Week four- point of view African- American

I don’t know where to start to talk about the pain we, as African-American, endured all these years of the slavery. I was born in the slave family and it is hard for me to imagine being free and be recognized as a human because of my skin color. When I think about it, my soul wants to escape from my body and fly to experience of being free. 

My grand parents and parents lived during the civil war and I heard so many painful and bitter stories of what they went through in those days. Since they were slaves, they had no recognition in the society. Their masters always decided for them what to do, what to eat and how to live. During the bloody civil war, many of our relatives, friends, neighbors, brothers and sisters were killed and we got nothing out of it by losing in the war. Then the government passed the laws to abolish the slavery and starting the reconstruction of the south, the oppositions set more restrictions on the blacks and started the reconstruction in their own benefit. After the war, the blacks were promised to receive a small piece of land to be theirs and build their lives, but it turned out the opposite way. Not only the blacks got no land, but also they continued to be the slave. They became the sharecroppers. The wealthy people got the land and supplies, the blacks had to crop and pay the landlord for the supplies at the harvest time. The landlord gave very small part of the land for growing their need. The price of the cotton at the harvest time would not cover the expenses and it put the black in debt that they couldn’t get out of it. Therefore, it was even harder to be the black. Also by raising the KKK organization, so many of our women and girls were raped, men were killed and homes were lost. We were devastated and didn’t know how long it would take for things to get better.

When I think about what my family went through and my own hardship, I’d want to scream and tell the whole world stop abusing us, stop raping our girls and women and stop killing our men. I long to stop the time and tell everybody what is in my heart and how cruel they are.

Whatever I say, it wouldn’t change anything at this time. I don’t know how long we need to wait to be recognized and practice our rights. I know, God created us equally and I am proud of my skin color.