Race has always been both a prominent and controversial issue in (American) society. For decades, civil rights leaders have tried to convey the message that all people are created equal. However, in order to achieve equality as a society, we must first recognize and accept our diversity. In order to do so, we must first embrace our diversity, so that we can take a stand in what we believe in and actively pursue reform. We are all diverse, different in our own ways, but yet equal at the same time. Society fails to see that concept; hence racism has become part of our supposedly "great" nation. What has American society got to do to overcome the division created by slavery, that well justifies that blacks have to be included into society. It is not fair for blacks. It dates back to when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was trying to bring a change for blacks in America. .
Dr. King is a well-respected civil rights leader. He led nonviolent movement to desegregate the South (then America as a whole). Blacks don't get the same respect that whites have. Dr. King states in "Letter from the Birmingham Jail", " blacks should benefit from the same opportunities and respect that others receive." Indeed, I believe that people are created equal and we should all have the same opportunities as one another. Whites, who historically have held power, have unwilling to recognize the civil rights of others - especially African Americans, tend to classify themselves in their own group, as if blacks didn't exist. .
Cornell West states, " the presence and predicaments of black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life." What West is saying is that there is a need to redefine America as it is no longer a them (minorities) and an us (majority). Blacks are constitutive elements of life, because without them there would be no whole.
