Talk Through The Struggles To Be Able To Fix Them
Emily Knickerbocker

Memories of the slave trade have shaped our global economy. It is hard to quantify exactly what race means today or how it is taken a toll on the way our world functions. On a basic level, it is the color of your skin. But race in our society means so much more than that. Our global economy illustrates our past in terms of the fact that slavery was a very real and present thing in America and although today there is no slavery, in the most basic level, the repercussions of our actions many years ago still has a huge effect on the way our nation works. In the most direct way of saying this the slave trade affects what our government encompasses today. Not necessarily the act of the slave trade itself but more the memories that it left behind. What I mean by this is that because of the slave trade there are still vast majorities of people who are struggling to make income, to send their kids to good schools, to have fairness that everyone deserves, no matter the race. I think that race still defines who you are as a person; the lines have become much more blurred, in terms of the fact that today in our present society race technically shouldn't define who you are, but it does. I think it's an unsettling unsaid rule that we live in a place that is very different from the rest of society. Not saying that the United States is still segregated, some parts are, but Sidwell and DC, as a whole, no matter what race you are, no matter what social class you are, everyone you know has set sense of freedom. But I think that if we go beyond DC and we go beyond Sidwell that there is not that sense that when you go into some neighborhoods that are quote unquote “black neighborhoods” or “Hispanic neighborhoods” or even “white neighborhoods” each of them is very different and very much because of the slave trade. Not even that the slave trade directly affects them, but the fact that the memories of the slave trade are still very present in people's minds. I think that something that is also very hard talk about is the white man's guilt towards what happened many years ago and the discussion of whether an apology is necessary. If an apology is necessary whom would it come from and would it actually mean anything. I personally don't think that an apology would get us anywhere. I think it's more of the action of everyone realizing that there still is an issue. That race still plays a very large role in our government and how things are played out and how the fact that there are still neighborhoods of soul quote unquote “black people” who don't have as good as education as we might receive and how there is still that that sense of animosity and distrust between races. I think that is the problem. The distrust that comes between races because of the slave trade, because of what happened, the fear of not being able to trust someone because the color of their skin. I think that is the main problem that came out of the slave trade because the idea of slavery is not something that is relevant anymore but the memories that caused it are still very hard to talk about. I think that people will see another person who might not look like them and because of what was ingrained in their mind many years ago to be afraid and not to trust and I think that that is what causes most of the social animosity that people of other races might have towards each other. There is also the struggle of how each race should represent them selves. When you travel to New York this sense of that it's a mixing pot is what we strive for but don't necessarily achieve. As an individual you have your own representation of yourself, not as a group because of your race. Today there are still many stereotypes because of the slave trade. Stereotypes put on white people, stereotypes put on black people, stereotypes put on Asian people because, and of the inequality and because of how that affected our minds. The