For my Forum 8 post I decided to discuss what I learned on the PBS link called "Where

Race Lives". While going through this website I learned about how hard it used to be for African

Americans to just have equal opportunity. Systematic Racism led to exclusion of minorities from

programs and opportunities that all Americans were supposed to have.

Exclusion from helpful government programs because of race was a huge thing that held

African Americans back. An example of this was Social Security, This guarenteed income for

retired citizens but excluded agricultural workers and domestic servants. These were jobs were

usually held by minorities, this systematic exclusion kept minorities vulnerable and prevented

them from receiving the protection and benefits that most Americans had. Another example of

exclusion was in labor unions. The Wagner Act created the right to unionize, this originally

prohibited racial discrimination but that didn't last for long. After being excluded from labor

unions minorities did not have union protection which included job security. Minorities were

even legally barred from challenging their exclusion. One more example of exclusion was in

restrictive covenants, even though these were outlawed by the Supreme Court they were still

followed. These covenants said that homeowners could not sell or lease their property to non-

whites. Property would be appraised based on race and loans would be refused to be given to

non-white communities.

I think these things are significant because it is important to know what rights our parents

and grandparents fought for us to have. My Dad was born in 1957 and is turning 60 this year.

This means that he was affected by racial discrimination and exclusion. There are many older

people in my church who also lived through all of this. These things did not happen that long

ago. American has come a long way but these things happened in our recent history and I feel

that it is important to not forget about them.