Malcolm X said, In the mid-1960s, 'If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that it will not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasn't even begun to pull out the knife.' to this day, Malcolm X's words are just as overwhelming as they were during the Civil Rights Era. The continuous problem that American society recognizes but refuses to acknowledge is that us black people have and continue to be excluded from the so-called white American humanity. Some Americans could argue that the 13th amendment, 3/5th compromise, and electoral college left an encouraging impression on the racial fabric of American society.
Citizenship is viewed as an achievement, the most important stage of civilization. While race on the other hand is an uncontrollable condition. Race serves as a determining factor of citizenship as well as treatment. The relationship between race and citizenship has been shown for centuries now through barriers, power, and privilege. Many fail to realize that the first battle of the Civil War happened long before the American Revolution. This battle was fairly different compared to other battles. Rather then fighting with weapons politicians attacked with their words. The 3/5's Compromise is said to have started the North verses South conflict. The Three-Fifths Compromise greatly changed the dynamic of the representation and political power of slave-owning states. The Southern states, if represented equally, would have accounted for 33 of the seats in the House of Representatives. However, because of the Three-Fifths Compromise, the Southern states accounted for 47 seats in the House of Representatives of the first United States Congress of 1790 (Law Library). This would allow for the South to garner enough power at the political level, giving them control in Presidential elections.
However, as time moved forward, the Three-Fifths Compromise would not provide the advantage for which the Southern states and slave-owners had hoped. The Northern states grew more rapidly in terms of population than the South. Even though Southern states had essentially dominated all political platforms prior to the Civil War. This is critical because the three great compromises in our history of the United States were critical to the success of the Constitution. The 3/5 Compromise, the Connecticut Compromise, and the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise demonstrated that the Founding Fathers could reach a middle ground.
Many people argue that the College is an outdated system. After all, many things have changed in the last two centuries. For one, technology is much more advanced now than it was two hundred years ago. With the internet and television, we can now learn everything about a candidate regardless of where the come from in the nation.
Well organized and politically active groups have much more power when very few people are actually turning out to vote (National Archives). It seems that the direct election of the president would increase voter turnout and participation because voters would have no doubt that their vote would be equal to every other and would always be counted (National Archives).
One of the problems of the Electoral College system is that it allows one-party states, states that almost always go to one party or the other. A Democrat who casts a vote in a largely Republican state will feel that his vote is wasted, because there is no way that the state will go to the Democrats. This is a self-perpetuating problem in that because people perceive their votes for one party will not matter they choose not to vote, strengthening the hold of a party on a state. Allowing the direct election of the president will insure that everyone’s vote counts, even if you are voting differently from a majority of your state (National Archives). The more common and strongest argument against the Electoral College is the event of a minority president
Furthermore, In Ava Duverney's documentary, 13th, the use of storytelling is used to accent the reality that the legacies of the 13th amendment and slavery are still very visible in black communities. The storytelling in the documentary is didactic in form, and this didacticism is ultimately used to expose the reality that the further America runs from truth the sooner it finds her. In both content and form, this documentary sought to educate, inspire, confront, challenge, and expose the legacies of the 13th amendment in hopes that white American society will begin to humanize herself.
Segregation is still ingrained into society. Since slavery was first abolished, African Americans have still been discriminated against. They have been systematically kept at the bottom. We live in a society where poor people have historically been easier to manipulate and keep uneducated. Unfortunately, in this country, a lot of African Americans are living below the poverty level. African Americans have, and still face a hard road.
Segregation the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart. The struggle of segregation was eliminated within all schools in Arizona except one Carver High School. Which then sparked my curiosity as to why. I will be focusing on the case Phillips vs. Phoenix Union High Schools and Junior College District. The Phillips case was filed by Hayzel B. Daniels. Who was the first African-American to pass the Arizona bar examination. As well as one of the first two African-Americans elected to the Arizona legislature (Brad Danler). Due to the significance of this case as well as the circumstances it brought high interest to me. Hazels implications are similar to mine in which I am an African American with hopes to take the bar exam in Arizona, and make a significant change.
