Racism Past and Presnt

Racism Past and Present

This country has come a long way since the slavery was abolished, but most black men would surely tell you that racial profiling, in all its many, insidious forms, remains a frustrating, demoralizing and all-too-common experience (Lee-St John). This statement reflects the smaller than before, but yet growing problem of racism. “Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities” (Webster). Basically there are still people in today’s world that feel that things are still the way they were when Mark Twain was around. Today the problems of slavery and racism exist in multiple ways, as well as the way they were existent in the late 1800’s when the legendary Huckleberry Finn ran the earth. We can see examples of racism and slavery through Jim throughout the novel; sweat shops in foreign countries; and the everyday prejudices of 21st century society.

Throughout the novel Huck has an inner-conscience constantly arguing with him about which choice he should make and which would be the politically correct choice (Twain). Jim was a slave in the novel, and the reader can find throughout reading that the life of a slave is very horrible and inhumane. Twain portrays the lack of education for slaves as well as the dialect of southern society very well in this novel. For example when Jim says “I come heah de night arter you’s killed” (Twain 31). This was said just following Jims escape from the plantation because he was going to be framed for whatever happened to Huck due to his place in society. The only difference between what has happened then and what happens today is the fact that the people of southern society in the late 1800 had accepted slavery and racism as nothing. Within the novel, Huck and Jim broke boundaries that had never even thought to be addressed before in that society, they spoke with each other like friends, Jim even acted as an elder to Huck in some occasions (Twain). People abused the fact that just because someone had different skin tones then them, that they should be treated as a lesser individual, or as a human of lesser value. This is the wrong way to live, and sadly it still occurs in today’s society.

The clothing business is a million dollar per year industry, right? Where all of these clothes being made? The answer lies at the hands of young females in third world countries such as Vietnam working in sweat-shops. Sweat-shops are virtually slavery, without the plantations. The reason these people are doing this is because of how cheap they are, in comparison to Twains time of 1835 to 1910 he was surrounded by slavery and detested it, as seen in his writings (Lorenz). The best way to describe is practically “China pays low wages and has weak environmental standards. Its practices keep the very poor. That isn't progress; it's modern-day slavery” (Schцnthaler). Companies in modern day society look for the cheapest way out of getting things done, even if it results in hiring the poorest of races and countries to work for low wages.

Today racism is shunned upon as an act of cruelty and flat out inhumanity. One college professor actually held an experiment to show how much the race of a person affects their choice of action when a problem arises. The results showed that a white person was less likely to help a black person in certain times of need (anywhere from dropped groceries, etc.) (McElwain). Racism is alive in all aspects of today’s world, ranging anywhere from cars, clothing, housing developments, etc. All material things can be associated to one specific race or a broad variety of races. Where is all this racism coming from? Some might say that it’s being passed down through generations of family and