SOCIAL SEGREGATION-

ARGUMENTATIVE SPEECH

Introduction- Good morning erudite teacher, my topic today is

“Social Segregation” and I plan to present this piece as an
argumentative speech highlighting some of the gripes about this
societal issue. The base of this argument was coined from various
reputable articles sourced from the internet. I would like to thank you
for listening to the presentation.

Many people will not admit it, but I'll say it: segregation is still around.
Even with the myriad of laws, speeches and forums against it, it still
plagues our world. Sometimes by design. Sometimes by choice. Let me
be clear, this isn't the segregation of my parent's era. It's not a legally
mandated and enforced system backed by public figures who justified
these unrighteous, malicious and sickening acts against the general
public. I am talking about 21st century segregation which exists overtly
in our school systems, communities, and prisons. It also permeates
our society in ways we don't even realize.

We need to continue the conversation about the shocking segregation

in our schools and neighborhoods. According to a study last year, 43%
of Latinos and 38% of blacks go to schools where less than 10% of their
peers are white. But beyond that, we often fail to talk about how
segregation impacts us personally. How it permeates not only many of
our public and private institutions, but our culture at large. We less
easily talk about cultural segregation, an area that we have control
over, via the restaurants we patronize, the bars we socialize at and the
places where we worship. It's time for us to face the reality that for
many Americans, even if we live and work around "diversity", our best
friends and spiritual leaders, the people we invite into our lives and
homes, often look like we do, reinforcing a ‘de facto’ segregation. This
social and cultural segregation isn't restricted to "uneducated" people
living in the country. It is equally prominent in environments where
smart, educated people are supposed to "know better". People who
have studied race, spent months abroad in other places, still too often
manage to have a community that doesn’t reflect diversity in their
broader spectrum.
It's understandable that we don't hear much about this type of
division. It's too personal for many, who often don't want to be seen as
racist and is a hard phenomenon to quantify. Yet, some data can point
us in the right direction – like looking at the number of interracial
friendships, and the number of interracial marriages. But numbers
don’t seem to change minds much.

By then, my knee-jerk reaction is to blame racism and discrimination.

To get mad about how all the television shows that have casts that look
like my family is segregated to the so-called "ghettos". And to wonder
why all the books I like are sitting in a "separate" section … until of
course, I realize, I segregate too, in many instances, whether when
going out with friends to the little music I listen to.

If our social worlds were more integrated, perhaps we would see it

trickle down to the way we govern and the way we dispense justice.
Having some sort of connection, a shared experience is the only way I
believe that we can get politicians, police officers, and everyday
citizens to truly understand race. It may seem silly to connect major
country policies to something as simple as a day at the mall, but our
experiences are shaped not just by legalese and policy, but also by
understanding and interacting with each other. Segregation in the 21st
century is not just about being legally and physically separated, but
about a cultural separation that still feels like it divides more than it
binds.