In the Declaration of Independence it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (
http://www.ushistory.org// declaration/ document/index.htm) It is unfortunate that most Americans do not believe or follow this statement. Black people are still not seen as equals to whites. Today, whites use mechanisms such as poor educational systems, racial profiling, and incarceration to instill fear in black people just as they did with lynching during the Pre and Post Civil War periods.
Most children in the black communities attend public schools. Public schools are offered outdated books, inexperienced teachers, and unsanitary conditions. With these factors working against blacks, there is no way possible for blacks to receive the same education as whites. Attending college is difficult because many blacks do not have enough money to pay for a higher education. Poor public schooling and lack of funds for higher learning makes some African Americans want to give up and turn to the streets for support. This proves that “white America” does not want us to prosper in life. Since education is not the same for blacks and whites, it is much easier for whites to get ahead leaving blacks to struggle. Most of the time there is no way that an African American can get a high paying job with no education. Therefore, whites do not want us to receive a good education because they are afraid that blacks will begin to control what they believe is rightfully theirs.
Racial profiling is another mechanism used against blacks. According to website,
www.ethnicmajority.com/racial_profiling.htm, “The most common example of police racial profiling is "DWB", otherwise known as "driving while black.” Police officers target African Americans looking for any reason to get black people off the streets. This causes African Americans to feel like the odds are against us. Even when we are innocent, we are still forced to feel guilty. It is said that you are innocent until proven guilty. This is not true for blacks. We are guilty no matter what. Society wants to break down our hearts and psyche leaving us to feel like everything we do is negative. Racial profiling causes anger in the black community. This anger can sometimes result in black people fighting back the wrong way. We tend to feel like since whites already think that all we do is sell drugs, we might as well do it. This mind frame is what later put us in jail.
Most of the jails are full of young black men. Based on the U.S. Census Bureau data from Census 2000 on state residents and incarcerated population, 72.3% of black people are incarcerated in Maryland. This is ridiculous because if 72% of black men were in jail, we would have more jails and a lot less man on the streets. The internet also manipulates people of other races living them to believ that African Americans are barbaric. Whites are putting us in jail because they want to separate the black families and stop us from getting ahead in life. Without black men, we are leaving mothers and children to take care of themselves and their families. Children growing up without their father, causes them to become distant and sometimes leads them to trouble looking for someone or something to fill the void of having a father behind bars. Putting blacks in jail is another way to eliminate us from the workforce. No company wants to higher someone that has been to jail. This leaves us feeling weak and vulnerable, searching for a way out; most of the time this is a cause of the vicious cycle of violence and drugs.
Poor educational systems, racial profiling, and incarceration are only a few of the mechanisms to instill fear and control in the hearts, minds, and souls of black people. This proves that whites are putting us in a vicious cycle. No matter what we do to fight back against the unjust treatments, whites are still thinking of ways to keep us from prevailing. Although the odds are against us, we must break free from the mind set that we are less than. Black people must begin to believe in our hearts not only in our minds that we can rise above the negativity and be great.
