Faces and colors of the universe now have a broader meaning, and a connection. Minorities are taking over the media and our daily scenarios, expanding diversity and culture into the system. Minority’s, especially blacks and Hispanics, now owns every corner store, nail salon, or barbershop on the block. As an African American I have become accustomed to Hispanics and have learned to grow with them. As minorities I believe we are forced to be one, because we are all people of color. I feel as if we all appear the same in the eyes of the white man. We have endured a similar struggle and face the same negative moral influences daily. Our neighborhoods, schools, and jobs are being transformed. We have shared our cultures through our pasts, our struggles, and now more than ever our education.
We all endure serious discrimination being people of color, especially those who were involved with the criminal justice process. The number of minorities in the U.S. increases each year. However, so does discrimination and prejudice. Americans distrust those who appear to be different. Schools and families can educate children about race relations. However, it has not been enough, these people lack shared experiences with us. These factors make it hard for us minorities receive fair treatment. Hispanics and African Americans are discriminated against from every aspect we can imagine, whether it is at the time of arrest, during trial, in incarceration, in prison job assignments, in community surveillance, in ****, or in capital punishment issues. The common perceptions are that people of color, especially blacks and Hispanics, are considerably more criminal than any other groups.
Black and Hispanics would rather point out our differences, rather than overcome the negative perceptions of minorities as a whole. Of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV and **** have hit African Americans and Hispanics the hardest. The reasons are not directly related to race or ethnicity, but to some of the challenges faced by these groups in the past. These problems can include coming up from poverty, negative attitudes and beliefs about people living with HIV/****. In fact, it is estimated that 110,000–170,000 Latinos are living with HIV in the U.S., the black community is worse, yet this number continues to grow. What we both share in common is the significant number of these individuals who do not know they are infected. Increasing the number of blacks and Hispanics at risk who are tested and offered treatment is critical for their own health and for preventing the spread of HIV to others. Therefore, us as a whole, afro-Latinos, must come together to form prevention and awareness programs.
Over the past decade, the tradition of black people swarming our historically black colleges and university’s is beginning to transform. More than ever, now we are seeing more cultural diversity, the number of Spanish students is increasing and a sense of unity is forming between these races. Students of color now take on an entirely different meaning these days. More and more historically black colleges and universities are stepping up efforts to increase enrollment amongst Hispanics and black students in black colleges and university's.
The reality is that the truth will set us free. We are the minorities, undoubtedly different, yet similar in struggles. No one will help us, if we cannot help ourselves, so it is up to us to prevent conflicts from happening at all. We need to alter where power and wealth are very unfairly distributed between ethnic groups, and take over are lives. No more 9 to 5’s, we need businesses. No more setbacks in our lives, let’s take over as afro-Hispanics. We' are the minority, let’s start a movement.
