Black in America

Did you know that 19.5% of African American males are unemployed? Did you know that 84.6% of African American men will commit death by homicide? Did you Did you know that 17% of African Americans in Indiana will not graduate high school and 58% of inmates in the U.S. jails are African Americans. This is shocking and you might ask yourself, “Why is this?” The following paragraphs might answer this question.
Black in America is a documentary about well, being black in America. Soledad O'Brien, from CNN, interviews many African Americans. All of the people she interviewed came from very different walks of life. Also while interviewing these people, O’Brien revealed shocking statistical facts about African Americans.
Some of the men she interviewed are ex cons that grew up in the “ghetto” and turned their lives around because they realized the effect it was having on their families and themselves. Also, she interviewed African Americans who grew up in the “ghetto” but didn’t want their families living like that so they got jobs and now they are working middle-class families, and African American men and women who grew up without father figures.
I gathered from this documentary that leading cause to African Americans doing drugs, participating in domestic violence, and going to jail is having an absence of a father figure. These young men do not have a role model, someone who they can look up to and follow after, so they become like their fathers. Doing what their fathers do is the only thing they know, so when these men have children, they will be like their fathers and this will carry on for generations unless someone breaks the mold and becomes a role model.
One of the most shocking, but empowering stories to me was about a comedian who lived in a very harsh area of L.A. He was a member of the ‘Blood Gang.’ He said the reason he joined this gang was because it made him feel safe. He didn’t feel safe for long. His cousin was in a gang too and the ‘Blood Gang’ murdered him. After his cousin was murdered he left the gang because he didn’t want to kill people and he didn’t feel safe anymore.
This comedian now has a son and he tells his son to respect the law-enforcement, but be careful what you say to them because what you say can and will be used against you, especially if you are an African American.
In today’s society you would think that people would be more accepting of different races, but in truth, they aren’t. Yes, there are some people who believe that everyone is entitled to equal rights, but there are some people who don’t. Think about it this way; it is like being a team. Like they say, “there is no ‘I’ in team.” “I” stands for individual and until that individual learns to be a teammate there will never be a team.
So, unless those people who can’t break out of there old ways, there will be no end to discrimination against African Americans and no start to helping them achieve better lives.