Richard Wright's Black Boy

“Look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain’t. They do things and we can’t. It’s just like living in jail.” This quote , written by Richard Wright, indicates the segregation issues in the United States. He was also the author of his autobiography, Black Boy. It reveals his life as an African American in the South before the Civil Rights Movement but after the Civil War. Although the Civil Rights Act has been established, racial problems still exist in the United States nowadays. If Wright were writing an autobiography titled Black Boy today in 2017 about a black boy growing up in the United States, he would write about segregated education in the United States, unfair treatment by police towards
black people worsening in recent years, and the first black president of the United States. Education in the United States is still separated by races. According to the article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal” by Lindsey Cook, African Americans still cannot get involved in the majority of the society. “ More than 2 million black students attend schools where 90 percent of the student body is made up of minority students.” (Lindsey Cook,2015). This displays how African Americans are not connected and detached with the people who have different races, especially for the whites. Though there are desegregation orders, the condition with racism has not changed yet. Still, a large amount of African American students are attending schools that the majority of students are minorities, which is just like the time when Wright was living in the South. Since most of the African Americans are studying in schools that are constitute by black people, these kind of schools usually do not provide as much resources as the schools that serve with white people. On the same article written by Lindsey Cook mentioned the fact that minorities dominated schools are lack of resources. “On average, schools serving more minority populations have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who are less likely to be certified.” (Lindsey Cook,2015) Teachers in the schools with more black people are not certified, and this is due to racial problems. African Americans students are receiving unfair and unequal education in the United States today which affects the students’ abilities, as they receive less resources from their schools. Racial issues lead to homeschooling of African Americans as well. From "Racism in Schools Is Pushing More Black Families to Homeschool Their Children.", the author, Ama Mazama, claimed that the percentage of homeschooling blacks has increased. “ Homeschooling, common among white Americans, is showing an increase among African-Americans kids, as well.
African Americans now make up about 10 percent of all homeschooled children in this fastest-growing form of education.” ( Ama Mazama,2015 ) More blacks tend to choose homeschooling today due to discrimination. According to the research by Ama Mazama, an associate professor and the director of graduate programs for the department of African-American Studies at Temple University, African Americans are forced to study separately with the majority students, just like the time before the Civil Rights Movement. The curriculum and teachers’ attitudes and behaviors are the two main reasons why African Americans choose homeschooling instead of going to regular schools like other American kids. The author of the article also points out that many white teachers bring their opinions towards the black people into the school. This kind of racial stereotypes by teachers hurt the black community as their stubborn thoughts make African Americans feel that they are isolated and not accepted by the teachers. According to “ African-American Students Lagging Far Behind”, written by Lauren Camera, states that the academic levels of African Americans are lower than the white people. “A sweeping portrait of the performance of African-American students in U.S. schools
today shows while strides have been made over the past 25 years, they are performing at significantly lower levels than students nationally.” (Lauren Camera,2015) Research shows the result that African Americans are not well-educated compare to other racial students This implies that African Americans are far behind other Americans. Segregation of education is the main reason which lead to a lower academic level of the black community as the schools they are attending are lack of resources. Simultaneously, teachers’ stereotype to the black students and the school curriculum also resulted in harming the African Americans’ dignity their opportunities of studying, which ends up with expanding the number of homeschooling black people. Thus, splitting up the black and white students to different schools are not beneficial to the black community. Wright would write about the problems of stereotypes and racial issues towards blacks. These facts about education for blacks in the United States are similar to the era in which he lived. Even in 2017, segregation still exists in this society and the black community is not welcomed by white people due to their color of skins and races. Wright would be disappointed with the situation happening in the recent years as the majority of Americans did not emphasize racial equality, history is repeating in today’s society. African Americans such as Wright is still informally separated and hostile by other Americans. Black People are treated unfairly by the whites and the modern society, which causes their academic levels to be under average than other students. Unfair treatment by the police towards the blacks is also one of the problems in the United States today.
“Why Are So Many Black Americans Killed By Police?”, by Carl Bialik, denotes that more African Americans are being killed by police “ Black Americans are more than twice as likely as white Americans to be killed by police officers. Researchers agree that racism almost certainly plays a role in that disparity.” (Carl Bialik,2016) The number of deaths of blacks are twice more than the number of whites. This is questioned by many African Americans as long as there is a higher number of black people killed by the police and people also want to find out the reason why more black people murdered by police. The data from this research also use as a display to show how the public dislikes the black people. These police officers killed more African Americans than the white people. As a result, police brutality towards the black community occurs in the United States society and racism is the key concern of African Americans as they are facing police brutality because of their race. The article written by Tess Owen, “Black and Hispanic people more likely to be victims of police brutality, study says”, also talks about African Americans are the victims of police brutality. “ ‘For much of the 20th century,’ Fryer writes, ‘law enforcement chose to brazenly enforce the status quo of overt discrimination, rather than protect and serve all citizens.’” (Tess Owen,2016) Another research
indicates that police brutality is harmful to African Americans. Police cannot protect the African Americans at present as many police officers are racists. Police is used to protect Americans but what they are doing is destroying African Americans lives. Black people can be killed easily by a police officer without any reasons. Wright would be super devastated with this situation as African Americans still do not get the rights they deserve and are always bully by others, just like police.At the same time, he would think that the police in 2017 is very similar to police in the old days. They do not serve all the citizens, no matter what their color of skins is. African Americans are still suppressed by this society. Barack Obama was the first black to be elected as president of the United States. He intended to accomplish what the blacks hope the government could do as one of the members of the blacks community, but he failed. As reported by Jaweed Kaleem, Kurtis Lee and Jenny Jarvie “America just spent 8 years with a black president. For many African Americans, it meant one big thing: freedom to ‘dream’”, it clarifies that many African Americans are still unemployed and the number is extremely higher than the white people. “ But unemployment among African Americans is still nearly twice that of whites, and blacks continue to make up a disproportionate number of prisoners. More than a quarter of the country’s 37 million African Americans still live in poverty.” Jaweed Kaleem, Kurtis Lee and Jenny Jarvie,2017) Although the gap between the whites and blacks is narrower, the poverty rate still remains at a high position. What many African Americans want is just a job which can help them to survive. African Americans are not allowed to dream and need to bend down to the reality. Even though there is president who has the same race with them, there is still a barrier between the African Americans and the white people. African Americans are always clamp down by the whites and can never chase them in this unfair nation. Wright would be satisfied as there is someone who can finally be the president of the United States between the blacks, but disappointed as he fails to accomplish their dream. He would write how he felt depressed with the Obama’s presidency. In conclusion, segregated education in the United States, unfair treatment by the police towards the blacks and the first black president of the United States are the three main topics that Richard Wright would write in an autobiography titled Black Boy. He would write the facts in this society and how the society fails to accomplish the dreams of the African Americans . Furthermore, he would also exhibit how tough a black boy would be if he lived in the United States today in 2017 as he needed to face the racial issues and stereotypes of blacks by others in the community.

Works cited
Cook, Lindsey. "U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal." U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 May 2017.
Camera, Lauren. "African-American Students Lagging Far Behind." U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 22 May 2017.
Mazama, Ama. "Racism in Schools Is Pushing More Black Families to Homeschool Their Children." The Washington Post. WP Company, 10 Apr. 2015. Web. 22 May 2017.
CarlBialik. "Why Are So Many Black Americans Killed By Police?" FiveThirtyEight. FiveThirtyEight, 21 July 2016. Web. 22 May 2017.
Owen, Tess. "Black and Hispanic People More Likely to Be Victims of Police Brutality, Study Says." VICE News. N.p., 11 July 2016. Web. 22 May 2017.
Kaleem, Lee, Jarvie, Jaweed, Kurtis, Jenny. "America Just Spent 8 Years with a Black President. For Many African Americans, It Meant One Big Thing: Freedom to 'dream'." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 22 May 2017.