African-Americans were never given a fighting chance. They were freed as slaves and promised 40 acres and a mule. Instead they were freedmen with no place to go and nothing to call their own. While 40 acres and a mule could never repay the slaves for all they endured, it would have given them a chance to make a living. Part of the race problems that the United States have faced is that African-Americans still have nothing compared to other Americans. Race problems aren't just about color of the skin; it is about how people perceive others. African-Americans and other Americans are not perceived as equals. The inequality of African-Americans and other Americans is in the assets they hold and their net worth. If you want to figure out someone's net worth you add up everything that a person owns and subtract his or her outstanding debts. African-Americans lost from the beginning. Forty acres and a Mule were supposed to give the African-Americans a leg to stand on. Fredrick Douglass puts it best when he said that slaves were sent away without anything. It should be no surprise that in 1959 blacks that fell below the poverty line was close to 58% compared to 18% of whites. Even though in 1996 the levels have dropped to 28% in blacks and 11% for whites, blacks still dominate the poverty level (Mings). If African-Americans had given what they were entitled to then they would have been given the opportunity to make money and increase their net worth. This perhaps would have decreased some of the race problems because they would have been given the same opportunities that other Americans was. African-Americans wasn't asking for much, just the opportunity to make a living. Maybe 40 acres and a mule wouldn't have made a big difference in the race problems that the U.S. face, but at least everyone would have had an equal opportunity to make a good name for themselves.
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