African Americans In The 21st Century

African-Americans have been victims of systematic oppression since they were brought to the United States of America on the Middle Passage. Throughout the history of America, there have been leaders in the African-American community who voice their distain for the plight of blacks in this country. Johnetta B. Cole, former president of Spelman College, once said, “The truth is that the historical and current condition of you and yours is rooted in (slavery), it is shaped by it, is bound to it, and is the reality against which all else must be changed.” Though slavery ended almost 150 years ago, there are still structures in place in today’s society that can be attributed to the enslavement of African-Americans. The 21st century seems far removed from the times in which slavery accounted for the majority of wealth in the United States. In actuality, the physical and psychological enslavement of blacks in America has never ended. During slavery, slave owners would use whatever means necessary to coerce and control their labor force. A lot of methods that were used to break the minds, souls, hearts, and bodies of African-American slaves can be seen in today’s society. During slavery, education was forbidden amongst blacks because slave owners feared that intelligence would inspire the
Slavery just took a legalized and accepted form. In order to abolish this new form of slavery, African-Americans must not tolerate the systems in place. Recently, movements like “Black Lives Matter” have brought people together to voice their aversion to the society that we live in today. Sports figures have kneeled during the “National Anthem”. These events have raised awareness towards the injustices that the African-American community faces on a daily basis. Hopefully, our generation can be the ones that finally free the African-American race from the shackles that have held us for almost 400