Black and Whites in America Today

Maggie Beatty
English 1000
Dr. Marsh
24 April 2007
Blacks and Whites in America Today
I let my children play with black children. I sit with a black girl at lunch. In Sunday school I sang, “Jesus loves the children of the world---red and yellow, black and white.” I am not racist. Very little racism exists today, we are moving towards equality. These are all lines many white Americans have said or thought. On top of those thoughts, many white Americans would also ask, “Why should I have to pay for slavery if I never owned a slave? Why should I be held accountable for past slavery? Why do African Americans need to be paid for their ancestors’ slavery?” While these questions are valid on the surface, they also point to an unaware, ignorant majority in the United States.
To see the foundation, the United States laid its roots in racism. American racism is “centuries-long, deep lying, institutionalized, and systemic” (Feagin). I conducted a survey on a few of my classmates. I posed the question: Do you think that the African American community needs to be paid reparations for their ancestors’ slavery? The majority of students responded with a no, while only 30% of those surveyed answered yes. Many are unaware that slavery was one of the most consequential factors in expansion of commercial capitalism in the Americas, but over eight million Africans were forced to come. Once land was taken from the indigenous societies, colonizers began to search for a labor source, which led to the expansion of the preexisting slave trade. The larger farms that utilized African slaves began to make profit from the international market of sugar, tobacco, rice, and eventually, cotton. Once the middle and working classes of Europe began demanding these products, plantations demanded more labor. The early 1700s saw sixty thousand slaves increase to about four million slaves in the 1860s. During that time period, much of the surplus capital and wealth of North America came directly, or by economic multiplication, from the slave trade and slave plantations. By the time of the Civil War, slave-grown cotton accounted for about half of all exports from the United States, and thus for much of the profits that white gained form the exports. It can be argued that slave labor was the most critical factor in economic production for America, and it is estimated that the dollar value of those enslaved exceeded the total value of all northern factories (Feagin). The economic prosperity of the United States was substantially grounded in the slavery system. Even the educational system was funded by profits from slavery when founds of Brown University made money by investing in the slave trade (Feagin). Since the American Revolution was largely financed by capital generated by slave labor, it is evident that “Americans bought their independence with slave labor” (Feagin).
Even today African Americans face societal oppression. My surveyed revealed that only half of those surveyed believe that America is moving towards racial equality today, and the other half believes American racial equality is stagnant. The mass media is mostly controlled by whites---slightly fewer than 90 percent of news reporters, supervisors, and newspaper/magazine editors are white (Feagin). In 1997 the median black family had one-tenth as much wealth as the median white family. Unemployment is twice as high among black as among whites, and the average black wage-earner mad only 75 cents for each dollar earned by a white worker in 1997 (JoJo). Michigan has more African Americans in jail than in school. Harvard is concluding that the nation is moving backwards---resegregation is occurring as white move their children to the suburbs and the number children of color increases in central city areas. The racism and oppression experienced by African Americans in the 1600s had been ingrained into white living in America today.
Therefore, reparations must be paid for the unjust impoverishment that white have caused through unjust enrichment. There is a debt owed to blacks for centuries of unpaid slave labor that built American’s early economy and created a cultural capital for whites, and there is a second debt owed for discrimination and employment patterns blacks have been subjugated to since emancipation. All too often, white Americans say that they never owned slaves, but they do not see how their skin color gives them an automatic step up from blacks.
Reparations would be in the forms of monetary funds paid not to individuals but to institutions such as schools and businesses in order to “level the playing field.” Until the late 1960s government supported discrimination and segregation did not permit black Americans to be involved in business sectors serving communities beyond black areas, which kept their descendants from inheriting resources and wealth necessary for development of business in the American economy (Feagin). Funds could be provided to create a business network focused on equal opportunity. If money was allocated to businesses to move into majority black neighborhoods jobs would be created and the dollar would be turned over in the community. Entrepreneurship would also be encouraged within these communities, and thus increased accumulation of tax money would benefit the community schools. Although black business people and entrepreneurs would face many racial hurdles, reparation are meant to increase opportunity. Blacks tend to face serious discrimination by banks, but Timothy Bates has found that black who do manage to receive loans comparable to those of white peers do not have a higher failure rate than white firms (Feagin). With equitable business networks, reparations could be used to train individuals in multicultural business, to encourage entrepreneurship, and to encourage businesses to move into majority black communities. The tax money received from new businesses would definitely aid in school funding, which would be a factor in better education and more graduates pursuing higher education (Anderson). Fifty percent of those who completed my survey did not believe that allocating money to businesses in order to encourage them to move into majority black neighborhoods is necessary nor would be successful. One student expanded on his views:
“What if you’re just allocating money to a business and then that business fails? Businesses will market to whatever demographic they deem will give them the most success; let’s say if the business is paid to move into a predominantly black area which also happens to be a predominately poor area. These people don’t have the money to pay for the product, and now you’ve just given businesses money that they’re not going to put back into the community.”
Allocating money to businesses would have to be specific and well planned. It would be a selective process that would need to ensure prosperity before put in place.
Reparations are crucial to reducing the gap between integrate/white suburban schools and segregated urban schools. Although the majority of the students who took my survey did not believe that reparations are necessary they did reveal that they have experienced racial inequality within a school system. Black students attending suburban white high schools experience far higher graduation and college-going rates than those left in central city schools (Orfield). Especially in the poorest areas, the school-neighborhood relationship in urban communities is often troubled. Many professionals, educators, and politicians have voiced opinions and theories that address the most productive approach to community development, and in a number of way school are a natural focus for community development efforts. By maintaining contact with children and their families, the social institution of the school has created a means by which residents who have been impoverished, marginalized, and disenfranchised can not only improve individual shills but also develop their capability to act on the interest of the whole community (Johnson). Development efforts for disadvantaged communities have the grand assignment of reversing the dissociation between schools and other poor neighborhoods.
No community can effectively develop and maintain its population over many years if it does no provide preparatory education for college, and it must be able to draw and hold families and businesses of affluence. It is not possible for an all-poor community to hold even an appearance of development today. Hope for both transformations of poor urban communities by community development corporations involved in subsidized housing and for stronger connections between local communities and schools through more services and programs deals nothing with the expectation for black communities to develop under unmerited disenfranchisement and impoverishment. A number of housing agencies and community development groups have concluded that a significant percentage of neighborhoods must be redeveloped for families with occupations and some significant income if urban neighborhoods and school are to be advanced within the existing economic and policy frameworks, which are where reparations is vital (Anderson). Unfortunately, schools are awfully limited in that they have a tendency to mirror and convey more than to transform the social structure of the families and communities they serve; therefore, schools that work are required to attract and keep the needed families. For school districts to foster a beneficial evolution of schools, they need to offer schools with upgraded academics by drafting new policies, and reparations would enable them to make these new changes. Many long time residents could remain through skillful use of subsidy programs while new residents begin to inhabit urban neighborhoods Ideally, urban neighborhoods need to attract and maintain young families that are not poor through citywide school policy and desegregation plans that attempt to create economically diverse societies with demanding curricula---all supported through reparations (Feagin).
Funding for reparations is necessary if there is to be any payment. The United States government is currently fighting a war on terrorism that has cost at least $60 billion, but maybe we need to look at our home front? The HR 400 resolution proposed $60 billon per year over the span of 15 years to historically black colleges and $30 billion per year over a span of 15 years to K-12 urban schools. Why could not the American government pay for a leveling of the playing field? Yes, whites who immigrated to the United States after a year such as 1980 may not have been a part of American slavery, but it is because of their white skin that they already have a step up on blacks who face our nation’s institutionalized racism still prevalent today. This country was funded from slavery, and therefore it is in the government of this nation’s best interest to give blacks more of an opportunity. Another supply for reparations would come from the banks that were involved in the slave trade. Although many of those banks have merged today, their original records form the years of the slave trade would be the documents that determine the amount of debt owed. As our government takes care of other countries through benevolence, we should raise the question of why we do not take care of our unjustly impoverished citizens.
The United States was built on the labor of African slaves, and the racism that was alive then is systemic today, evident in white ignorance. Reparations are due to community institutions to pay the debt owed by this nation in order to alleviate the unjust impoverishment of black citizens. I enjoyed a comment a student left on my survey:
“Singling out the races is what segregates them from each other, which leads to racism. Comparing the races is ultimately racism. It goes the same for sexes. Comparing men and women leads to sexism, that’s why it is so hard to change and avoid. We all compare ourselves one way or another to other people, you know?”
Racism needs to cease and we all need to act as one human race and no compare ourselves to others all the time. It is time for justice and equity to become a part of this nation’s ethic!

I wish girls could use cramps as a reason for missing class. I mean I am in as much pain or more as someone who just sprained their ankle, and I don't think I would be in class if I just sprained my ankle. Little does anyone know I'm going through excruciating pain as I sit in class and listen to the boring teacher. Whhhhhhhy do I have to be here?!?!

What is race?

What is race? It's only a social construction. However, in America it is a social construction that affects the daily lives of millions of our citizens. The majority Caucasian would have few thoughts about racial oppression, racial prejudice, or racism in this country. That's where I come in as a white, Christian, middle-class female. Racism is currently affecting the lives of the African American population in our nation? Racism is perpetuated by people like me? Racism is creating an underlying rift in our nation? Other whites need to ask themselves these types of questions.

Retiring

Why must we spend the last 15 years of our lives playing golf, collecting sea shells, travelling on vacation? We get to heaven and show God our shell collection. Are we even supposed to do that as Christians? Why not labor for the cause of Christ during those year when most Americans retire? I don't wanna waste my time here.

"Christian"

Why is my view of Christianity so different from my St. John's classmates' views of Christianity?

Sometimes it feels like it's such a competition. Plus, when I believe a truth that I see in the Word, that doesn't mean another Christian sees it that way, or they may not even see the Word as important as I do.

And then I question the label, "Christian." I have my own definition of "Christian" for me, but I know there's tons of other definitions.

Then beyond the definition, it doesn't always mean a person is incarnationally walking out being a "Christian."

Someone tells me they're a Christian, and I don't even know what that means to them.

Today In Class

My history professor continued to expound on the Puritans of New England.

The first words of modernity were uttered by Rene Descartes, "Cogito Ergo Sum," which are translated as, "I think, therefore, I am." The emergence of the individual was commenced. Europe's new market economy produced a renaissance that produced a reformation. Martin Luther individualized Catholic doctrines for salvation, and then John Calvin reformed the Church with an emphasis on faith over works and predestination. The Puritans' theology was reformed, meaning that they believed the scriptures validate Calvinism.

Once the Puritans immigrated to New England in the Americas, they set up colonies. Their Calvinism set up their world view in the Americas as they tried to create a model Christian colony. It perpetrated and governed lawful recreation, education, food, time, housing, family, marriage, gender, sex, child rearing, age, death, religious practice, wealth, dress, and mood. The paradox of the Puritans was in their individual salvation within a community. Their families were set up as individual commonwealths that reflected the larger community. Puritans played sports for a number of reasons, one of them being to build bonds with others. One purpose in the gatherings on Sundays was to strengthen the bonds of the community during worship. In the midst of community accountability and a strong community bond, the Puritans taught individual salvation. Each person had to with go a rigorous self-examination to see if they were elect, to find if they were producing the fruits of the righteousness, and it was solely individualized!

I thought this worldview was very interesting, and I see a number of ways that I would like to raise a family in the Puritans' way. Some of their views have evolved into extreme views held as average for today---especially the individual society here in the U.S.

Report Idea

As you can see from my former posts.. I'm thinking about doing my paper now on racism in America and how it has affected our eduation system.