Americas Racist Society Essay -- Racism, Prejudice, Racial Profiling

The relationship between whites and blacks in America can be thought of as a mountain, as we ascend the peak through time racial clashes seem to be fewer and fewer. America has had a very racist history, but now more than ever equal opportunity is being granted to minorities. Blacks and whites are getting along better than any other time in the past, but there are still problems preventing these two groups from blending completely in society. Stereotypes about the violent behavior of blacks, seriously affects the relationship between whites and blacks in society because white people are fearful in the presence of blacks. Evidence for these stereotypes and reasons why this stereotype is so widely regarded will be thoroughly discussed in this essay, starting with my own personal experiences. When I was growing up, I did not live in a community with many Blacks and because of this I never got a chance to have many black friends. Throughout middle school and high school I noticed that the majority of black students remained isolated to their own racial group. They seemed to keep their distance from the white kids or maybe it was that the white kids stayed away from them? Occasionally when fights broke out in school it seemed that the black students were always the ones involved. This was something that I noticed but didn’t think much of it at the time. Looking back and reflecting on what I saw, these skirmishes involving the black students could have inflicted a sense of fear in me. I saw their violent behavior first hand and that probably caused me to think of them as violent and something to fear. That wasn’t the only thing that influenced me to think of blacks in that way, but what were the others? Could the media, ... ...them to make a conscious effort to behave in a way that would eliminate the stereotypes. In my experiences I have found that my role models have a huge impact on what I do and how I think. These people influence me to be who I am and add wisdom where I would normally be clueless. The black community is not the only group who needs to be educated about stereotyping, whites need to be educated as well. White people are often the ones using the stereotypes and for that reason they need to be informed of what they are doing. Once the white community realizes what they are doing they can make an effort, just like the blacks, to stop classifying people who are different. If the judgment of others who are different stops then racial issues will become much less prevalent. Once racial conflicts preside then ethnic groups in society will be able to peacefully coexist.