Racism In America

The Color Line

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a famous American civil rights activist and leader. Du Bois earned a degree from Fisk University in 1888, and in 1882 attended the University of Berlin. Du Bois later became the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. Apart from his activist and leader career, Du Bois wrote many books, which include his three major autobiographies. The most significant of his works were The Philadelphia Negro in 1896, The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, John Brown in 1909, Black Reconstruction in 1935 and Black Folk, Then and Now in 1939.

From Du Bois own personal experiences he formulated a group of essays on being African-American in "white" America. In The Souls of Black Folk, he clearly states what he thinks the problem is regarding race. "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, -the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War: and however much they who marched South and North in 1851 may have fixed on technical points of union and local autonomy as a shibboleth, all nevertheless knew, as we know, that the question of Negro slavery was the cause of the conflict. " In this statement, Dubois claimed that the problem of the 20th century is race. Since Dubois first published The Souls of Black Folk, the problem of the color line still exists today in the 21st century. In today's society, issues of race are prevalent everywhere. To demonstrate Du Bois's problem of the color line, there are five events that have taken place in the United States. These events include the following, Hate Crimes, employment, politics, race parties and night clubs.

In America, racism has been around since the beginning of time. From when the Europeans came over to, the start of slavery, racism has been and is apart of American history. Prior to the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's, racism was easy to identify. In the words of author David K. Shipler, "A good deal of prejudice has gone underground since the civil rights movement and now produces insidious, coded behavior that impedes blacks but is hard to attack." Taboos that prohibit openly behavior, Shipler and others say have caused racism to take on more subtle forms: workplace discrimination, institutional polices and producers and deep-seated racist assumptions that range from doubts about minorities' intelligence to the belief that blacks are more prone to criminal behavior. Racism plus criminal behavior leads to an even bigger problem that has taken a place in society, hate crimes.

Hate crimes were very prevalent in the 20th century. During the 1980's and 1990's hundreds of acts of vandalism were directed at blacks and other minority groups. One of the most notorious incidents occurred in 1986 in the Howard Beach area of New York City, when three black men were beaten and chased by a group of white youths. One of the men died when he was chased into the path of a car. A few days' later five thousand people, both black and white marched through Howard Beach to protest the attack. Hate crimes targeting blacks only represent a fraction of the problem dealing with racism. Hate Crimes aren't the only form of racism that America has seen. In the world of employment, racism has also made its place.

Since the 1940's the black unemployment rate has consistently been about twice the white unemployment rate. In recent recessions black workers have lost jobs at twice the rate of white workers . If traced back to the late 1800's and early 1900's, its clear that racial discrimination was prevalent during the gold mining era. During the gold mining era, whites were given the better jobs than blacks and also received better pay than blacks as well. Now, blacks have held and are holding high standing positions in the work place. Even though theses goals have been attained issues with the color line are still prevalent especially in the world of politics.

Only three African-Americans have been elected to the Senate since Reconstruction, and only two African-Americans have ever been elected governor. An issue that has the nation in an uproar is the chance that America might have an African-American President. For some it's a chance for blacks to have a voice, for others it could be the fall of a nation. Barack Obama a senator running for president is the result of an interracial relationship, his mother being of European decent and his father being of African decent. All the years of presidential elections, this election is a very interesting one. Unfortunately, the accomplishments and goals of the next possible president is not the main concern of the American people, it's his race.

In an interview conducted early this year, Obama was asked to think and react to a quote from Toni Morrison, who said she looked forward to a world "where race exists but it doesn't matter". Obama's response, I would love to see America where race is understood in the same way that the ethnic diversity of the white populations is understood", Obama said. "People take pride in being Irish-America and Italian-American. They have a particular culture that infuses the (whole) culture and makes it richer and more interesting. But it's not something that determines people's life chances, and there is no sense of superiority or inferiority." It appears that Obama is totally aware of the