A Black Article, Again

The African Americans’ history in the United States can be examined in three separate parts:

1. From the seventeenth century to 1865. In this period, the people torn away from Africa lived as slaves on American soil.

2. 1865 to 1965. In 1861, the American Civil War began. It ended in 1865. One of the primary reasons for the war was the institution of slavery. The South was continued to practice slavery, and the North wanted to end it. They fought it out, and the Northerners, who were against slavery, won. Therefore, slavery was abolished in 1865. They did abolish it, but it was not easy for the white society to all of a sudden accept the people who had been their slaves the day before. Again, a difficult era. This time, there was a period of time in American history where the philosophy was “separate but equal.” Schools, buses, street fountains, restaurants, movie theaters — everything was separate. There were signs on the doors that said “Whites Only” or “Blacks Only.”

3. 1965 to the present. At this date, the Civil Rights Act was passed, therefore changing the “separate but equal” status. At least in appearance, unity and collectivity was established. But did that happen in reality? When I try to think of a word to describe this period that we are still currently in, the word “uprising” comes to mind. The uprising of the African-Americans. A kind of “black intifada.” An intifada does not necessarily need to be with arms. (Although that has also happened.) After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, there were many rebellions in American cities. Looting, burning, murder, seizure, plunder and whatever else you can think of. After these rebellions, cities slowly began segregating between whites and African-Americans on their own.

Even if this rebellion is in the form of armed street gangs in some cities, it is much more prominent in other forms. For example, there is a fashion trend among young African-American men: “Low pants fashion.” African-American youth will walk around wearing extremely loose pants that are a few sizes too big for them, letting them fall low, so much so that you can even see their undergarments. You could not believe that pants could be worn so low! It is a terrible sight. This fashion was born in jails. The convicts are not given belts and the uniforms are standard sized, and they are large, so they are too big for most convicts. The young men outside use this loose and low style as a kind of protest, as if to state, “We are one of them, too; we are dangerous, too!” A kind of jail culture. When Obama was elected, some observers had said, “Let’s see, perhaps a well-dressed African-American can serve as an example and maybe the African-American youth can get their undergarments in order.” They have not yet!