Why Are You People So Angry?

I'm in the process of taking an ethnic diversity class. In this class we have weekly discussion questions that ask questions like "What's the difference between ethnicity and race?" or "Who are some leaders of the civil rights movement?" A couple weeks ago the question was asked: "How has slavery effected the evolution of the United States?" My classmates brought up different views; some valid, but some just downright ignorant and uninformed. Most of the comments were the same old "It was horrible and I am ashamed that it is part of United States history." I understand that race issues are a sensitive matter and usually signal the group to hold hands and sing a big old round of "Kumbia's" but I think that type of ignoring of the issues is why things are the way they are. Hell, I probably would've sang a couple kumbias myself. Then it happened. I made a post about institutional racism and how it affects minorities in this country and one of my classmates replied that institutional racism doesn't exist. Huh?!? I saw that the young lady was Native American and White but that she doesn't even know anything about her Native American culture. So most people would see her as White. So I could understand how institutional racism doesn't exist for her.

I let that ride, but then another classmates post struck a nerve. This individual had the nerve, or maybe just the ignorance, to imply that African-Americans should be happy that slavery happened since it has lead to us being "the most advanced group of African descended people in the world." Huh??!! WTF?!? I had to proceed to tell this cat that just because he, and the majority of Americans, thinks our country is the greatest in the world doesn't make it true. We may look at other, poorer countries and feel pity for them, but they have something a lot of us over here don't; roots. People wanna know why African-Americans are often "angry." I think the best way to answer that would be with another question. How would you feel if the oldest history you know about yourself is that your ancestors used to be enslaved and brutalized by the ancestors of the very people who are your bosses and supervisors at your job now?