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Anissa Lindsey
English Comp II
4/4/2016
K. Harrion Is racism still an issue in twenty-first century America?
In ‘Souls of Black Folk’ W.E.B. DuBois writes ‘The problem of the twentieth century is
the problem of the color line, the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and
Africa, in America and the islands of the sea’ (Du Bois, 1994). This statement was referring to
the idea that racism was the cause of social injustice. While this book was published in 1994, the
message it contains remains relevant today. Racism remains an issue in the twenty-first century,
as evidenced by the current portrayal of darker skinned victims of violence, current need for
Black Lives Matter Movement, and the presence of white supremacy. The purpose of this paper
is to explore the presence of racism in today’s society as it relates to the writings of W.E.B.
DuBois.
Considering the president of the United States is identified as an African American, it
may be hard for some to fathom the idea that racism still exists in today’s society. However, the
proof that racism still exists may lie in the portrayal of people of color who have been killed by
acts of violence. The stories of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Amadou Diallo
provide insight into the portrayal of darker skinned individuals as villains instead of victims
when treated unjustly. Oscar Grant, an unarmed 22 year old African American man, was shot
and killed by a police officer at an Oakland train station. Grant was described in a news article as
being ‘involved in the fight’ (Egelko, 2013). In reporting this event, the reporter made sure to
mention that the unarmed man who was killed was probably guilty of a crime before being killed
by the officer. When describing the events of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed
17 year old African American boy who was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch member
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while walking home, the events reportedly happened ‘after a ten day suspension from Krop
Senior High School’ stemming from ‘the discovery of drug residue in Martin’s book bag’ (CNN,
2016). The reported information regarding the suspension and offense were unrelated to the
current case and were reported to discredit the victim.
The negative portrayal of African American victims is not exclusive to the male gender.
Sandra Bland, a 28- year old African American woman, was found dead in her Texas jail cell
after being assaulted by a police officer following a traffic stop. While Bland was described by
family members as being ‘ecstatic’ about starting a new job in Texas, it is reported that Bland
answered yes on a jail intake form regarding if she had ever been depressed, felt depressed at the
time of intake, thought about killing herself in the last year, and ever attempted suicide (Sanchez,
2015). Releasing information regarding alleged responses to questions on intake forms at the
time of arrest that imply Bland had a mental illness was a tactic used to imply issues in Bland’s
medical history led to her suicide and not the actions of the officer who had brutalized her. This
portrayed Bland as a mentally unstable individual. The negative portrayal of African American
victims is also not exclusive to those born in the United States. Amadou Diallo, an unarmed 22
year old male immigrant from Guinea, was shot 41 times by four plain clothes officers. Diallo
was described as a ‘street peddler’ who ‘immigrated from Guinea in West Africa’ in order to
discredit him and make him appear to be an illegal immigrant without a real job. As shown from
the examples above, villainizing people of darker skinned races transcends the boundaries of
gender and geographic location of birth. These are only a few of the instances where people of
darker skin colors have been treated unjustly and instead of focusing on the injustice, the media
included information aimed to discredit the victims. In accordance with DuBois (1996), the color
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line remains a problem in today’s society as evidenced by the unlawful treatment of African
Americans and African immigrants, and the portrayal of those that are victims as villains.
The negative portrayal of darker skinned victims is only part of the reason movements
such as Black Lives Matter exist today. Black Lives Matter is a social movement aimed to
increase dialogue and visibility of state violence that has intentionally left Black people
powerless (Black Lives Matter, 2016). In order to fully understand the need for a Black Lives
Matter movement, one must first understand the roots of racism in the United States and the
effects racism continues to have on African Americans. Time Toast (2016) provides a brief
overview of the events that took place from legalizing slavery to making discrimination illegal in
the United States, a period lasting over 3 centuries. In 1641, Massachusetts was the first state to
