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Ryan Van Dyke

Expository English
Mr. Conrad
October 19, 2015
Racism
Like it or not racism has, and most likely will be a part of our country for ever. Racism is
not nearly as bad as it used to be but we like to think that it does not exist anymore and dismiss it
all together. Some people believe that black people are quote too sensitive which shows that
racism still does exist. It still exist today because of racial profiling, lower graduation rates for
minorities, and the way mass media portrays blacks.
Racial Profiling is one of the biggest forms of racism we have today. It seems like every
day you hear things on the new like officer James Knight shot and killed 18-year-old Tyrone
Lewis, an unarmed black man during a routine traffic stop(gale). This is just one of the many
police brutality cases on black men, and many times unarmed black men. Police officers are
taught to frisk black men in poor neighborhoods to keep crime down, which is very racist and
unfair. Even the first organized police forces in this country were slave patrols created to keep
enslaved africans in check(Gale). Ever since our country the beginning of our country racism
has been a problem, it is in embedded in our history, the question is will it ever stop? Many
people are almost being racist subconsciously, what I mean by that is if someone is alone at night
and they see a black man they think they are in trouble just because of what society has taught us
and what the media shows. The fact is that the media only seems to show what will get the best
rating and many times that is at the expense of colored man.

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A lot of minority students have lower test scores and lower graduation rates than upper
class white students. Standardized test tends to favor upper class white students. An article by
Joseph Soares explains that tests like the ACT and SAT put low income and minority students at
significant disadvantages and have resulted in lack of diversity at the nation's four-year
colleges(Soares) Families with more money have students go to college more often because
they can pay for their tuition and not only that but also pay for tutors in high school. Low-income
families have a very hard time paying for tuition and it is very hard for the student to get into a
good college based purely on grades. Joe Soares also states that we are missing out on a lot of
talent that would benefit our state's human capital and economic welfare and we need to get more
youths from the bottom half of our families into our public universities(Soares). It would
benefit everyone if we somehow made it easier for lower class and minority students to get into
college.
The mass media portrays blacks males as gangsters and drug dealers, and because of this
all black people have to live under the same stereotype. As Stephen Balkaran says in the Yale
article the media has focused on the negative aspect of the black community while maintaining
a cycle of poverty that the elite wants(Balkaran). He means that the media just focuses on the
negative aspect of the black community, they just show black men being arrested or black men
robbing a store and because the media has control over what we think everyone tends to think
that every single person of color is like that. A controversial civil rights leader Malcolm X said
that the media will make the criminal look like he is the victim and the victim look like he is the
criminal. He then goes on to say If you are not careful the newspapers will have you hating the
people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Fifty years
later and his statement is still true.

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Many people opposing this issue would say things like black people are too sensitive,
black people need to quote get over it which to me is very disheartening because not one
person can begin to imagine what black people have gone through and what are still going
through to this day. Matthew Hale a white supremacist stated that the reason he hates people of
color is because you want to defend those whom you love, your own family, your own white
race; then hate for your enemies comes natural, it is inevitable. This is absolutely awful, he is
saying that his religion is based on love for whites rather than hatred toward blacks. How can
you blame black people for being too sensitive when there are people like this in the world.
The Golden Rule for white supremacist is as follows That witch is good for the white race is
of highest value, that witch is bad is the ultimate sin. White supremacy is terrible and should not
be around at all anymore. How can anyone think like that.
Racism still exist today because of racial profiling, lower graduation rates for minorities,
and the way mass media portray people of color. people who like to think that white people are
better and that black people are too sensitive need to stop. Racism is a big part of our history
but it is time for it to finally disappear. It needs to be addressed and gotten rid of as soon ass
possible.

Works Cited
Aspegren, Cooper. "Standardized Tests Tend to Favor Upper-Class Students." College
Admissions. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2015. Current
Controversies. Rpt. of "SAT Is Unfair to Disadvantaged Students." Oracle 10 Dec. 2012:

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n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

<http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&displ
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rrPage=&disableHighlighting=&displayGroups=&sortBy=&zid=&search_within_results
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EJ3010919229&source=Bookmark&u=eldorado&jsid=b11bb73f4f6f5f2c0af677ea81e51
572>.

Muwakkil, Salim. "Racism Causes Police Brutality." Police Brutality. Ed. Helen Cothran.
San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Getting Away
with Murder." In These Times (6 Jan. 1997). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16
Oct. 2015.