My View on Race in America

Race is a very pressing issue in my nation, the USA, and although a lot has been done to improve race relations, the country still has a long way to go. As a person from a more progressive/liberal part of the country and a person who was raised by parents who taught me to treat everyone equally, I've treated people of other races with kindness and respect in the vast majority of cases, and haven't been around many people who are racist. After learning about advances our country has made in regards to race, such as the abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and the election of Barack Obama as President, I honestly in my ignorance had thought that the issue of race has been already settled. However, through learning about the rise of police shootings of African-Americans, the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments, and the increase in mass incarceration, I have realized there is still much prejudice in the nation. I think that the realization of these things by many people has led to a lot of positive action and protest, but it has also led to the rise of "SJW's" and "political correctness", which has just sparked backlash from prejudiced people and has worsened the conflict. I think people with more progressive views need to fully realize the reasons why people are prejudiced, and need to reach out to prejudiced people with kindness in order to possibly change their views. Calling people racists or bigots and then just saying they are bad people who need to be stopped just fuels anger and does not address the underlying problems such as economic inequality and the lack of understanding of other cultures that leads to poor race relations.