Crossing the Color Line

Racism is one of the most talked about topics in our society today, everywhere you go you see different people from different ethnic backgrounds. But the way people view race and ethnicity in today's culture is much different than how they may have viewed it 20 or 30 years ago. In my opinion one of the biggest reasons for this is due to our pop culture in today's society. African Americans have helped shape what we know as pop culture in today's society and they have taken it places it might not have gone if the color lines were never crossed. Growing up as a white male in the 21st century I never really knew a whole lot about the "color line", we talked about it a little in high school but I never really had a deep look into it. The way in which our culture and society is run today, most people don't stop and think about how a color line might affect things today. Growing up in a mostly white school, I didn't really get the whole experience other kids may have got coming from more of a minority school. When I think of the "color line" I think back to high school when we learned about African Americans only being allowed to do certain things and use certain things in society, obviously you see none of that in today's society and you will never see any of it in the future.
While I didn't really get to experience much as far as different backgrounds and cultures as a child, I did get a few chances to go on trips with my church were we helped kids and families who were living in the inner cities. It was a real eye opening experience every time we went because we got to experience how they lived their life and how it was so much different from ours. The children we came into contact with acted just the same as I did and just about every other kid growing up, all they wanted to do was play and have fun. But the adults on the other hand knew they were living a tough life and it was hard for them to get by from day to day. just because they were from a different ethnic background or grew up less fortunate than someone else didnt mean they were not going to have the best life they possibly could.

Questions:
1. How has the color line helped shape the culture and society we live in today?
2. What would our culture look like today if there was even some sort of color line still around?