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Slavery and Its Impact to African Americans Today Essay

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Slavery and Its impact to African Americans Today
African American community have gone through the pain of slavery, and their souls are now
having the marks of these experience. The past slavery follows many of them especially the men,
who have found themselves strangled by this ghost as it is evident from the book All God’s children.
Many young black men have found themselves captives in prisons that have brought the inevitable
abuse. Mass incarceration of the African American has been brought about by the poverty levels,
discriminative laws against criminals which have subjected them to the same harsh conditions as
their forefathers who were slaves. Children are imprisoned together with the adults and women are
abused by the corrective officers in prison. This essay aims to bring fort the truth of metaphor that
the ghost of slavery continues to haunt the African American community even after many years from
slaver era.
The ghost of slavery has spread fear to the African American from the times of slavery and
has followed them to the current world making it difficult for them to live freely among American
citizens. In The New Jim Crow, cotton’s is denied his right to vote a fate shared by his great-
grandfather who could never vote as a slave. “His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku
Klux Klan for attempting to vote.” (Michelle, p.1) The right to vote is a basic right in a democratic
nation, yet the African Americans are denied to exercise this right. “Our forefather had no rights to
vote when they were in chain” (Wacquant & Loic, p.115) Jarvis’s has no right to vote as a criminal.
This is because the law has legalized discrimination. When one is labeled a felon, he cannot vote just
as it was during slavery. Many of the black Americans find themselves in Jarvis position as the trend
of slavery continues to haunt them.

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The swelling number of African Americans under the control of the criminal justice systems
in the current day in America where every person has equal rights is no different to that of enslaved
black men in the in the past centuries. The law has contributed to this situation of subjecting the
black Americans in denial of human rights. “Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against
criminals in nearly all the ways” (Wacquant & Loic, p.111). Many of the African American citizens
have found themselves labeled as a felon by the criminal justice system. This has subjected them
into conditions same as those of slavery. “ Once you are labeled a felon, the old forms of
discrimination employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote,
denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion
from jury service are suddenly legal.” (Michelle, p.2) These laws have encouraged discrimination
against criminals and mostly African Americans who are subjected to the law.
Additionally, the fact that a majority of the African Americans are underclass and lack quality
education is one of the major factors which have led to the imprisonment of many black men. The
schools in the ghettos offer low-quality education and majority of the students in these schools are
the blacks. Michelle asserts that “I understand the problem plaguing poor young community of
colour, including problems associated with crime and rising incarceration rates, to be a function of
poverty and lack of access to quality education-the continuing the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.”
Majority of the African American families are poor and lack equal opportunity for education. This
had led many young people to engage in crime as they have no opportunity for white collar jobs. The
criminal justice system in the United States does not provide for better rehabilitation of the inmates,
but it is another institution for discrimination of the people of minor colors. The author concerning
the criminal justice system asserts that “it was not just another institution infected with racial bias
but rather a different beast entirely.” (Michelle, p.4) .This brings forth the evidence that even the
expected institution to bring justice and equality. Failure of such institution deems the possibility of
the blacks wining true freedom.

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Surname 1 Slavery and Its impact to African Americans Today African American community have gone through the pain of slavery, and their souls are now having the marks of these experience. The past slavery follows many of them especially the men, who have found themselves strangled by this ghost as it is evident from the book All God’s children. Many young black men have found themselves captives in prisons that have brought the inevitable abuse. Mass incarceration of the African American has been brought about by the poverty levels, discriminative laws against criminals which have subjected them to the same harsh conditions as their forefathers who were slaves. Children are imprisoned together with the adults and women are abused by the corrective officers in prison. This essay aims to bring fort the truth of metaphor that the ghost of slavery continues to haunt the African American community even after many years from slaver era. The ghost of slavery has spread fear to the African American from the times of slavery and has followed them to the current world making it difficult for them to live freely among American citizens. In The New Jim Crow, cotton’s is denied his right to vote a fate shared by his greatgrandfather who could never vote as a slave. “His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku Klux Klan for attempting to vote.” (Michelle, p.1) The right to vote is a basic right in a democratic nation, yet the African Americans are denied to exercise this ...
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