An Analysis of the Root of Racial Discrimination in the US Toda

【Abstract】In the U.S， Racial discrimination， especially for black people， can be found throughout the history and still exists so far. The root of it dates back to long ago. From intensive study， the passage identifies the roots of racial discrimination from the civil war. So in this passage， Ill from the Black Codes before and after the Civil War， white supremacist views， and remnant of the slavery in the south and KKK aspects to analyze the racial discrimination in the U.S today.

【Key words】Black Codes； white supremacist； racial discrimination； slaves； slave holders

【作者簡介】楊心怡，天津市西青區大學城天津師范大學。

For a long time， the US boasts itself as a free， democratic and ideal nation. Actually， the freedom and democracy are paradoxical. Racial discrimination is a deep-rooted social illness in the United States. On September， 21st， 2000， State Department acknowledged in his reports that though the law to combat racial discrimination has been enacted for decades the American society is still beset by it. In 1991， a black motorist named Rodney King was beaten by L. A. cops； in 1999， black migrant Diallo in L.A was shot to death by 4 white policemen. Actually similar incidents are reported frequently in the U.S. With a small amount of research， we can easily find the obvious phenomenon against black people has great relation to its historical roots. The passage simply analyzes its root from the south side of Civil War.

Throwing our minds back to the late 18th century， with the development of industrialization in the north， the demand for the raw material of cotton from the south increased sharply. The economy of south was a labor-intensive plantation agriculture. Thus， slave was both the capital and the labor force， a main characteristic of southern economy. In the typical plantation， the planter bought more slaves to meet its need for planting. Under the plantation slavery， black slaves were just the private property of planter. Their rights to life were at the mercy of their owners. To legally exploit the black slaves and carry out ethnicity， the slave codes was enacted in all southern states. It says black slaves were deprived of all personal liberties. They could neither contact with white people or freemen， nor could they hold a rally without the white at the present. Even if under the circumstance of self-defense， they didnt have the right to beat the white race. On the contrary， the owner could do fire banding， flogging， imprisonment on them and even put them to death whenever they wanted to. With regard to their statuses in law， a Chief Justice in U.S ever concluded， “there is no need for the black to entitle of being respected by the white race.” Because the laws of slave were integrated with the race， they were not only a social way of controlling saves behavior， but also formed the racial hierarchy in society gradually. In essence， these laws supported racial prejudice and racial discrimination， which shaped indispensable elements of slavery.

The slave codes negatively influences on slaves lives and their constructs of family structure. They were guilty of revolting and struggling for human rights. In this way， the economic expropriation， ethnic degeneration， racial stratification， a poor class and a subordinate nation were generated by the law. Slavery was not the cause of racism， but was the material base of the existence of racism. There is no doubt that the slavery encountered the revolt of both slaves and northerners. Under such situation， its necessary for slavery owners to defend for their ugly system. They explored all kinds of ways to beautify it. The defense of slavery existed a developing process. At first， they admitted the evils of the slavery， meanwhile， they said， “The south would be destroyed if the slavery was abolished， because there would be no one to grow cotton and the racial war would break out subsequently.” However， after 1820s， they turned the negative defense into positive offensive， which means instead to cover up the insidious slavery they chose to beautify it. There are two reasons： the slave-owning economy grew steadily； the slave movement has been consolidating since then. Some so-called “theorists”， politicians， and priests in the south fabricated racial superiority. The spokesman Calhoun of slave holders even put forward theory of human inequality publicly. He believed the black were born as good-for-nothing， inferior beings and incompetents， so they were relegated to the slaves naturally.

At the same time， there exists a widespread view of white supremacist， the planters customary tactics to consolidate their political rule. Infamous spokesman of slave holders Calhoun claimed in 1848， Now the two largest parts of society is not the rich or the poor， but the black and the white. Of these the former belonged to the upper class， and were respected as equal people… Joseph Brown ever said， “True nobility is not the aristocracy of wealth， but the color of the nobility.” The purpose for such propaganda was to blur the class discrimination， paralyze slaves awareness to revolt and strengthen the owners governance. On the eve of the civil war， the non-slave owner class feared the black was free. If so， they would lose the advantage in the social structure as they had used to be and the terrible situation competing with the black would appear. Therefore， they objected to abolish the slavery. For slave holders， they couldnt tolerate their personal property—black slaves， becoming equal people as they were. Unfortunately， the white culture and value has lasted until now.

We all know Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves during the civil war. But few of us know he was once dedicated to remove the black from the U.S. The essence of this program was to make use of the black developing and constructing the country， after that kicked them out. But the southern slave owners didnt accept Lincolns scheme of paid release slaves. Thus， the plan failed. Even if he enacted the Emancipation Proclamation， the motive was not as simple as to free slaves. To defeat the southerners and reunify the federal， Emancipation Proclamation appeared. After all， it was the product of northern bourgeoisie interests. Charlie Beard wrote that actually freeing slaves didnt realize rashly under the guidance of abstract policy， it just made its way on the condition that it had no ability of conquering the south. The proclamation possessed many limitations for its impure motive. For black slaves， though their personal freedom was declared， it said nothing about the distribution of land， equal political and citizen rights. To some extent， all practices showed the racial discrimination to black slaves.

During the civil war， the south was defeated. However， the lost paradise—plantation slavery still haunted them. They got their wish helped by Johnson. The reconstruction program was put into effect in most states of the south， which indicated that the southern reactionaries staged a comeback. For example， on the Constitutional Convention of a state， the governor declared in his inauguration address “this is a government established for the white people， the highest court in the United States has decided： the black people were not American citizens under the federal constitution.” Shortly， the planter reactionaries restored under the shield of Johnson. During 1865-1866， Southern states adopted discriminatory laws like the Black Codes confirmed that they were eager to make the black people relegated to the past contemptible position of slave again. No wonder， the belief about slavery praised for several decades was hardly to be eradicated in just months. Three fourths white people thought the black wouldnt work if they were not forced to do. In the working place， the black were still slaves. Those who had contracted with their employers were servants， while the other sides were masters. The employment relationship worsened the situation of the black people， because the slave holders not only cared about exploiting the maximum profits from slaves， but also considered their personal properties-black laborers. Now， the black changed their employers annually， every owner just consider to squeeze employees blood desperately without limitation during the contract period. For the land， share-cropping system was prevalent. The black farmers needed to hand in most of their crops and owed large amounts of money. In essence， share-cropping system was the remnant of the slavery. Its no denying that the content of the Black Codes was full of racial discrimination.

From the southern reactionaries point of view， just relying on Black Codes was not enough， accompanying by terror and violence was necessary. Then， Ku Klux Klan moved to the historic stage. It advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy and white nationalism. Klan members used violence to settle old personal feuds and local grudges， as they worked to restore general white dominance in the disrupted postwar society. They opposed against colored people， especially the black. They burned houses， and attacked and killed black people， leaving their bodies on the roads. For these terrorist incidents， the Johnson government remained in silence， which nourished the KKKs atrocities. Today， KKK still exists as a product of racial discrimination.

With such deep historical roots， racial discrimination on education， occupation， housing， healthcare in the U.S today can be easily understood.

References：

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