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Toni Morrison connects on the issues of the unrealistic ideas that are presented to readers in the novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". The novel makes unrealistic assumptions of Huck and Jim's relationship, such as how the end of relationship is inevitable. I believe that the novel had good intentions but did not make realistic connections to support those intentions.  Essentially, the whole story of the novel relies on Jim. In Huck Finn, they try to make Jim the only possible and true father figure for Huck, which is untrue. All the white men in the novel, except Pap, have the potential to be a father figure for Huck, but they're criticized. Huck also hides and masks his true feelings about Jim, since he's afraid of society's wrath. This shows that Huck would never realistically have a true relationship with Jim because he can never confidently support his feelings towards Jim. There's way too many loopholes and not enough realistic scenarios for any of this to happen in the real world, even today.

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The FHA prevented people of color from buying houses in certain communities, usually middle to high-end areas, which is called red-lining. Preventing people of color from having the same and equal housing as white people shows how difficult it is to break the social stereotype that all colored people have low income or are poor. Many families of color may have equal incomes as a middle-class white family, but live in a lower class housing area due to restrictions based on their color of skin. This shows how black communities have to work twice as hard to receive half of what a white person receives. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim had to work so hard to escape from his captures and try to win back his family due to being a runaway slave. This relates to how colored people still don't have equal privilege and how they have to fight to reach the same status of a white person who receives it automatically. Black and colored communities still face racial discrimination and social restrictions in everyday life.

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country.

North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city. The average per capita income of Chicago's white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods. When the Harvard sociologist Robert J. Sampson examined incarceration rates in Chicago in his 2012 book, Great American City, he found that a black neighborhood with one of the highest incarceration rates (West Garfield Park) had a rate more than 40 times as high as the white neighborhood with the highest rate (Clearing). "This is a staggering differential, even for community-level comparisons," Sampson writes. "A difference of kind, not degree." ...

Black people with upper-middle-class incomes do not generally live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Sharkey's research shows that black families making $100,000 typically live in the kinds of neighborhoods inhabited by white families making $30,000. "Blacks and whites inhabit such different neighborhoods," Sharkey writes, "that it is not possible to compare the economic outcomes of black and white children."

Even here in California, where sometimes we like to imagine maybe things were different.

A few years ago, I came across an academic project to take the old redlining maps and lay them over the cities as they are today in Google Maps. It was run by an interdisciplinary group out of the University of North Carolina. They created a site called T-RACES, or Testbed for for the Redlining Archives of California's Exclusionary Spaces.

I stared and stared at the map of the East Bay because I could see the marks of this discrimination all over the city. My little neighborhood sits right next to a block of red, in a yellow strip, and near a swath of blue. It was an in-between zone, and it still feels that way. Go a few blocks west (downhill) and the neighborhoods are primarily black. Go a few blocks east (into the hills) and the neighborhoods are almost exclusively white.

T-RACES was meant to be a demonstration project, and it looks that way. The maps are difficult to navigate and just have a clunky feel. When I tweeted about them, a data artist named Josh Begley took it upon himself to recode the maps with new technology. And then-after Google broke the way he was doing it-he recoded the maps again for this post.

There are maps for the Bay, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Stockton. I've included Los Angeles here, too, but the rest are available at his site.

The point is: the racist policies TNC explores in Chicago were everywhere.

Here are the codes for the maps:

"Green areas are " hot spots"; they are not yet fully built up. In nearly all instances they are the new well planned sections of the city, and almost synonymous with the areas where good mortgage lenders with available funds are willing to make their maximum loans to be amortized over a 10-15-year period -- perhaps up to 75-80% of the appraisal. They are homogeneous; in demand as residential locations in "good time" or "bad"; hence on the upgrade".

"Blue areas, as a rule, are completely developed. They are like a 1935 automobile still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one. They are the neighborhoods where good mortgage lenders will have a tendency to hold loan commitments 10-15% under the limit."

"Yellow areas are characterized by age, obsolescence, and change of style; expiring restrictions or lack of them; infiltration of a lower grade population; the presence of influences which increase sales resistance such as inadequate transportation, insufficient utilities, perhaps heavy tax burdens, poor maintenance of homes, etc. "Jerry" built areas are included, as well as neighborhoods lacking homogeneity. Generally, these areas have reached the transition period. Good mortgage lenders are more conservative in the Yellow areas and hold loan commitments under the lending ratio for the Green and Blue areas.

"Red areas represent those neighborhoods in which the things that are now taking place in the Yellow neighborhoods, have already happened. They are characterized by detrimental influences in a pronounced degree, undesirable population or infiltration of it. Low percentage of home ownership, very poor maintenance and often vandalism prevail. Unstable incomes of the people and difficult collections are usually prevalent. The areas are broader than the so-called slum districts. Some mortgage lenders may refuse to make loans in these neighborhoods and other will lend only on a conservative basis."

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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The Racist Housing Policy That Made Your Neighborhood

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country. North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city.

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Ron Brown is a college prep school for boys. It is meant to tackle the social issues that black men face, such as low income, poor or restricted education, and discrimination. Ron Brown's major role as a school is much different than other prep schools or even public schools. It connects to the reality of the world by trying to fix the effects of generational poverty and segregation for colored people. Many of Ron Brown's students come from low income housing and how it connects to segregation of red-lining. Ron Brown shows that black or colored communities have a tougher time with achieving education and a steady income compared to white communities. As a society we need more schools such as Ron Brown need to grow and fix generational issues that effect colored people.

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What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society - from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between.

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Kids in low income housing that grow up fearing the police and running from them, shows that there needs to be more schools like Ron Brown. In the communities that have daily police arrests are more likely to grow up chasing or being arrested. In Huck Finn, Jim is running for his life everyday to avoid being captured, killed, or sent back to slavery. This is like how teens/children are constantly involved with the law and are running from it because the outcome is not in their favor. These kids grow up in fear that the police are going to chase after them, arrest them, and even send them to jail. That fear is still present today which is astonishing.

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Teachers often use TED Talks in the classroom to introduce a lesson topic or to frame a student discussion. Below are 10 TED Talks about race in America - curated by TED-Ed upon educator request - that teachers may find useful in the classroom:
Featured image: Angélica Dass/Humanæ
For more education resources from TED, sign up for the weekly TED-Ed newsletter here >>

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10 TED classroom resources about race in America

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Teachers often use TED Talks in the classroom to introduce a lesson topic or to frame a student discussion.

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One of the most controversial subject in society today is the police, especially in black communities. Almost every week on the news and in the media, there's a new video of a violent outbreak. Most of these outbreaks are police violence with black communities. There's movements such as Black Lives Matter that stand against police brutality and want to fix the issues with the police. Melvin Russell addresses these points on how to fix these issues. Our society has made us dependent on the police, which has caused the police to become too "protective". To the point where it can lead to abuse and violence. The only way to lower violence in black communities and also with the police is a police reform. A reform that involves the communities with police and vise-versa. The police need to stop thinking that they have to fix crime. They need to take care of the people's needs and the crime will go away. The communities also need to support this change and help to fix themselves too. In the end, the police need to serve the community and make it community policing. If all police districts this reform possible children will not grow up fearing the police and priming them for prison.

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Melvin Russell: I love being a police officer, but we need reform

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We've invested so much in police departments as protectors that we have forgotten what it means to serve our communities, says Baltimore Police officer Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell. It's led to coldness and callousness, and it's dehumanized the police force.

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The state of New Hampshire consists of mostly white people with little to no diversity. New Hampshire has often tried to address these issues with racism by asking people of color what change they would like to see, but this doesn't work. White people will not adjust or want to change. One way to help against this problem is it to work with white people on racial bias and discrimination first. Many people in New Hampshire do not realize that they're being racially bias because no one has addressed it to them. New Hampshire will stay at the same speed unless they address these issues effectively, by starting with leaders in workplaces. In some ways New Hampshire has never changed. When slavery was still present, saying the N-word, abusing African Americans, and owning slaves was considered normal. How would these people know any different if no one addressed it to them. New Hampshire can be compared to Tom Sawyer since he pranks Jim with no care. Tom has control over Jim, since he is white. This can be compared to how white leaders in workplaces have complete control over black employees.

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Racial wage gaps is one of the issues many colored people face, no matter the income. Many colored Hollywood stars even face these issues on the pay wage between co workers. Two 'Hawaii Five-O' stars decided to leave the show due to the wage gap between them and their white cast members. This is an issue that has been happening far before the Civil Rights Act. It is proven that colored people make lower pay than whites, due to racial wage gaps. Latinos make even lower income rates than African-Americans. This is a major issue that is growing and needs to stop. If incarceration rates and generational poverty for black communities are supposed to decrease, then we need to fix the wage gap between race. Colored people already have to worry about being accepted in certain areas in America, but also having to deal with restrictions on income due to their race is unbelievable.

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Jimmy Carter: Only White Child In the Neighborhood 

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Jimmy Carter: Only White Child In the Neighborhood 

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President Jimmy Carter tells OWN that he was the only white child growing up in his neighborhood. The Civil Rights acts was supposed to be a huge step in the right direction, but today it seems like we're taking three steps backwards. I believe that we often have taken advantage of Civil Rights Act, by thinking that we can solely rely on it and not have to address racial issues. Some people believe that this act solved all issues with race, but that is far from it. We as a country have taken Civil Rights for granted and think that we don't have to keep progressing. Today's reality on racial issues is the modern era of life of an African America after slavery. When slavery was abolished, it didn't solve racism or segregation issues for blacks. Civil Rights supposedly solved these segregated issues. This relates to how blacks are still struggling compared to whites, which is a huge issue that needs to be addressed by all races.

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Jimmy Carter was born James Earl Carter Jr. on October 1, 1924. He grew up in the rural town of Archery, Georgia. When he wasn't helping his father on the peanut farm, he was fishing or playing in the woods with his friends, most of whom were African-American.

Ultimately, the former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner said in this weekend's "SuperSoul Sunday" interview, growing up as the only white child in a predominantly black community had a profoundly positive impact on his life.

"The people with whom I worked in the field, and the people with whom I wrestled and fought, and the people with whom I went fishing and hunting were all African-Americans," President Carter told Oprah in an interview taped a few weeks before the former president announced he has melanoma. "I felt, kind of, in an alien culture when I got old enough to go to a white school and that sort of thing."

"In fact," President Carter continued, "I try to think of the five people, other than my own parents, who shaped my life, and only two of them are white. The other three were African-Americans."

Oprah then turned the conversation to recent racial tensions in the United States. "Why do you think we're at such a divide in this country right now?" she asked. "It feels that racism is rearing its ugly head in ways unimaginable."

President Carter said he thinks the racial divide stems from a national misunderstanding following the Civil Rights Movement's accomplishments.

"I think we went through [the civil rights] era and eventually wound up in the early 1960s, when [President Lyndon B.] Johnson got the civil rights bills passed, and then we kind of breathed a sigh of relief in this country," President Carter said.

The battle, it turned out, wasn't finished. "We kind of took it for granted," President Carter said.

"I think more recently we've seen, with the police activity against innocent black people, that we still have a long way to go.
President Carter's full interview with Oprah airs Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET on OWN. Watch a preview here.

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President Jimmy Carter: 'I Was The Only White Child In The Neighborhood'

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Jimmy Carter was born James Earl Carter Jr. on October 1, 1924. He grew up in the rural town of Archery, Georgia. When he wasn't helping his father on the peanut farm, he was fishing or playing in the woods with his friends, most of whom were African-American.

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Many black Americans have average homeownership rates, which is really good considering previous regulations such as red-lining in the past. Yet this doesn't stop black Americans from living in impoverished communities or  prevent misfortune. The unfortunate reality for black Americans is that the rate of incarceration is double than white Americans. Many states in America have low salary medians for black Americans, which leads to poverty and high crime rates. Wisconsin for example has one of the lowest percentages of black people and the highest black unemployment rate. These states make it extremely difficult to be black and successful. Civil Rights movements and laws were to prevent these issues, but they're still present everyday. This is why America needs more schools like Ron Brown, to help prevent generational poverty for black people and keep young adults out of prison in these states.

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Racial tension in the United States is at a high point not seen in decades. Increased outrage at incidents of police violence against black Americans and other more structural inequities have led to civil unrest and calls for dramatic changes in the criminal justice system. At the same time, the conditions of racial inequality that have arguably contributed to these recent events remain widespread and are unlikely to change in the near future.

In many of the worst states for black Americans, there are opportunities to get a steady job, earn decent wages, and buy a home in a thriving community. However, these opportunities are not uniformly accessible across racial lines. Based on an examination of a number of socio-economic measures, 24/7 Wall St. identified the worst states for black Americans.

While looking at racial inequalities, it is far easier to find similarities between the states than it is to find differences - inequality is entrenched everywhere and only the degree differs somewhat between states. According to Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, "It is hard to find a state where outcomes for African Americans are very good." In fact, no state reports better outcomes for black Americans than for white Americans.

Click here to see the worst states for black Americans.

The Civil Rights Movement offered hope that racial inequality would soon end. The movement led to a series of reforms, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other legislation, known together as the Great Society. Over the following 50 years, however, further advances have been modest at best.

For example, over the 40 years through the end of last year, with the exception of only eight years, the black unemployment rate has remained more than double the jobless rate for white U.S. workers.

While some policies were designed to reduce racial inequalities, other policies over the years were designed specifically to exclude African Americans from opportunity. Most notorious perhaps is government sponsored segregation, such as redlining, which led to racially isolated neighborhoods. EPI research associate Richard Rothstein has argued that since the federal government is largely responsible for these divided neighborhoods - which are among the primary sources of economic and social inequality - federal policies are needed to integrate these areas.

Discriminatory housing policies contributed to the vast wealth gap between white and black families seen today. Wilson explained that wealth is accumulated over and between generations, but "for centuries, African Americans were prohibited from taking advantage of a lot of opportunities for building wealth, building income, even getting education."

According to Washington D.C.-based think tank The Pew Research Center, the median net worth of white households was 13 times greater than the median worth of black households in 2013.

Today, 71% of homes with white heads of household are owned by their occupants, compared to the black homeownership rate of just 41.2%. Mississippi, the state where black residents are most likely to own their homes, has a black homeownership rate of 53.8%. This is roughly in line with the white homeownership rate of 53.1% in Hawaii, the state where white residents are least likely to own their homes. In the 10 worst states for black Americans, homeownership rates among black residents tend to be on the higher end of the spectrum compared to homeownership rates of black residents in other states. However, since this is also true for white residents in these states, the gaps between white and black homeownership rates are still especially large.

"Unless there is something done to affirmatively and directly address that disparity, it's nearly impossible to close the gap," Wilson said. However, she added, "it is wrong to assume that once the law changes all of those things sort of fall in place."

Racism and the after effects of racial discrimination would likely remain for some time after any policy is implemented to address the inequality. For example, despite numerous efforts to ensure workplace equality, black workers still often receive markedly different treatment than white employees.

The states where disparities between racial groups are most pronounced are also the areas of the United States where addressing the issue will likely be most difficult. Nationwide, 10.8% of white Americans live in poverty, while the black poverty rate is 27.0%. In the majority of the 10 worst states for black Americans, the poverty rate among black residents exceeds the national black poverty rate. At the same time, in three of the 10 states, the poverty rate among white residents is actually lower than the corresponding national rate.

Blacks are also incarcerated at far higher rates than whites. Black men, in particular, disproportionately make up a large share of the U.S. prison population, which including people of any race totals an estimated 2.2 million people. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, black Americans are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses than white Americans, despite the fact that both groups are equally likely to use drugs.

Incarceration makes it more difficult to get a job and often leads to a range of other negative outcomes. For example, it is one the leading drivers of disenfranchisement. The annual incarceration rate in all but one of the 10 worst states for black Americans exceeds 2,000 per 100,000 African American residents. In Wisconsin, the rate for black residents is nearly double this rate. For white residents of these states, the incarceration rates are all well below 1,000 per 100,000 people.

These are the 10 worst states for black Americans.

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Racial tension in the United States is at a high point not seen in decades. Increased outrage at incidents of police violence against black Americans and other more structural inequities have led to civil unrest and calls for dramatic changes in the criminal justice system.

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The use of the N-word and meaning has changed overtime. During slavery, most if not all viewed it in the same way, but in today's society its meaning is misunderstood or misused. One major controversy that is questioned daily is if the use of the N-word in music should only be used by black people or not at all. I've noticed from my own personal experience, that people often think that the meaning of the N-word loses it's meaning when used in music. Most people who are white try to rationalize their reason for using the word by saying that it's in the lyrics of a rap song. I believe that it's inappropriate for white individuals to use it in general, whether it's in a conversation or singing along to the lyrics to a song.

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Explore perspectives.
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Start your own conversation

Add a question or use one of the submitted questions to start a conversation with your social network. (Note: The n-word has not been filtered from submissions.)

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n-word; donte stallworth; neal brennan; dave chappelle show; nfl; national football leagues bans nword; nfl bans the nword; nigger; nigga; nigger vs nigga; kkk; ku klux klan; jay z; oprah;

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The n-word: An interactive project exploring a singular word

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After the National Football League made the controversial decision to ban the n-word on the field this year, a team of Washington Post journalists explored the history of the word, its evolution and its place in American vernacular today.