Race And Racism Essay Examples

There are several instances in the history of the United States in which certain groups of people have been discriminated against due to race. We see the first instance based on the text in relations to the Supreme Court Case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In this court case, the Supreme Court ruled that places could restrict persons from entering, as long as they were “separate, but equal”. This happened when Homer Plessy, knowingly sat in a “whites only” rail car in New Orleans, Louisiana. The justification is that if there is segregation, it is legal as well as the separate entities are equal. I do not find this justification ethical or legal and either did the Supreme Court once it was eventually overturned in Brown v. Board of Education. This is only one instance of the several thousand that segregated African Americans from Caucasians.
A second instance in which racism was a factor in restricting the freedom of a person comes from the article of Mummar Ali, a running back for the New Mexico State football team. In this article it states that the coach talked to Mummar, and two other Muslim students about the ties between Al-Queada and Islam. Mummar was eventually dropped from the team after a nationally recognized sophomore season, most likely due to his religion. Due to the coaches continual questioning of his religion, Mummar felt this was the only reason he was released from the team. (Rothschild, 2005) There is no justification to this action, especially at an institution of higher education. No formal reason was given to Mummar, or the media regarding his release from the team. I find that the lack of reasoning only strengthens the case of racism for Mummar, and the other players. While this restriction is small in the fact that it only restricted Mummar from playing a sport, it still had a strong impact on his life, and future.

Works Cited

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483(1954)
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
Rothschild, Matthew. "Muslim-American Star Running Back off Team at New Mexico State." The Progressive 18 Nov. 2005. Print.