On Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and hundreds of thousands of other Americans gathered for the March on Washington at the National Mall to “cash a check.” The “check,” which King said came back marked “insufficient funds” for African Americans, guarantees Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness to all Americans. This week is that march’s 50th anniversary, and though this might seem like reason to celebrate, we must look at the facts and ask, “Has anything really changed?” 

It would be ignorant to assume that just because the United States implemented civil rights laws, this nation is free of racism and racial profiling. Trayvon Martin’s death is one of the most recent, relevant and tragic examples of racial profiling. As Martin Luther King III said at the anniversary march, “the tears of Travyon Martin’s mother and father remind us that, far too frequently, the color of one’s skin remains a license to profile, to arrest and to even murder with no regard for the content of one’s character.” George Zimmerman, the Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who killed Martin, was acquitted of manslaughter and second-degree murder. Because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, Zimmerman got away with murder. It’s not a stretch to reason that Martin’s race is part of the reason Zimmerman found him “suspicious.” 

In less severe scenarios, minorities are subjected to questioning (rather than death, as Martin was). Earlier this month, Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston’s Logan International Airport claimed that their co-workers had been using race as a basis for selecting people to question. Among those targeted for secondary screenings are Mexicans, African Americans and Brazilians. Additionally, in New York City, the police department employs stop-and-frisk tactics. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, blacks and Latinos made up close to 90 percent of people stopped from 2002 to 2011, yet 88 percent of those stopped were innocent.

You would hope that the politicians who represent us are above racism, but it turns out they are some of its worst proponents. Selfishness and competitiveness have resulted in gerrymandering, or the process of manipulating electoral district boundaries to create partisan advantages. North Carolina’s 12th congressional district, which runs in a narrow, cumbersome line from Charlotte to Greensboro, is a clear example of gerrymandering. Its residents are 47.2 percent white, which is only slightly more than blacks, who make up 44.6 percent of its population. Because of the large black presence and the tendency of blacks to vote Democrat, the district has been exclusively Democratic since 1947. Racial gerrymandering is meant to ensure that there are constituencies where African American and Latino representatives are sure to win. First of all, this assumes that minorities cannot win districts on their own and where their race is not heavily present. Moreover, racial gerrymandering is intentional segregation. 

So when hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the National Mall for the March on Washington’s anniversary, they were not just there to remember the event—they were there to remind us of the issues it tackled, as some of those issues still need tackling in this day. “This is not the time for nostalgic commemoration, nor is this the time for self-congratulatory celebration—the task is not done,” said Martin Luther King III. Two-hundred and thirty-seven years after the establishment of the U.S., 150 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 years after King’s speech, the metaphorical check has still not been cashed—not for African Americans, nor for any other minority.