Hidden Racism In America

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.” Nelson Mandela, a leader of the fight to end apartheid in his home country of South Africa helps shed light on how racism can be fought in the United States. Even though America has come a long way from the times of slavery, racism continues to exist all over the country. Americans can learn to love one another, but they must first discover the roots and causes of racism and stop it before it spreads. In order to deal with racism, Americans often: refuse to accept the facts, accept it as a way of life, and do not do enough to stop its practice.
All over the United States, the terrible reality of racism is ever more present today than in history. Sharon Blake, author of “Racial Injustice; Is America Ignoring the Truth” argues that evidence of racial injustice is present everywhere today, especially in the judicial system. According to Blake, police brutality looks the same today is it did back in the 1960s, and even with hard evidence of brutality caught on camera, American judiciaries refuse to take a stand and stop this injustice. Furthermore, Malcolm X, in his autobiography written with the help of Alex Haley, argues that both races, whites and African Americans, refuse to accept the fact that blacks are oppressed in a multitude of ways. To prove his point, Malcolm X tells the story of his eighth grade teacher english teacher, Mr. Ostrowski. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, X promptly responded that he wanted to be a lawyer. Without even a second though, X’s teacher asked him to consider being something more “realistic”, such as a carpenter. Even though X was at the top of his class, his teacher could not fathom the idea of an African American being a lawyer. Both Mr. Ostrowski and Malcolm X