Integration:Separation

The U.S is known for being an integrated country, and "because their government is just and as there is nothing to render them wretched, there is nothing to engender riots and tumults." (Rights of Man, Paine) This quote was made prior to the civil war, and so this defines England's perspective in particular of the United States. Have we ever met those standards that Thomas Paine held to us? I think not. Although we are integrated racism still exists. Would it have been better to be separated instead of segregated? Maybe we would've saved the feelings of a lot of people, but it would have been a lot harder to make the transition to integration if we were separated to start with. Racism can't be stopped in society, because it is taken into account with everything we do with others. Stereotypes advertised all throughout media, are taken seriously even by professionals. Chicago is a more racist city than we know. Beatings and violence over domestic disputes can be considered acts of racism when we look at it. One can see it as being at the wrong place at the wrong time but the majority will tend to look at the situation oh a gang of (so & so race) beat up a couple kids of (so & so race) in the North or the South side. As long as their are two different races there will be people who see it as a racial dispute and wrongful act of violence.

Integration is a decision for most people. I believe that the people who fear integration should move to their homeland and be ignorant there. If they have the nerve to go to America and complain about integration its just sad because America isn't 'theirs'. That is why racism is so frowned upon. America has always been seen as the well diverse country that doesn't care about color or religion. Yet there are still people here that enforce that there should be separation. Which just outright disgusts me.

Malcolm X

"I believe one should forgive the person or persons who have committed atrocities against oneself and mankind. But this does no necessarily mean one should forget about the atrocities committed." (The Dalai Lama)

I don't think I'm in any position to speak about racism in general for others, because I have never gone through it. I can say however that it does exist still today, although it's light. Racism is still there, amongst our friends, family, and complete strangers. Can we really help it? Can we stop it? I don't know the solution to that but Malcolm X did a phenomenal job in showing the wrongdoings him and his brethren had faced due to it. 

The first 12 chapters of his autobiography leading to him being imprisoned was depressing. How his father was murdered, family separated, and the life he was forced to lead because of it. Personally I wouldn't know what to do when faced with racism. I'd probably feel anger. But there would be this question in my mind, constantly, "why?".

Malcolm X is more than justified for his actions through everything he's been through. Throughout the reading, it was just frustrating how the people would be so immoral to oppress him and his people. He has the right to call his enemy the devil, he has the right to use violence but instead doesn't. His attempts at resolving these conflicts were intelligent, rallying people to his side with ethos, logos and pathos.