Monday, January 4, 2010

Are African Americans getting any real benefits of the civil rights movement?

As a California native, I have noticed something scary. My parents were immigrants and they had to work hard to get citizenship in America. However, I wonder that since they were African descent immigrants did they not get any additional help and opportunities in comparison to other immigrants. My main point is that the civil rights movement was about social equality for all people. Yet, the African Americans that were the main fighters for this social equality to me are not benfiting as much from these social, economic and political gains? Individuals that immigrant from countries of African Descent do not get the same assistance.At the end of the day, we are all people of the human race, I am not being divisive about the general struggle for freedom and human rights, however, I do think that many social programs and opporunities are spefically geared towards immigrants of non african descent and other U.S. minorities. I do not have a problems with offering the same programs to all people in order to be fair and just, but I do not like that after 400 hundred years, people of African descent still get the short hand of the stick when it comes to recruitment and obtaining resources for advancements on all levels of society. This is why I am a strong believer in still supporting black networks, we still need each other's support. The influx of latinos had added wonderful diversity, I love the diverse cultures, however, we must also still stay critical in this new "non race" society.so that those of African descent do not become silently left behind. Many will want us to believe that structural racism is not here anymore, this is a very dangferous belief. For example, schools systems cater to non english speakers, however, you can speak english and still be functionally not literate ......we need to make sure African American children are not left behind as well. This is just one example how minorities can be selected from a group of other minorities to have more " directed" benefits than others. I hope in a couple decades, the gap between blacks and Latinos will not be similar to those than whites. I can also use the University of California schools as another example where other minorities dominate and blacks are left our the picture, these other minorities are indeed benefiting from the civil rights movement, policies and opportunities but we must make sure that all blacks have the same opporunities when it comes to obtaining the same helpful resources...keep our eyes open. Most of all, I am no writing this blog as a way to say blacks need a handout and we are waiting to get things without working for it. I just see that we must stay vigilant about making sure that we are also eating the fruits that African Americans died for years ago as well....As black history month approaches, it becomes vital that whites and non black minorities truly respect the sacrifices that many African Americans have made for civil rights, human rights and social progress.....Black History month in America should really be called American Civil Rights month and African Americans played a huge role in that fight in which many others are benefiting from today in America...