african americans
March 23rd, 2010 | 
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 African American Art James VanDerZee Photograph of Harlem Parade  US $550.00
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African American Experience in the United States
The experience of African Americans in the United States can be considered to have been one of the worst among all races. Having entered into the country as slave workers, it took them more than one century of self redemption to enjoy rights and privileges that are enjoyed by other races in the United States. After more than two decades of civil rights struggle that started in 1950s, African Americans started to be recognized as an equal race in the country in the 1970s with enactment of several laws that did away with oppressive and segregating laws like Jim Crow laws. However, as has been highlighted in different news articles, the plight of African Americans is not yet for good. In the following two news article, we are going to review the plight of African Americans as highlighted in different media.
One of recent article that was published in The New York Times highlighted the experience of African Americans in the digital world. In this article, Marriot (2006) discuss how African Americans have become the face of digital divide in the country and how they have been able to deal with this problem. Often confined to underdeveloped areas, African Americans have found it difficult to access digital information and technology due to various factors ranging from poor IT infrastructure to lack of skills. AS Marriot (2006) points out, African Americans have taken up to this challenge by increasingly adopting the internet and hence closing on the digital divide. However, a critical look at Marriot argument reveals that the blame is being heaved on African Americans for not adopting digital technology in time (Brustein, 2010). This cannot be considered true in light of the fact that there are numerous reports that have highlighted under-development in African American neighborhoods making them prone to high rates of crimes (Worthham, 2009). According to what I have learned in this module, African Americans have been segregated fro m the time the country gained independence and high digital divide between African Americans and other races could be attributed to segregating development that does not consider African Americans as equal race.
Another article that highlights the plight of African Americans is article by Fox Butterfield that was published in The New York Times in 2003. In this article, Butterfield (2003) discuss how the rate of incarceration of American Americans has reached its peak. He argues that more than 12 percent of African Americans aged between 20 and 34 years have been incarcerated in jail or in prison. In this article Butterworth (2003) shows that the number of African Americans incarcerated has been on the rise to the highest rate ever. In comparison, only 1.6% of white men within the same age bracket have been incarcerated. Increased number of African Americans in prison can also be attributed to segregating judicial systems and economic plight of African Americans (Parkinson, 2009). Like has been the tradition of racial segregation in the country, African Americans have been on the receiving end with most of them incarcerated for minor offense like drug offence (Moore, 2009). It does not mean that whites commit less crime than black American but there is systematic segregation of African Americans and hence their increased incarceration. As has been learned in this module, the experiences of African Americans continue to be shaped by events of the parts even in judicial system that is supposed for fight for their rights. This clearly shows that the current predicament of African Americans in the United States has been shaped by their historical experiences. Although great strides have been made in integration of African Americans with other races, there are challenges that remain in full integration and acceptance.
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