Segregation

In the context of the Negro problem neither whites nor blacks,

for excellent reasons of their own, have the faintest desire to look back;

but I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and, further,

that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.

If we take the advice of James Baldwin and look back at the past of segregation in American history, we cannot fail to arrive at the conclusion that this peculiar pillar of capitalism is a white issue and a white injustice. Unfortunately, it remains so to a wide degree in our own time. Until we lay blame for this shameful aspect of the American social system at the feet of those who own it, a system which purposefully separated blacks from whites in terms of education, housing, public facilities, marriage, transportation, politics, and employment, we cannot begin to rectify the abuses of the past in the present. It will take more than surface integration and embracing diversity, it will entail restructuring the educational, social and political, and justice systems.

To understand segregation we must realize there are two kinds, de jure and de facto. De jure segregation is segregation sanctioned by law. De facto segregation is segregation that exists in fact but is not sanctioned by any law. In order to understand why modern segregation still exists

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the past honestly in the opening quote. It is not particularly the individuals in power in the dominant positions of society who promote racism. Instead, they reinforce and promote the existing infrastructure elements that, unfortunately for too long in American history, have promoted unequal access to economic, political, educational success. This is why segregation is allowed to evolve and is responsible for all manner of detrimental effects on those in power and those who cannot access equal means to obtaining it. Sanctioned legally, segregation becomes a social norm, a custom if you will, of those not in the afflicted group. As such, de factor segregation is alive and well in America. During the 1960s the passage of the Civil Rights Act was a major step forward in eliminating the American infrastructure elements that legally and powerfully reinforced unequal rights for black Americans. However, segregation has deeply impacted both whites and blacks in American history and in the present: The dominant group typically believes its members are born with superior intelligence, talents, and moral standards. Social scientists call these exaggerated beliefs stereotypes. The dominant group uses stereotypes to justify its mis

Category: History - S