Racism in the United States Essay

Even though slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment, blacks in the South were still subjected to harsh and unfair treatment throughout the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. In fact, it would be more than a century after the ratification of the 13th Amendment before the Civil Rights Act would be signed into law—and it would take a major protest led by Martin Luther King, Jr. just to achieve that. From the Mississippi Black Code of 1865 to King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963, one can see the shape of American history with respect to its race relations.

The historical significance of the Mississippi Black Code of 1865 is that it helped to institutionalize the era of Jim Crow—a time when blacks, who were supposed to be treated as free and equal, continued to be oppressed and harassed by unfair social doctrines. The Black Code was an explicit example of the Jim Crow mentality that proliferated in the South. For example, Article 3, Section 2 of the Black Code forbade the unlawful assembly of blacks (whatever that meant—did blacks need a permit to get together in a group?) and also forbade whites mixing with blacks either platonically or sexually. It was a blatant violation of blacks’ Constitutional rights—particularly their right to assemble under the 1st Amendment. Article 4, Section 1 forbade blacks from bearing arms—even though as citizens of the U.S. it was their Constitutional right to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment. In short, the Black Code meant to strip blacks of the rights that citizens (i.e., whites) held in the country. If the state had to free its slaves under the 13th Amendment, it was going to do everything it could (even in violation of federal law) to prevent blacks from gaining any kind of social status or leverage in the community. The state was, in other words, going to keep treating blacks as though they were lesser-thans, sub-standard, and…

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Still, the moral ground for reform has been forgotten. The points that King made have been lost in many ways. People are more polarized and more judgmental than ever before. They are quick to condemn and not quick to listen or understand. King showed great patience and empathy in writing his Letter. 100 years after the Mississippi Black Code, he was having to explain why the institutionalization of racism was bad for America, bad for Christians, bad for people everywhere. And now it appears that people need that reminder once more, more than half a century later.

The nature of race in the past and present is the same as it ever was: without the ideological biases that are passed down from generation to generation, racism would likely not be an issue in the U.S. But it is—because peers, groups, and media all tend to focus on labeling, dividing, and escalating conflict points. Instead of a preacher like King, calling for peace and Christian charity,…