Discrimination And The Right To Vote In America

As time has gone on, America has grown when it comes to civil rights among its citizens. In the 20th century minority groups were treated like an inferior race when it came to basically everything. It baffles me that African Americans had to take a test to vote. I believe that was put in place to discourage African Americans from registering to vote. Now in the 21st century all minorities have the same rights as Anglo Americans. I think we have come a far way from the stories that were shared on the video, but we still do not live in a perfect nation. When it comes to the issues that African Americans faced back then, I would say we have overcome these political issues.

I do believe America has a long way to go before we fully become a nation with one hundred percent equality, but we did take a few steps in the right direction. The fact that we as a country elected an African American president is something that would have never happened in the past fifty years is proof of how much we have evolved over time. I do believe that now we have a pretty equal voice among minorities and whites in office. According to Pew Research Center, “In 1981, 6% of members of Congress were a minority, while the national population was about 20% nonwhite”. As time has gone on the rate of minority seats in congress has grown. “Almost one-in-five voting members of the House and Senate are a racial or ethnic minority, making the 115th U. S. Congress the most diverse in history. ” So yes, we have overcome the hurdle of having minorities in office and voting.

Now our focus should be placed on overcoming individual racism. I think in the public’s eye we like to believe that there isn’t racism anymore when racism just isn’t acted on like it was in the past. With that being said, I do believe when a minority is in a place of power, like the president, they are judge harsher than whites in power and I believe that it would be the same outcome if a woman had taken office as well. I think it is something that will take many years to move past. Civil rights, equality and the right to vote went hand and hand in the 20th century. Civil rights are the set of rights for citizens that have to do with political freedom. One of these rights would be the right to vote. Equality would fall into the same category because everyone should have the same opportunity to vote. In the past white Americans did everything in their power to take away these rights. This was done by taking away equal rights for blacks. They made it harder to vote by having blacks take a test or by doing other things. For example, Mrs. Whitney was labeled as a communist which affect her job at the high school she worked for. White Americans did everything in their power to limit African Americans from mixing with Anglo Americans. During the time Mr. Dahmer was alive his words made sense. The right to vote was an African Americans only hope of being able to have their opinion be heard. When Mr. Dahmer said, “If you don’t vote you don’t count in this world”, it made me realize how much blacks depended on their rights that were not honored.

In my opinion, I feel the right to vote is taken for granted by a lot of races in this generation. Nowadays voting is a choice that we all have the option to do or not do and I don’t think the importance of voting is taught to the youth as much as it was in the past. As of right now I am not a registered voter and that is mostly because I have never taken the time to follow presidential candidates or local political people. I do not fully agree with Mr. Dahmer. Nowadays there are many ways to voice your opinion without the fear of being silenced by the Ku Klux Klan. I do understand why Mr. Dahmer would feel that way especially considering the things he went through before his final words. In a way the stories from the film still apply to our world now.

I do believe if you want to make a change in our society then you must start with yourself and voting for what you believe in is a part of that. It is hard to really identify with the people in this film even though I am an African American, my life is very different from theirs. It is almost as if we live in two different Americas. Angie burkes from the film is the only person to make it a point to say that it is important to remember the past but equally important not to dwell on it. I think that was one of the most important points in the film.