Black in America

Paper Summary:

The author's personal experiences have been interwoven with the social and political realities of the United States and, more specifically, the Los Angeles area. As a black man, the impact of institutional racism, prejudice and bigotry, experienced by the author personally or by others he has read about, has played a profound role in his belief system. By examining the author's personal response to events, as well as literature on the subject, the paper examines how he fits into society and how he can best contribute to it. The paper looks at the influence of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots on the author.

From the Paper:

"When I saw the Watts riot on television as a young boy, King's words came back to me. I could not understand at that age how people could destroy their own neighborhood. I grew up in the industrial small city of Wilmington, California which had a very strong sense of community and pride in its history. As a young man I came to understand the concept of institutional racism which helped explain how racial discrimination can be continued in a society which fundamentally claims to reject racism. I understood how living with poverty, crime and drugs as a result of racism can lead to the kind of frustration that explodes."

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