Of course different people experience different things for a variety of reasons. Race not being among the insignificant reasons that color one's destiny. As an African-American young male adult, I have experienced ups and downs just like everyone else. I have had opportunities that I have both taken advantage of and wasted just as everyone else has. But as an African-American, I experience the dark side of American society on a somewhat regular basis. The basic things in life seem to be harder for Black people to acheive consistently. If an African-American does grasp onto the basic conveniences of life such as a good job, owning a home and receiving an education, he or she is more likely than their white counterparts to comfortably maintain a good lifestyle. My life serves as a few pointers.

I grew up in a middle class neighborhood in New Orleans with my mother and grandmother who were both African-Americans. My mother had a Master's Degree in Education and my grandparents had owned businesses all over the city. I point this out because many people would assume if an African-American isn't happy with his lot in society than he must be from a militant background. I am not, I am as American as anyone else, at least in principle that is. Read more about African-American issues at: http://africanamericanpoliticalspot.blogspot.com/

How can one explain that I have been stopped by the police when I did nothing wrong many times because according to the cops I fit a "suspicious" profile as I was driving through the nicer areas of town? How can one explain that when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans I wound up with thousands of other Black people gathered in front of the Superdome although I tried to evacuate beforehand(my car broke down)? If that can be explained, then how come during those five days of hell after Katrina, I was called the "n" word several times for the first time ever in my life by white people? How come since then I have been unable to complete the two semesters needed to get my Bachelor's Degree because having no money, I have to rely on Financial Aid which is non-existent because I can't provide papers that were washed away in the flood?

How come most African-Americans in the United States live in poverty? How come the average life for a young Black man in this country includes going to jail at a much higher rate than his white counterpart? How come in the video at the top of this page African-American children still choose white dolls over black dolls consistently and still have negative self beliefs about being Black in the U.S. ? How come hundreds of thousands of people most of them African-American taxpayers were victimized when the Fed.Govt. maintained levees broke in New Orleans washing their lives down the drain have still not been compensated for their losses at all by the government or insurance companies? How come nobody seems to care about these victims and they are being blamed for not being in the "correct" financial position after the biggest natural disaster hit New Orleans? How come most people don't seem to realize that the victims of Katrina especially the Black victims in New Orleans have been historically socially deprived of being able to put themselves in a postive position in life?

The answer of course to all of these questions is racism. Racism is still real to millions of minorities in the United States in 2007. It is more subtle than it was when our ancestors hung on trees by the multitudes, but it is not too subtle to where people should be sweeping it under the rug as they do.

Being an African-American in 2007 is a mixed blessing. If you can dance, sing or rap and lucky, then society will celebrate you and you can indeed live a somewhat good life. Unfortunately, most African-Americans will never become the next 50 cent and our lives are not as good as our white counterparts. Our health is worst, we don't get the same pay, we don't get the same education, we are more likely to live in poverty and even when the government's incompetence causes hundreds of thousands of us to lose our lives, we don't get compensated for it. It seems that things haven't necessarily changed that much since the Civil Rights era. How unfortunate. Read more about African-American issues at: http://africanamericanpoliticalspot.blogspot.com/

About the Author

Zarian Phipps is a Political Science scholar. You can read more about the African-American political and historical experience at http://africanamericanpoliticalspot.blogspot.com/