Apartheid Will Never Truly End

Throughout the years of history, people have been upbraided according to their race, color and ethnicity. The all white regime commenced imposing subsisting policies of segregation and racism under a system of legislation which were amongst the many controversies that led into the civil war. During Jim Crow era, there was laws that disunited whites and African Americans and the book, “in search of respect” by Philippe Bourgois states apartheid has been violated in the United States and still subsists in today’s world. This paper examines: the difference in apartheid between the evidence Bourgois provides and what occurred during Jim Crow, Philippe Bourgois access to the drug dealers and how segregation is still occurring in our community.

First and foremost, the difference in apartheid between the evidence that Philippe Bourgois provided and Jim Crow were racism, inequalities of the social culture, poverty and the torture of growing up poor by examining the lives and struggles of inner-city crack dealers. Phillips white skin and accent gave him difficulties to become a component of the community and people avoided him because a white man in the neighborhood was either an undercover cop or drug addict. The only licit jobs in El Barrio are low paying jobs because of the low economy; leading them to illegal activities, crime and violence. Jim Crow’s period was about power, the potency of one race over another. African American and White people were separated from one another with no equal rights allowing white people to feel more superior to the black people. Jim Crow Laws were based on segregation of transportation, public schools, renting apartments, and even seating areas in public places. Bourgois himself lived in a neighborhood with people of different race; whereas Jim Crow era there was a separation between race. In addition to the difference of evidence provided by Bourgois and Jim Crow, Bourgois was able to get access to drug dealers in East Harlem by gaining the respect and friendship from them. A few topics he raised upon racism and the culture of terror are: a patrolman asking why he was living in this neighborhood and to move into a mixed ethnicity, the time he was mugged at 2:00am but his Costa Rican wife was never mugged, two men yoking a girl and twenty cops came stomping them; instead of pushing them aside, it was more pleasuring for them. Ceasar who is a character in the story was more explicit about racism stating he’s a Klu Klux Klan and wanting to kill black people because a black man killed his sister. These incidents Bourgois stated were compelling and was able to access drug dealers in East Harlem.

Lastly, Apartheid is still happening in our community. We live in a world of freedom with a president himself being a racist. Donald Trump not only wanted to build a wall towards Mexicans and ban Muslims to enter the United States, but recently said, “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here”, referencing to African American countries and Haiti. He suggested that the United States should bring more people from countries like Norway. People knew who they were electing for president and knowing he won after hearing his racist remarks shows there are many people in this world who are racist. Another incident was about a man named Todd Shaw, a veteran law enforcement officer sending a racist message on Facebook. Shaw said, “it’s okay to shoot teenagers caught smoking marijuana if they were black” and another message saying, “public housing projects should be leveled and that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a racist womanizer but because someone shot him, I get a day off with pay each year so I will take it”. This is all happening today, a world we live in based on segregation and racism that will never end no matter how much we preach. Overall, Apartheid is still happening in the United States with every race and as sad as it may seem white people saw black people as nothing more than an inferior race that was not worthy of sharing the same country as them. The era of Jim Crow showed this and Bourgois addressed racism and inequalities in sociable culture revealing that apartheid is current. People are not being protected by the fourteenth amendment, equality will never exist, and racism will never die. History has taught us the actions of others and what they can do; we are still fighting to end this war.