RACE: Has the Government Given Up On It?

Has the government given up on the race issue? Race is such a prevalent topic in American society, even today with the first African-American President-Elect. According to the Atlantic Unbound Roundtable, people may have decided that “the state of nature is for races not to get along and that there’s nothing American policymakers can do about it.” If policymakers come to the conclusion that there is nothing they can do about the current situation of African-Americans, including their high population in "all-poor neighborhoods", "bad schools", "few two-parent families", "high rates of poverty", crime and unemployment and the substantial economic gap between blacks and whites. The Atlantic Unbound Roundtable suggests that people might believe that this is not an issue as long as there is equality of opportunity. However, blacks do not from the same circumstances (especially financially) as many white Americans and are therefore born at a disadvantage. Programs such as affirmative action for instance, provide the opportunities to get positions that would not normally be available to people of African descent. If these programs that were implemented began to get questioned, that could hinder the educational and economic growth of the black community. Although Obama has had a profound effect on the motivation of many minorities, perhaps he will also be one reason why the government will not give up on race relation issues in America, and rethink how it has been handled thus far.