Deshawn+J’s+Final+AmEx+2015+Speech


 * An America With Races United **

47 years ago, 6 days after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed by President Johnson and passed by the House granting African Americans the civil rights they had fought for such a long time. Finally, all ethnic groups have gained equality in America, but discrimination against people because of their ethnicities and religions have yet to cease, and racial tensions grow amongst America’s people. Part of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream was to bring inequality and discrimination at its end. I look around, it’s not what I see. I turn my TV on and watch the news, it’s not what I see. One could think that in a place where “all men are created equal,” that things like racism and discrimination can exist, but it’s been here for 100’s of years and it’s still here...it’s still here. Not that I see it all around Foothill because you guys are the best people that anybody can hope to be around, it’s that I’ve seen racism and discrimination around Ventura. I’ve seen it in my own neighborhood. I’ve seen it especially bad in the South-Eastern areas of our country. In the America I want to grow old in, I wish to see discrimination leave this country for good. I wish to see racism shrink to the size of an atom and fade away from existence. I wish to see races united as equal citizens under this great country we call America. Discrimination, racism, prejudice, the acts that had entered this country during the start of American civilization and shaped it’s way into American lifestyle for the ages to come. Throughout history it is clear to us now that the strong racism used against African Americans, the Chinese, the Irish, ect. was unacceptable, and though the severity has decreased in most areas of the nation, having all this racial hate gone will, decrease the tensions and lead to better prosperity. White supremacy groups like the Klu Klux Klan, focus on increasing racism and call for a “purification” among American society. This disgusts me, how a group of people cannot see another human being as an equal all because of the difference in skin color. It’s just inhumane and I hope to see a change with this in the future. Discrimination, and prejudice, even happen with the youth of America in places like school. Insults and rude assumptions are made everyday in some school or another leaving the kids hurt and isolated. I’m one that can relate. I’ve had racist comments that have been pushed too far. I know how it feels and I want to live in an America where no other kid has to go through pain like that. A joke that went overboard and brings tears rather than laughs. Taking a look on our recent history there has been a connection between the ugliness of discrimination and police brutality ,being used as one cause for the riots in Ferguson, Missouri that started back in August of 2014. For those who don’t know, these riots took place after the shooting of an 18 year old African American male named Michael Brown. He robbed a store of these short and narrow cigars called cigarillos. White police officer named Darren Wilson gets word of this and blocks them with his police car, they get into an altercation, Brown fled and Wilson goes on pursuit. Brown stops and turns to the officer and Wilson fires several times, killing him. Protesters in Ferguson argue that it’s an act of discrimination in the “pattern or practice of unlawful conduct.” Whether this is true or not, some very violent protests in Ferguson continue to increase racial tension and violence and continue to tear citizens apart. My vision is the opposite. To see the people together as a great nation, regardless of race, religion and belief. I want the American people to learn to love their neighbors as easily as they have learned to hate. It should be talked about in schools all throughout the nation. Awareness of the racism in the world still going on today should spread. Limit its influence on the internet. Maybe then, will the pain and suffering begin to stop. Maybe then, people can finally be treated as equals throughout the nation. My dad once told me to be careful in this world, because there are people out there who will say and/or do hurtful things to you all because of the color of your skin. Me, being 8 years old at the time, didn’t really know what he meant, but I realized in my early teens what he meant. I fear that racism will never leave. That it will stay with us forever, causing problems for the years to come, but a young man can dream can’t he? The hate that I have seen in my life, I get it now and in the America I want to grow old in, children won’t have to hear those same words that my dad had told me. In the America I want to grow old in, discrimination, racism, and prejudice will no longer shape our lifestyle and instead shall be replaced with love, peace, forgiveness, and understanding for all. Thank you.


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