In 1967 the status of black Americans and their place in white America was constantly a topic of heated discussions. One proponent of the black mans right to equality was Martin Luther King Jr. King considered the place of the black american throughout the country's stained history. King mentions the Constitution of the United States in his book Chaos or Community stating that when it was written "the Negro was only 60 percent of a person"(King 6). King also discusses the infant mortality rate of blacks citing that it is twice that of white infants. He also states that 1 African American attends college for every 20 whites that do. These are numerical representations of institutional racism. I think by mentioning the 3/5ths compromise King shows where African-Americans were placed in terms of importance at the beginning of the United States. By citing the other numbers he shows that blacks have not really had the opportunity to advance in nearly 200 years. Although America no longer legally considered blacks to be of less value than whites they were clearly voicing their opinion on the matter by way of institutional forms of racism.
In the present day it is all too easy to make the argument that not much has changed since the 60's. An article in the New York Times from May 17th 2012 brought some statistics to light that although they may be improvements to the state of things in 1967 they still show an institutional favoritism towards the white community.
