we've all heard of the American dream. They believe that no matter who you are, all you have to do to be successful is work hard and you'll succeed. Easier said than done for black Americans. Think about this. It's 2020. Jim Crow laws were only abolished 56 years ago. Our parents were in segregated schools, riding on the back of the bus, forced to use colored entrances. Lynching was widespread. Black people were stopped from voting and met no one representing or advocating for them and their communities in local, state or national government. The impact of Jim Crow is still being felt today. For many black families, it's like riding a bike with only one pedal. A great many of our colleagues used the phrase systemic racism to suggest that the entire criminal justice system is imbued with races. I don't believe that's accurate from Congress to a University of Central Florida professors now deleted tweet, saying Quote, black privilege, Israel. There's a consistent questioning of whether systemic racism exists, and this mentality that says, Why can't all those black people chanting in the streets for reform just get a job, saved their money, be respectful to police and do better. So a lot of people, if they imagine a bird in a bird cage. If you're only thinking about one bar, right, so maybe just criminal justice system. You kind of looking. So why can't the bird get out of that right? There's only one bar in front of them. They should be to go to the left or right and get around it. But if you were to step back and look at the complete picture and see the complete cage, you'd see that they're all these interlocking connected bars, right? So criminal justice, education, housing all these different things. It doesn't mean that blacks or people of color, it's impossible for them to get out of situations at their end, but is much more difficult because of the interlocking nature of the system. As Professor Jonathan Cox set with me in the hot Florida sun, it became clear this story would only be a snapshot of America's systems of oppression. Of course, there's the nearly 250 years black people were shipped, whipped, bought, sold and forced into the back breaking work of building the country's economic power for free. But beyond that, there is a recurring issue when it comes to wealth and opportunity in America racist housing policies and there are many. They were able to help him get alone by guaranteeing Professor Cox likes to start with the G I. Bill. That was billions of dollars that was pumped into the U. S. Economy. And that's where we start to see the development of the class. So starting in 1944 the U. S government offered veterans coming back from World War Two money to start businesses or get a college education and low or no interest home loans. But it was still the time of legalized segregation and with no federal oversight, over a 1,000,000 black veterans were denied these benefits right, which is a significant number of people, right? And so again, this money was dispersed over like, 30 years worth of time. So just imagine the compounding effects of 30 years, where blacks are not allowed to participate or allowed to participate in much lower rates than whites. But they just don't have that can't keep up right. We're starting at a much different place now, years later, where whites who were able to access his money were then able to turn this around, give money to their Children, help pay for their Children's education. African Americans who were prohibited, prohibited not. They didn't want to, not because they didn't like living among whites. They were prohibited from moving into these suburbs, and they could easily afford to do so. Richard Rothstein writes in his New York Times bestseller, The Color of Law. And there is a large variety of home sites available. These same loans were being given to white, middle and lower class families, not just vets with the requirement not to sell to black people. Then there's redlining. The government's refusal to ensure loans in or near African American neighborhoods let the areas highlighted in pink. In this decades old map of Philadelphia homeownership rate of black families in the Orlando Metropolitan, 44% contracts that to a white families. Where us about Dorian, it's It's a 70. Would Zillow? Skylar Olsen just shared our current percentages, by the way, especially damaging, since for so many Americans, wealth is tied up in a home. What else does where you live? Impact education? So you know there's that wall between Maitland and could you drive through? That wall was only built in the early 19 sixties, Professor Robert Kasten Ello told me. Walls of all kinds denied black people access in Florida, he says, even though black people successfully lobby to create the state's public education system. Up until the 19 twenties, they were on Lee taught through the 10th grade in underfunded schools. Decades later, cast a, Nello says, Florida started pumping money into black schools like the current Jones High. It had the exact same blueprint as Edgewater High, the white school unheard of at the time. The attempt was to argue before the Supreme Court that Florida schools, both black and white, were funded equally or almost equal in. They thought that would defend the state of Florida against any desegregation case. The plan failed with the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education ruling that separate but equal schools were unconstitutional. Schools slowly integrated. But today, 66 years later, less than 1% of Jones's student population is white. This is because of, you know, desegregation practices that that exacerbated racial segregation rather than alleviated as well as slice only a couple of hours drive over modern, streamlined highways to any metropolitan Florida city. Now, remember what I said about walls while in the fifties America started building highways, which not only kept blacks and whites separate, but also decimated black neighborhoods, I four included. City leaders were never interested in the opinion of residents of pair more about where I four should go, what homes and businesses would be disrupted by four. But they really were concerned when the residents of Winter Park were upset about I for going too close to the downtown of where part professor cast A. Nello says. That's why the highway skirts the very edges of Winter Park. But go straight through downtown, he says. Black people being left out of major public decisions started to change after the civil rights movement and after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 past. Technically, black men had the right to vote since 18 70. But there were challenges. We saw poll taxes, right, so you know, requiring a certain amount of money to be able to vote. We saw laws about grandfather clauses. We saw the implementation of literacy tests and other forms of testing to see, to see if blacks were able to vote, Kason Ello told me in Florida, voting directions were printed in newspapers, so clearly you'd have to know how to read. We finally restored the rights to 1.4 million Floridians. Now, nearly two years after Florida voters overwhelmingly passed it, Amendment four is caught in a legal fight over ex felons having to pay fines and fees before being granted their voting rights. Some called that a modern day whole tax. Then there's violence. This November will mark 100 years since the Ochoa massacre, which again involved law enforcement, involved white military veterans driving in from Orlando to lay siege. Teoh Community of African Americans who had simply tried to vote. And we're massacre doing so. Where's the grand jury hearing's proceedings? Where's the victim testimony? Jasmine asked. Let's ask ourselves that, Professor Paul Ortiz says July Perry's lynching during that massacre is part of the states, often untold history. Florida had the highest number of lynchings per capita in the country from 18 80 2 1940 Ortiz says policing is steeped with the mentality of those mobs who murdered black people initially as slave patrols. Any white person, no matter what training they have, no matter how Richard for they are, has the right to a chase after each humiliate abduct African Americans in the South. Ortiz also pointed me to a 2016 Sarasota Herald Tribune report on sentencing in Florida, which found, among many disparities, judges in Flagler County put blacks convicted of armed robbery away for nearly tripled the time of whites nearly 2500 days for blacks. 957 for whites talking about thousands of cases. There's unequal sentence saying that's targeting African Americans in Florida for much harsher, much longer, much more punitive punishments and at school on time today I've gone to depositions in the past and I walk into the you know, the room and, you know, everybody assumes I'm not lawyer. Everybody but the lawyer. Are you the court reporter? No, I'm not. And then they go down, okay? Or you the witness? No, I'm not, uh, and then finally, after government. Oh, you're the lawyer. Yes, I could be a lawyer to LaShonda. Kate Jackson has personally seen bias in the courtroom. She's also the Orange County Bar associations first black president in the organization's 87 years and a great example of something Professor Cox pointed out. Black people are underrepresented in executive level leadership, top levels of government. And even if you're able to say, get hired at a reputable law firm and serve your community, you'll still experience racism. Even if you have a college degree, Absolutely right, we see that that's still that doesn't really matter Way. Still, say the discrimination again happening at all levels of society right? Which is one of the one of the strongest points of evidence for the fact that there is some type of embedded systemic racism. This report scratched the surface of the impacts of systemic racism in America. As so many have said in recent weeks, it's important to educate yourself right?