In 1903, controversial black rights leader WEB DuBois wrote one of the most influential African-American books to date. In The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois proclaims that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line" (xxxi). Now, the twenty-first century has begun and it seems that the issue of the color line, of racial prejudice, has been resolved through the elimination of slavery and racial segregation and the enforcement of civil rights law. In truth, however, America has not solved its racial problem. Now, although less identifiable, the new issue of the color line is even more applicable after the Civil Rights Act was referenced. While there has been slight progress in social equality, there is, more than ever, an economic conflict and struggle of class embedded in racial discrimination, leading to the new problem of the twenty-first century, racial inequality in the economy and class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. DuBois describes the “color line problem” very broadly in The Souls of Black Folk, with much length and expertise. However it can be summed up in a question from the book: "How does it feel to be a problem?" To which DuBois responds “being a problem is a strange experience” (DuBois, 1). DuBois asks this question of himself, of other blacks in America, and even of whites. He asks African Americans to reevaluate their current status in America. DuBois seeks blacks who not only understand and realize the current anti-black sentiment of the time, but also actively work to change the distinctive conception of black racial identity, in a society that viewed blacks with contempt. DuBois openly announces that he is the problem. He does not want anyone to avoid the issue of racial division by saying things like "I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville" (DuBois, 1). He admits that he contributed to the problem of the twentieth century in America, the continuing struggle for social recognition and cultural identity for blacks. The problem is at once as simple and complex as the statement. According to DuBois, the problem in twentieth-century America is blacks. However, complexity emerges when analyzing the social situation of blacks in America. The “problem” has its roots in the ethnic divisions between blacks and whites, but runs much deeper in its mental, economic and social effects on African Americans. We thus have a seemingly changed twenty-first century, where thanks to the elimination of forced slavery and segregation, we have proclaimed "equality" between blacks and whites. However, does this forgiveness of the dark side of American history really give us proof of equality? While we have made progress, racial inequality is still evident in our post-civil rights era. Is equality evident in schools, where teenagers continue to self-segregate between races? In Gary Younge's article "White-Only Proms Dancing to an Old Southern Segregationist Tune," he reported in 2003, rural Georgia students at Taylor County High School self-segregated their prom. A landmark event, the school held its first integrated prom in 31 years in 2002. However, due to interracial conflicts in the 2002 school year, school officials stopped sponsoring the proms and, shortly thereafter, parents and students began holding separate dances for whites and blacks. . However, this self-segregation is not an isolated issue; Bob Jones University in South Carolina has revoked theban on interracial dating as recently as 2000. Also in 2000, Coldwater, Mississippi high school held separate voting for its white and black prom queens (Younge). While these situations were all self-imposed by blacks, the cases of self-segregation shed light on an important critique of American social inequality. If blacks were made to feel equal to whites, they would not self-segregate, and perhaps be more motivated to incorporate themselves into a higher social and economic status, on par with whites. Thus we begin to discover the psychology of the black individual, the fragmentation of power. DuBois refers to the "strange experience" as being "born with a veil and given a second sight into this American world, a world that provides him with no true self-awareness, but only allows him to see himself through the revelation of 'other". world...always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, measuring one's soul by the yardstick of a world that looks on with amused contempt and pity" (DuBois, 38). This fragmentation creates the sense of two selves, neither of which recognized by whites. In a study linking physical ailments to subtle racial bias, Rob Stein reported Sarah Person, a study member, as saying “This (racial bias) happens all the time. It's part of everyday experiences, unfortunately. But you're never prepared for it, it makes you feel like you're out of step with the rest of the world, and like there's no justice." Black people want what we all want, to better ourselves. However, they must first merge the double self into a truer self, recognized by all of America. Unfortunately, this decision for change cannot be made by black people alone. DuBois called on Americans across the nation to "make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spat upon by his fellows, without the doors of opportunity being brutally shut in his face" (DuBois, 39 ). The doors of Opportunity, unfortunately, were not fully opened to blacks, even after DuBois's call for justice in 1903. Although progress was made in black education efforts, social welfare, and sports, America it hasn't developed as well. or as quickly as the “greatest nation on earth” should have done so. White America fails to recognize many important attributes of blacks. For example, in the 1996 Olympics, “the European teams' fantasies of gold were crushed by a U.S. Dream Team composed of eleven Western African-Americans and a lone white man” (Sailer). However, we ignore those aspects of American society where equality is most important, such as equal employment opportunities and social equality. It could be argued that blacks are slowly achieving equality in these areas, for example, a prominent public figure, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. . However, only after investigating his role as Secretary of State can we truly understand his function as a false ethnic icon. Rice stands on a pedestal to be seen by all Americans, black and white. Its aim is to portray blacks as people ascending in social and economic position. According to The Black Commentator, blacks, historically excluded from high titles, have applauded every African American "first" as a collective victory. Under such circumstances, which still prevail today in large swaths of American society, individual progress actually represents a kind of collective triumph, even in areas of endeavor that have little effect on black life. The more the enclave or activity is exclusively white, the greater the shared victory once the line is crossedcolor" (The Black Commentator). However, as one critic states, "Laughter is the purest expression of the traitor race" (The Black Commentator). Many would say, according to DuBois, that he has "whitened his Negro soul in a 'wave of white Americanism', supporting anti-black views such as the Bush Party's campaign against affirmative action. Even if we are making progress, at what alarming rate does this progression continue? Blacks are still subject to economic and social prejudice in areas traditional, like the system American judiciary. The Federal Bureau of Justice revealed an alarming statistic; “Twenty percent of all black men born from 1965 to 1969 had served time in prison by the time they reached their thirties. By comparison, fewer than 3 percent of white males born in the same time period had served time in prison." Being incarcerated in federal or state prisons has become so common today that more young black men in the United States have served their sentences than who served time in prison.(Schwarz) Spending time in prison or being persecuted by the law seems to be an everyday part of black life. Is it because black people are really more prone to crime than white people? to the law? Is this concept so real and appropriate in this day and age that the issue of racial unequal treatment before the law has even taken hold in contemporary music. Popular black rapper, Jay-Z, sheds light on the topic in his song, 99 Problems The song describes everyone the problems a young black man faces, one of which is unequal racial treatment The song details the correspondence between a white police officer and the black male driver he stopped: White officer: “Son you know. why am I stopping you?" Black man: “Because I'm young and black and my hats are really low. Do I look like a mind reader, sir? I do not know. Am I under arrest or should I guess something more?" White officer: "Well, you were doing fifty-five for fifty-five. License, registration and I get out of the car. You're carrying a weapon with you, I know a lot of you do." (Jay-Z) Contrary to common stereotype, there is no evidence to suggest that blacks are simply more violent or crime-prone. They are, perhaps, more motivated ​​​​to commit crimes for profit in order to increase economic status. Therefore, there is a social and psychological reason behind these crimes. We, as Americans, therefore have a more complex dilemma to solve, establishing the economic equality between blacks and whites. Blacks would be less likely to commit the two most frequent nonviolent crimes in the United States, theft and drug possession with intent to sell (Federal Bureau of Justice). Then blacks could be further integrated into higher American society, enough to free themselves from their doubling the self for a more concise, accurate, and respected one. Economic inequality is further evident where black wages are still lower than those of whites, sociology professor David Newman says, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that the average annual income of black families is $30.43, compared to $44,232 for whites. Black unemployment is also double that of whites and only 48% of blacks own their own home compared to 74% of whites (Newman, 389). Although America has abolished inequalities such as slavery and forced segregation, Americans have not demonstrated hope that, after years of racial inequality, blacks and whites will finally be equal in all aspects of law and society. The colored line issue was not fixed, but simply changed to show aspectseconomic and psychological issues of black fragmentation and powerlessness, the new problem of the twenty-first century. The problem of economic inequality is simply an expansion of the racial crisis. This helplessness was made terribly known to the rest of America after the Hurricane Katrina crisis on the Gulf Coast. Over a million people were displaced after the class five hurricane hit the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. The official death toll is 1,325, of which 6,644 were missing and 1,300 of them "feared dead" ( Hurricane Katrina). The hurricane not only caused irreplaceable damage to one of America's largest cities, but also devastated the progress of racial equality in America. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2004, New Orleans' population was 20 percent white and 68 percent black. Within the city itself, the poorest citizens tended to live in the lowest-lying parts most vulnerable to flooding, most of these citizens being black. Vivid news videos and photographs accurately showed mostly poor, black citizens stranded in New Orleans, without food, water, or shelter. Promoting racial conflict, specific derogatory language was subsequently used against predominantly black citizens, referred to as "looters." Looting usually means large-scale theft and plunder, not the taking of basic necessities like water, which some desperate people have engaged in. activists and political minds thought. He strayed from his script and addressed racism in both the government and the media, stating, "George Bush doesn't care about blacks." He also asked the media to stop labeling African American families as "looters" while white families were described as "scavenging for food" (Hurricane Katrina). Hurricane Katrina opened many American minds to racial inequities in the United States, including health care. Poverty, unemployment, and neglect contribute to the health gap for the poorest Black communities in the United States. However, the result is a racial health gap, which has endured and even increased, despite years of health development and overall economic growth. As we struggle to rebuild from the damage of Katrina, the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history, Americans, now more than ever, should analyze and think about creating more racially equitable communities. “It is even more important that we and others apply these lessons to help many other individuals and communities who continue to languish away from the public eye” (Dickinson). The root of underemployed and underpaid Black Americans is unequal racial prejudice and discrimination. If blacks do not have the same racial standing, how can they receive the same treatment, legally and socially? We thus have the distorted and veiled economic problem of the twenty-first century. In The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois coins one of the simplest and most descriptive terms to understand the quintessential African-American experience. It reveals that all African Americans live in "two worlds within and without the Veil," a veil of uncertainty that implies a lack of clarity on the part of whites in seeing blacks as true Americans, deserving of every legal and social right that they themselves possess (xxxi ). The veil also explains Black people's lack of understanding of how they see themselves, separate from white America and their stereotypes and assumptions. Even after racial advances like the Civil Rights Act, we have a new crisis that's really not that different from the old one. Racial inequality has been veiled, though evident in so many aspects of everyday American life, to reveal economic inequality, the new>.