Equality. Peace. Love.

This week, I continued reading The Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Dave Eggers. The story I read is called Ghost Children by D. Winston Brown.
This is basically a story about how racism and inequality plagues America, causing acts of violence, and forming gangs. Brown says that the reason there is gang violence and revenge (mostly by young men) is because the groups of people that have been persecuted over the years revert to this method to become 'men', or to prove themselves. Since inequality has clung to the base of the US since our country started, the African-Americans and other groups have been falling father and farther behind in the economy and the social system because of America's ridiculous laws and state of mind. So what can one do to help these people get up to speed with the job market and the housing market and the economy after years and years of denying them these basic rights? Not much. It's like starving a fish then throwing it into a bowl of sharks and saying "You'll be fine…Just try to be like a shark, and you'll be ok." It doesn't work that way. You can't expect a persecuted group of people to rebound like that, especially into a world that has treated them incredibly poorly.
As you can imagine, African-American men were (and are) trying to show how intelligent and innovative they are, taking higher level occupations in government and industries, spreading their ideas for the good of the country- and several succeeded. (just look at Barack Obama. Go Obama!!) But what about the future of our country: those angst-y teenagers from New York suburb (for example)? - of all races? Are they looking to be a senator and change Washington, or are they concentrating on getting revenge on that guy that stole their iPod? Probably the second, a normal teenage instinct. The racist US, years ago (and some today), gave the white racial group and unbelievably unfair advantage in society, and to make up for all the years of restricted rights, the African-Americans need a little more help than an iPod to get equal jobs amounts, and equal posts in government. Since they may not have the resources to become a senator, these young men (of all races) strive to become men in other ways: clothes, jewelry, and violence. Racial violence. It is ever-present and quite frankly, I'm sick of it. If only I could go back in time to delete slavery and persecution of people of different nationalities from the history of mankind. Then these groups would have a fighting chance, the chance everybody deserves in today's unkind world. That's the root of the problem, and its going to be hard to fix. Yes, we've come a long way, but there's still a lot of ignorant, stupid people out there, hating because of a difference. Just a difference. That’s all its takes, and that difference isn't going to change: It's up to us to change. Equality. Peace. Love. Come on people. They’re simple concepts.