This Is America: The Divided States

This Is America: The Divided States

“Indivisible…” a word stated in the pledge of allegiance, an adjective describing the United States. Are we truly indivisible because it sure doesn't seem like it. Everywhere I look there is division whether its democrat vs republican, blood vs crips, and most popular black vs white. If you believe that racism was “abolished” like slavery than you are a fool. Racism still exists, I witnessed it in action one day I was working. I was on the register ringing up this caucasian lady and as I was scanning her products she turned around and saw an African American lady and said can you please back up I’d like some space you’re all up in my space. The lady responded saying I am all the way back here behind you and your cart I’m not in your face. After I rang up the caucasian lady’s products she decided she didn't want some things so I had to wait for my manager to void the products. I have a long line to get through so they were irritated and I’m starting to get irritated as well and then the caucasian lady turns around and picks up her purse as if the African American lady was trying to steal it. In turn, this made matters worse because the lady is like why are you picking up your purse I’m not anywhere near you and I don't need to steal I work everyday. So now it is clear that the caucasian lady is racist and she makes it worse making racist remarks by saying “your people.” This is a prime example of division in America. Black vs white. A dispute that has been going on since the beginning, and has yet to end.

This division that we know today simply comes from racism which leads to racial profiling as the caucasian lady did with the African American woman. We see racial profiling happening so much that it has also become second nature, a third eye if you will. Picture this in your head, a black male in a black GMC who looks to be in his twenties, has tattoos on his arms, and a durag on. What do you see, society has divided black males into categories based on how we look, I may see just an ordinary black male while others may see a young thug or gangster. It’s not just how we look or dress either many people are profiled just because of their skin color . There are many examples on the news such as the H&M mishap where a black kid had on a hoodie that read “ coolest monkey in the jungle” or another time where there were two incidents at starbucks in one week, one incident was a white kid came in and didn't buy anything he had to use the restroom and they let him then a black kid comes in and didn't buy anything he had to use the restroom and he was told no because he had to buy something first. The other incident was when two black men were sitting down on their laptops working and the police were called on them, even some white people pleaded with the police saying they did nothing but to no avail, the men were arrested. Even though black men are targeted there have been incidents with women also, at the Waffle House the police were called on a black woman for no reason she simply wanted a fork and when the police showed up they were wrestling her and literally mopping the floor with her body. The list goes on and on and we continue to grow further apart with each news story.

The pledge of allegiance says something else I simply cannot agree with, it says “...with liberty and justice for all.” The key word is all, do all people really receive justice, tell me if these names ring a bell, Carol Marie Jenkins an encyclopedia sales women murdered with a screwdriver by two white men in September 1968 who were never tried for the murder. Reverend George Lee was an advocate for African American votes, he received death threats to stop but he continued and was murdered on May 7, 1955 when a convertible pulled alongside him late at night and the unidentified shooter fired three shotgun blasts shattering his jaw and driving him off road. John Earl Reese was a 16-year-old boy murdered in a cafe while with his 13-year-old cousin and his 15-year-old sister. The two white men who commited the crime claimed they were tired of “uppity blacks” and the district attorney assigned the case looked at the murder as “a case of two irresponsible boys attempting to have some fun by “scaring niggers.” The famous Emmett Till case, a 14-year-old boy who allegedly hit on a white woman was brutally beaten, shot in the head, tied with barbed wire and thrown into the river. He was beaten so bad he was only identified by the ring on his finger engraved with his father’s initials. The lady who accused Till later confessed saying that she lied about what happened, still no one was tried for the murder. Cpl. Roman Ducksworth Jr. by police officer William Kelly on April 9, 1962. One story is that Kelly shot Ducksworth after he refused to move to the back of the bus, Ducksworth’s brother says Kelly got on the bus and began hitting him then ordered him to get off the bus so he could be beaten, then Kelly shot Ducksworth in the heart. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley are four young girls who were killed on September 15, 1963 by a bomb that exploded right before morning service at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This tragedy was a huge catalyst in the civil rights movement. And finally the well-known tragedy that aired on every single news platform, the case of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old boy who was shot and killed by 38-year-old George Zimmerman.

Where was the justice for these people if any, America will continue to grow further and further apart if we do not get over this racial hump. We have to look at things in a different way as Americans we are one, we all have the same goal, to be successful. We should lift each other up because it's up to you and me to make a change. If you take the last three letters of American, you have CAN. I CAN be great, I CAN be successful, I CAN make change, I CAN because I'm an AMERICAN.