Equal But Different Essay, Research Paper

For centuries blacks have suffered discrimination from the white society. They were thought to be uncivilized because of their dark skin color. Today, discrimination against skin color no longer exists legally in the United States. Public schools and workplaces are mixed with a variety colors and races from different countries. Though, it may seem that skin color doesn?t matter in society, the majority of society only make close friends or marry someone from their own race. Most of these feelings towards another of a different skin color are deeply rooted in our minds from previous generations. Their mentality prevents them from behaving the same. Difference in behavior from a multicolored society is evident in schools, in society, and in television.

Most teenagers only hang around people from their own race. There is evidence of this in the school cafeteria. The cafeteria is split up in two parts. On one side, black teenagers eat with their same-colored friends. On the other side, whites and latinos sit separately in their own tables. Someone might say, ?Well, that group sits apart from the other because they don?t speak the same language as the other group?. You mean to tell me that no black or latino can speak English. If skin color doesn?t matter then why doesn?t everyone sit together at lunch?

When everyone is growing up they imagine themselves getting married to someone perfect with their skin-color. With a few exceptions, the majority of the population marries someone with the same skin-color as them. When was the last time you saw an interracial couple with different colored children. When a couple wants to adopt a child, they usually choose to have a same-colored child as them. It doesn?t matter if the couple is black or white, they feel the same. They might say that another child might bring social problems and rumors. If color discrimination doesn?t exist then why should anyone care about what color your children are.

Television and movies bring the notion that everyone is different. Black and white families from sitcoms help strengthen the idea of separate black and white society. The show ?Friends? is about a group of white friends who live and run around all of New York City and don?t run into a single black person, kind of expressing that they live in a perfect New York. ?The PJ?s? (the projects) is a computer animated comedy which takes place in the slums of Chicago in which a destitute group of black persons strive to live in a worn down building under poor conditions. This gives out the image that all black people live in poverty. The movie ?Belly?, which takes places in New York, has a cast of black hip hop artists in which they will do everything and anything to get money. They sell drugs, rob clubs, and murder ?niggas? just be happy. The use of the word ?nigga? and the violence make the black community look like violent persons that don?t even have any respect for themselves.

Society might believe that racism ended years ago. Though racism may hardly exist now, most blacks and whites don?t interact with each other because of how they grew up. Their parents weren?t ever good friends with other races so the children behave the same. Everyone says that everyone is created equal and I?m not saying this isn?t true. What I?m saying is everyone is different. This is true because of how society behaves, and because television helps strengthen these ideas of difference.