Race Relations in the U.S. I've discovered the real roots of America these past few days and decided that writing about it was better than killing an innocent victim to soothe the hostility I feel towards my heritage. I picked up a pen because it was safer than a gun. This was a valuable lesson I've learned from my forefathers, who did both. Others in my country react on instinct and choose not to deliberate the issue as I have. If they are black, they are imprisoned or dead. As The People vs. Simpson storms through its ninth month, the United States awaits the landmark decision that will determine justice. O.J. Simpson would not have had a chance in 1857. Racial segregation, discrimination, and degradation are no accidents in this nation's history. The loud tribal beat of pounding rap rhythm is no coincidence. They stem logically from the legacy the Founding Fathers bestowed upon contemporary America with regard to the treatment of African-Americans, particularly the black slave woman. This tragedy has left the country with a weak moral foundation. The Founding Fathers, in their conception of a more perfect union, drafted ideas that communicated the oppression they felt as slaves of Mother England. Ironically, nowhere in any of their documents did they address the issue of racial slavery. The Declaration of Independence from England was adopted as the country's most fundamental constitutional document. It was the definitive statement for the American policy of government, of the necessary conditions for the exercise of political power, and of the sovereignty of the people who establish the government. John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress and slave trader, described it as "the Ground & Foundation of a future government." James Madison, Father of the Constitution and slave owner, called it "the fundamental Act of Union of these States." "All men are created equal," and endowed...
