 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 the maximum allowed by the Court at the time. This Black man had to serve a sentence about 8 longer for a crime that was blatantly not as bad. This decision was purely racist and a prime example of today’s racism being linked back to the past and 1991.
Even more recent than the Rodney King instalment was the event of OJ Simpson’s case. Orenthal James Simpson was a famous American Football superstar. In 1995 he was put on trial for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her lover Ronald Goldman. The trial lasted 133 days. 91% of the American population tuned in to see the verdict of the trial, “Not Guilty.” Some tabloids newspapers and websites collected some information from the general public for some polls. One of the polls was done by a website the title being, “Guilty verdict if Simpson were not rich and famous.” 75% of the general public thought that he would have been found guilty if he was not famous whereas 25% thought he wouldn’t have been found guilty. This isn’t racist this is just unfair because he was treated differently because he was famous. The black people of America thought that he was not guilty whereas the whites voted for his guilt. This however, is racist.
Most racial problems in America today are caused by terrorism, especially due to the atrocious acts submitted by Al-Qaeda on September 11th 2001. September 11th 2001 was a very sad day for not only the United States but nearly the entire population of the world. Terrorists from Afghanistan attacked the world trade centre. Is attack, which left thousands and thousands of people dead, was organised by Osama Bin Laden. Pirorr to the attacks on America Osama Bin Laden was called America’s most wanted terrorist suspect. Terrorists hijacked three jumbo jets full of passengers and flew them into the twin towers of the world trade centre. When America was attacked the residents of Afghanistan celebrated. America was attacked because for more than seven years American people have been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest places. Although no one was killed very often the Al-Qaeda (Osama Bin Laden’s bunch.) weren’t very happy about it so they decided to attack America. White Americans now stereotype Muslims and blacks as threats and terrorists. Most Muslims in the united states of America today are black, this also links to racism. This is an example of current racial problems in America today.
