Breaking Down the Racial Divide: From Stereotypes to Common Bigotry

Throughout history there have been questions of one race subjugating or enslaving another. In the United States, a racial divide exists. This is not to say the country has not come a long ways. This article will explain where society can improve in regards to race, how it has improved before, and how the regular person can act.

Breaking down the racial divide may sound simple, but it is far from it. Race dominates politics in America. For several centuries African-Americans were enslaved because they were thought not to be human-or at least that was the general excise. Society needs to improve upon the stigma that is race. A Caucasian man walks down the street and sees a group of oddly dressed, young African Americans. Is it wrong to be scared in this situation? Or is a judgment being made before anything happens. This is one place that all races can agree needs to be improved. African Americans were enslaved for centuries, but that does not offer an excuse for why many act in the classic stereotype of the thug.

The fact is, most African Americans are far from thugs. No race should be singled out that way, however, because it is wrong to classify a whole race by a small percentage. Society can improve here. African Americans parents can try to exercise their power in how children act and dress. Mexican Americans can do the same. The power in the world is in the Caucasian's hands, and so the biggest responsibility will be on their shoulders. Society cannot single out any single race, Mexican American or African American, and decide they act this way. There are other examples: Asian Americans are often considered to be smarter because they work so hard, and are so successful, in school. This is a stereotype that may be correct, but is not right to assume. Again, no single race should ever be singled out for acting this way or that way.

The United States ended slavery, but continues to practice bigotry to this day. There has yet to be one minority president. There are not any signs that say "Whites Only" in restaurants anymore, and that is an improvement. Race riots are rarely handled with extreme violence. And there are more minority politicians in the modern era than there were in several hundred years of American history.

The regular person needs to not judge someone by his or her looks. They do not have to quote Martin Luther King Jr., nor do they have to join a certain political party which treats one race better than the other. The answers lie someplace else. Each person has to challenge themselves to not think in terms of hate or race.

The racial divide may never be completely broken down. But consider the progress that has been made in the last fifty years, and you will how far society has come.