b'African American StudiesWhite to Bear Arms: Racism and the Second AmendmentJaleel Lee, African American StudiesFaculty Sponsor: Roy Pace, African American StudiesThe Second Amendment is one of the most controversial additions to the Constitution since it was written into the Bill of Rights in 1791. Scholars and gun rights activists had been debating the meaning of it for decades until the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, when it was decided that the Amendment protected a citizens right to own a firearm and use it for self-defense. Although this case was meant to apply across the nation, there are some who will never be able to use this right. Due to years of racial discrimination and social programming, black and brown people living in the United States have often had their rights denied or are openly punished for taking advantage of their Second Amendment privileges. From the enactment of black codes during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period to the disarming of the Black Panther Party, the United States has had an ugly history of keeping firearms out of the hands of one of its most vulnerable populations. The racist roots of the NRA and the super-predator myth as well as racially biased news coverage has demonized young people of color and created fear that leads to violence against minorities, rather than by them as many would like people to believe. This has lead to the death of people like Philando Castile, EJ Bradford, and many other young black men killed for doing as the law had permitted them to do. All of these factors created the mentality that, in many spaces, you must be white to bear arms.13'