American race has been Multifaceted and complexly molded by historical, societal, economic and dogmatic factors. The United States has wrestled with race issues from the slavery age to the civil rights movement and beyond, with different races trying to win their cases (Scott-Jones and Kamara, 2). Most laws enacted by the governments of then and even after the servitude era were aimed at demeaning Black Americans, mostly the freedmen, negroes and mulattoes. For instance, The Mississippi Black Code was such an act and penal that sought to sternly edge and regulate entirely the lives of the autonomous enslaved people (Punsalan-Teigen, 2). Consequently, in his response to the passed punitive legislations, which led to Birmingham demonstrations in Alabama in 1963, ultimately leading to his imprisonment, Martin Luther King Jr drafted a letter to the clerics who termed his actions as “unwise and untimely,” defending the non-violent demonstrations and sturdily calling for the termination of the ethnic biases.
Conversely, the racial history in the United States has enormously and contemporarily shaped today’s racial relations, giving a clear picture of how whites and blacks relate in America. The slavery institution persisted for centuries, establishing the basis for racial discrimination and exploitation, which created resentment from the blacks to the whites (Punsalan-Teigen, 5). Such laws as the “Mississippi Vagrant laws, sections 2 and 7” created an atmosphere of antipathy from the “vagabonds” as they saw it as a way of extorting their coinage through unjustified taxes and fines. This kind of African American slave mistreatment created a credence system in white supremacy, laying a groundwork for racial acumen and seclusion, the whites believing their superiority over the blacks. Moreover, even after servitude abolishment, its legacy continued to figure the social, political and economic structure in America through the enactment of the “Jim Crow Laws,” which sought to enforce racial exclusion and discrimination (Ruef and Grigoryeva, 8). These laws did not only pursue ethnic divisions but also institutionalized disparity in education, employment and housing, which have evident patterns of isolation and discrimination in chance and affluence today. Therefore, even with the termination of the Mississippi Black Codes and the Jim Crow Laws, racial discrimination is still prevalent, with white supremacy prevailing.
Additionally, Black Americans continue to suffer at the hands of the whites to date, being seen with an ancient eye of slavery and inferiority to the natives. An instance of such current racial animosity is the brutal murder of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by the American Police in Minneapolis, an incidence that spiked and sparked mixed reactions from the two antagonizing races, the Blacks calling for extensive protests against the police, demanding police restructurings (Wu et al. 2). These incidences and others show ethnic profiling and extreme practice of force by the white police which disproportionately disturbs the Blacks calling for their retaliation. Therefore, while the United States has done much in regulating racial laws, racism still finds its course, with Blacks and other non-American communities being the victims.
Furthermore, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which addressed the evils done to the blacks, seemed to bring some calmness in the society, which later faded. Martin Luther King Jr highlighted segregation that affected the Blacks, claiming that waiting for justice to prevail logically was ineffective; thus, he campaigned for the change of the law through direct movements, whereby he believed in the sovereignty of ethical law over the unjust lawful code of (“Letter From Birmingham Jail: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes” 2). He further condemned the white Church, which seemed to agree with the white legal code of racial oppression that was contrary to Biblical teaching, which the Church ought to be firmly established on, fighting for the freedom of the Black man. He gives an example of Apostle Paul in the Bible and other 18th-century prophets who left their villages to proclaim the message of God, justifying himself as to why he was imprisoned in the Birmingham jail. He urges the Church to consider the biblical stand on racism and practice it by joining his movements to push the government to treat Blacks and whites equally. Therefore, Martin Luther King Jr, through his letter, fought and significantly won the battle against racism, though not the culmination of racial segregation.
Finally, despite the progress in the racial laws, systematic racism continues to thrive, with many institutions such as law Establishments, health care and education systems continually exercising racism where Blacks and other marginalized communities face disparities in services offered (Yearby et al., 4). In such institutions, the whites are treated with care and honor, demeaning the Blacks and seeing them as less human. Moreover, Police brutality and Racial profiling are seemingly on the trend, with minorities being unethically besieged by law executions while the authority overlooks them (Wu et al., 5). Consequently, the American government and other stakeholders, such as antiracism movements, must completely conquer racism chronicled in United Statements to create a racial and mutual balance between the whites and the Blacks. Therefore, The American regime must act swiftly to secure the Black man who seems to be the prey for the whites.
In a nutshell, racial segregation existed way before the 21st century, when African Americans were always the target. Several laws, such as the “Mississippi Black Codes” and the “Jim Crow Law,” have been enacted throughout history to tame the non-natives in America, some of these laws receiving fierce opposition from people of contrary opinion. Martin Luther King Jr, in his letter, strongly opposed racial segregation and advocated for moral law instead of the bent legal code. Therefore, the United States government should embrace provisions in its letter to promote racial equality.
Work Cited
“Letter From Birmingham Jail: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes.” SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/letter-from-birmingham-jail/summary.
Punsalan-Teigen, Peder. Mississippi Black Codes, 1865-1866 • 26 May 2021, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/events-african-american-history/mississippi-black-codes-1865-1866.
Ruef, Martin, and Angelina Grigoryeva. “Jim Crow, Ethnic Enclaves, and Status Attainment: Occupational Mobility Among U.S. Blacks, 1880–1940.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 814–859, no. 3, 1 Nov. 2018, https://doi.org/10.1086/701020.
Scott-Jones, Gwendolyn, and Mozella Richardson Kamara. “The Traumatic Impact of Structural Racism on African Americans.” Delaware Journal of Public Health, vol. 6, no. 5, Delaware Academy of Medicine – Delaware Public Health Association, Nov. 2020, pp. 80–82. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.32481/djph.2020.11.019.
Wu, Henry H., et al. “Say Their Names: Resurgence in the Collective Attention Toward Black Victims of Fatal Police Violence Following the Death of George Floyd.” PLOS ONE, edited by Jonathan Jackson, vol. 18, no. 1, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Jan. 2023, p. e0279225. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279225.
Yearby, Ruqaiijah, et al. “Structural Racism in Historical and Modern US Health Care Policy.” Health Affairs, vol. 41, no. 2, Health Affairs (Project Hope), Feb. 2022, pp. 187–94. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01466.
write