50 years of Stagnation

2016 has been a wake up call to many americans. For many americans the idea of racism has been seen as more of a historical blemish in american history. For the past couple years the idea of a racist america has been becoming a reality. 2016 has only solidified my suspicions of a racist america. Now let me be clear. I am a large african american male whose size alone is enough to scare some people. I have plenty of personal stories of being racial profiled. I have even been called the N word in multiple occasions in many points of my life. I knew that america was racist for a long time but what is going on now is troubling and scary. My grandpa used to tell me stories of the civil rights movement. He used to tell me how he was afraid to go to certain college when he played football because he knew that they were racist and he would be discriminated. When I heard that story I was overwhelmed with grief because it seemed like during that time life was horrible for african americans. I am also relieved because after 50 years we do not have to deal with a problem like that... or do we? I worry about picking the wrong college and goind to a racist school where I will be profiled and being discriminated against. Recently a football player from the University of Nebraska was faced with racial discrimination by students from the same university. The students said that he should be hung before a game. He was also told by his fans that he is a clueless, confused n*gger. What did he do to make them say that to him you may ask. He decided to exercise his 1st amendment right by kneeling during the national anthem. That is it. In the novel Citizen by Claudia Rankine many social issues such as racism is discussed in the book. At the end of section 7 of the novel she says that "because white men can't police their imagination black men are dying". I think that is one of the main reasons why there is still racism in america. The fact that americans ( not just white people) falsely believe that racism has been erradicated is a key factor that racism still exist. If americans can stop living in their fantasy world where everything is perfect because america is perfect then we can attack and resolve these social issues such as racism. This goes way beyond racism though because I believe that if americans educated themselves more and were more honest with themselves then we can resolve gender inequality, islamic phobia, and many more social issues plaquing america today. If we do not try to resolve these issues then we are due to have another 50 years of stagnation which would be really sad and detrimental to our motto of freedom and equal rights for all.