es: "The smack of the whip is all day long in the ears of those who areon the plantation, or in the vicinity; and it is used with such dexterity and severity as not onlyto lacerate the skin, but to tear out small portions of the flesh at almost ever
This description of the torture that slaves had to endure reveals the extent of the evil treatment that slaveowners inflicted upon enslaved people. Slaveowners treated slaves like objects with no regard for their feelings.
The demand for Equality of Opportunity hasbeen generally perceived by white Americans as a demand for liberty, a demand not to beexcluded from the competitions of life – at the polling place, in the scholarshipexaminations, at the personnel office, on the housing market. Liberty does, of course,demand that everyone be free to try his luck, or test his skill in such matters. But theseopportunities do not necessarily produce equality: on the contrary, to the extent that winnersimply losers, equality of opportunity almost insures inequality of results.
Black people have fought tirelessly for equality. While some people may argue that Black people now have access to the same opportunities as their white counterparts, these opportunities do not indicate equality. While a Black person may be able to apply for the same job as a white person, there are still racial biases that give the white person a better chance of getting the job. African Americans have been oppressed and denied equal opportunities for the entire history of the United States. The country was built on exploiting their labor. White people have had a several-hundred-year head start to build connections and gain experience. It will take a lot more progress and a change of mindset on the part of non-Blacks to even inch towards equality.