With the beginning of the African slave trade is 400 years in the rearview, the lasting effects are still obstacles Black Americans face. Following the end of slavery came a long period of Jim Crow laws, legal segregation, and the brutalization and dehumanization of the very people who were forced to build the country from the ground up.

Once segregation was outlawed, the internalized and institutionalized racism didn't just disappear, it was disguised, which allowed for more hate to be carried out by those in positions of power. Black Americans have been the bottom of the barrel for American Government, and it's been clear to the Black community for decades. So far, the majority of ethnic groups that have felt the brunt of this country's hatred for anyone other than white, and have been repaid for their trauma. Japanese Americans who were forced into internment camps received $1.6 billion. Indigenous Americans have received over $1.2 billion for their land being stolen and their ancestors live being taken. How much longer do Black Americans have to wait? 

We may be told to just 'get over it' and 'leave the past in the past' but there should be consequences for the brutal actions that resulted in this country becoming what it is today. The racial wealth gap between white Americans and Black Americans is sickening- Black Americans hold 10% of the wealth their white counterparts hold. With a 400 year head start, that disparity proves in the simplest terms that Black Americans are still facing the backlash of the racism in the country their ancestors built- against their will and without pay. The Declaration says that 'All men are created equal', but with the wealth of one white American equaling that of ten Black Americans, how are we seen as equal?