Maryann Cusimano Love author of “Race in America: ‘We would Like to Believe we Are Over The Problem’” proves a point in her essay that even though decades have passed since the time of slavery and civil rights movement happened race is still very much a factor in today’s society. I liked that she brought up Virginia state legislator Delegate Frank D. Hargrove’s famous quote about how, “blacks need to get over” slavery. Not only was what he said highly insensitive, but it also shows his ignorance. Slavery, much like the holocaust, is not something you can just forget about, pretend never existed, many people died for no reason, and it was just inhumane.
Sure, in a perfect world, racism would have been abolished by now and there would be neither traces nor remains of it, unfortunately that is not the case since racism, although died down, is still going strong in our country. Going back to some of the statistics that Love showed in her essay we see a clear picture of not necessarily racism, but definitely a racial divide in life span, socioeconomic status, and infant mortality rate between white and black people. “To ‘get over’ racial problems in America today, we need to understand them and their roots.” One of the most interesting statistics that I felt she presented was that more than 19% of the 14,000 college students surveyed thought that Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was about slavery. College kids, the ones whom we expect to be most educated, would be so wrong about such an important speech.
In the end I really agreed with her arguments and believe that racism is still alive and well in this country. Even though we now have a black president, it does not change peoples minds.
Well said analysis. Right off the bat you start off your response with a very distinct quote from the passage about African American's needing to "get over" slavery. Slavery was a huge part of American history and I liked how you compared slavery to the holocaust, and the fact that people cannot just forget about something that shaped our country we now live in today. I also liked how you brought up how America is still partially racist today. You backed up your point with good evidence using an example from Love's essay about people not knowing the history of slavery itself. In my opinion you could have analyzed the authors motive and/or tone of her piece and what you thought of her writing. I do agree with your closing statement in that you still believe that racism is present in our country today because, although some might not want to admit, certain people in the US are still racist and prejudiced towards different races.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I did my same passage on this writing and we seemed to point out the same major topics. I agree that what the Virginia Legislature said was very rude. People cant get over things like that. Thats like telling Jews just to get over the Holocaust. Its somewhat impossible to get over something so big that happened to your race and religion. SInce Whites aren't really used to being in that type of position maybe its hard to see where African Americans are coming from and why they still carry slavery on their back. You did a good job on showing your stance and how you felt about it.
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