Benjamin Charles Massey

AP Language & Composition

Synthesis Project
1/25/15
Fast Facts:
1. African-Americans comprise 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of the monthly drug users,
but 37% of the people arrested for drug-related offenses in America.
2. Studies show that police are more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In
New York City, 80% of the stops made were blacks and Latinos, and 85% of those people were
frisked, compared to a mere 8% of the white people stopped. Host a poetry slam to educate
others on racism and reduce prejudice in your community.
3. After being arrested, African-Americans are 33% more likely than whites to be detained while
facing a felony trial in New York.
4. In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer
sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes.
5. In 2009 African-Americans are 21% more likely than whites to receive mandatory minimum
sentences and 20% more likely to be sentenced to prison than white drug defendants.
6. In a 2009 report, 2/3 of the criminals receiving life sentences were non-whites. In New York, it
is 83%.
7. African Americans make up 57% of the people in state prisons for drug offenses.
8. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001
had a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 17% chance, and a
white male only 6%.
9. In 2012, 51% of Americans expressed anti-black sentiments in a poll; a 3% increase from
2008.
We cannot speak about racism under the same light our great grandparents spoke about it.
Roughly two hundred years ago, racism and discrimination was present in American society and

in such awful fashions. During the peak of 1951, the most basic dreams of African Americans
were deferred. Segregation was mandatory and discrimination was legal everywhere in America,
explains author Robert Kuttner. Black people were not just separated but isolated, marginalized,
restricted to the worst jobs and most dilapidated neighborhoods, the most dismal schools.
Racism burdened over our country like a soaring plane. It destroyed hopes and dreams of
millions of people across the nation. The deferred dreams of that era seldom produced hope, that
is, the hope for equality. White supremacy was so common in America to the extent that it was
nearly impossible to succeed with the wrong skin color.
It is a testament to sheer grit, tenacity and courage that large numbers of blacks managed
to get educations, raise families, start businesses, enter professions and demand inclusion in civic
life at all. As a nation, we have made great strides in this matter. It should be obvious by our
current two time-elected black president that racism is slowly becoming less of a problem on a
national scale. While we may have progressed a tremendous amount as a nation--- racism is an
issue that is unfortunately still common in society today.
It is nearly impossible to suggest racism is an issue of the past. The tremendous
progression over the years has been quite miraculous but it is not enough to suggest that racism
has been completely abolished. In contemporary society, the average person is not born racist.
We are surrounded in society where black people are now CEOs of companies, highly respected
professionals, and moreover, the President of the greatest nation in the world is African
American. But it is not clear-cut racism that serves as a problem in places like Ferguson
Missouri. Stereotypes and prejudices beacon over our country in such terrible fashions. Blacks
are perceived by many people as less intelligent, socially inferior, and in the case of young black
males: more prone to crime and violence. Although politicians as well as people working in the

judicial system are reconsidering this, the fact of the matter is that because of the zero tolerance
policies that were started in the 80s many black young males were criminalized because of small
infractions of the law. For example, the perception of Trayvon Martin as a person who was
potentially up to no good was the alleged cause of Trayvon's death. Apparently, the simple act of
a young black male, wearing a hoodie, walking at night, is enough to make him look suspicious.
In a well thought out 2-3 page essay, develop a position whether you think if the
prejudices and discrimination of racism will ever completely be eradicated in American society.
Make sure to use plenty of sources from your readings and personal experiences.