Relevance of African American Topics to Other Races

What is the relevance of the African American struggle for readers who are not African American?


Racism is an attitude that one race or an individual shares with another race based on some attribute about them they dislike. America's history is entangled in the harsh, insensitive environment in which unfortunately blacks were the victims. Blacks according to history were slaves and were treated as such or harsher. This past is very influential in today's society and laws. The readings differ in opinions when it comes to discrimination or racism. The pieces from college students indicate that blacks should not be given extra privileges based on their color, but rather because of their hard work and dedication to education or on their class. The Stud Terkel piece is about a man who once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and his change of mind towards his attitude, racism. The last piece is a letter from Martin Luther King in the Birmingham jail and his expectations from the church and his explanations of the way black people are being treated by the whites. Also, Cornel West will make a slight input on the subject. Basically all of these pieces deal with black people issues with the status quo system and their history. Most of these discussions do not affect some races. I believe that most races might not sympathize with the black people because someone at some point controlled the whole world. Also, they might not share a lot of experiences with the blacks in this scenario. Therefore it is possible that other groups might feel a little uncomfortable when discussing the topic because they won't have a good input on the subject.