There is an incredible website I was thinking to recommend you for a long time.
The name is "American Pictures". It's about a Danish backpacker, Jacob Holdt, who traveled the USA in the seventies and spend lot of time with minorities (especially poor black people). He took a lot of pictures of their miserable condition, studied the "roots of oppression", the slavery system, fell in love with some people, fought against other but came back to Denmark with a deep love for American people and a huge need to express what he felt during his trip. He wrote a book, "American Pictures", very accurate, dark, but so close and honest to the people he met (he even spent time with Ku Klux Klan member living with them, trying to understand them). He also is visiting schools all around the world to talk about oppression and racism in our modern societies.
The thing I like about Holdt is that he is not judging American people from outside. He clearly love them (in a religious and -sometimes- physical manner), try to be fair to both poor black people and white supremacist, sometimes endangering himself. That's hardcore investigation. A true human experience.
Just click on this link, dig the "Roots of Oppression", and don't forget, it's not only about America. Look around you.
Romain
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