Race in American History, Essay Example

The more you run away from race in American history, the more you run into it. This assessment was proved numerous times throughout the history of the United States. The defeat of the Confederate army and the unification of all states into one ‘equal’ and free country, resulted into discrimination, massacre, humiliation, and lynching. Starting with Jim Crow laws, we realize that African Americans cannot be simply detached from the rest of the population. Moreover, we realize that African Americans are no different from any other member of the American society.

Jim Crow’s acts gave a real boost to actually ‘running’ away from the problem of racial difference in young and inexperienced America. White people seemed to turn their backs from the problem of employing, teaching, and taking care of their black brothers and sisters. As it turned out later, these discriminatory laws made the situation worse and gave birth to ‘Freedom Riders’, who publicly expressed their disdain and forced the ‘whites’ to run into the problem of African Americans again. However, blacks were still disliked, discriminated in all possible ways, both legal and illegal. They were not able to vote, obtain governmental positions, and even use the same restrooms. The whites were separating themselves from African Americans, while living the same country and having the same president. Eventually, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was formed to answer the needs of all African-Americans not only in the United States, but also abroad. Again, this organization forced the white population to run into the problem of race discrimination, as far as the group posed formidable threat to the safety and internal security of the country.