Monday, 30 September 2013 11:24 By Guadalupe Jimenez, Truthout | Essay
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I disagree with this quote in part, because if the previous generations had actually overcome the hardships they had faced because of race, there would not be hardships anymore.  While I agree that the hardships today pale in comparison, they are still hardships and they are still going to happen for the same reason no matter the time that has passed: your race still matters. Human hardships have not been overcome by generations. They have been endured in different ways, but are still present and have not yet been overcome.

White people with a criminal record are more likely to be called back after an interview than black people with a criminal record. According to the American Journal of Sociology, in the graph “Racial Impact of a Criminal Record on Interview Callbacks, 2003” it shows 5% of Blacks with a criminal record will be called back vs. the 17% of whites with a criminal record being called back. Criminals are not judged by the greatness of their crime.  Most of the time they are judged by the color of their skin to determine if they get called back or not.

According to Michael Eric Dyson, people are still enduring hardships like working for hours non-stop and are still forced to stay in the poor class rank. In the article American Cultural Ideals: Individualism it states “there are the problems of the working poor: folks who rise up early everyday and often work more than forty hours a week, and yet, barely, if ever, make it above the poverty level. We must acknowledge the right of both poor black (single) mothers and poor black fathers, and the lack of social support they confront.” The people that work the most to get a better life standard are the people who are in the poorest class, people of non-white skin color.

This debate matters to me because people of color have been enduring life, fighting to stop being the poorest class, and have gotten no result. If people of colored race had truly overcome those hardships in previous generations, then why is there still oppression between races? Why is there still brutality and neither justice nor fair treatment for all? Why aren’t races equal? No hardships have been truly overcome. They might have been hidden and changed in name, but they are still there and are still being endured by all generations. People should get what they work for no matter their skin color or race, as long as they have worked for it with the same opportunities as all other races. 

This article is a Truthout original.

Guadalupe Jimenez

Guadalupe Jimenez is a high school senior. She lives in San Francisco, CA with her parents and siblings.

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