Racism in the United States
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Racism in the United States
Racism in the United States Can is traced back to the slave trade era. Transatlantic trade so one of the worst experiences for Africans in West Africa who were captured and sold in plantation farms in North and South America. 400 years of slavery came to an end after the civil war of 1886. Hello African, so given freedom, racism still limited the ability to access education employment and settlements in different country regions (Austin et al., 2016). The Jim Crow laws, for instance, legitimize discrimination and segregation of African Americans in North America. This led to unequal growth in the economic and political aspects of African Americans. The civil rights movement was instrumental in trying to fight racism in all aspects of life in America. The movement was both organized and led by civil African Americans, including Marcus Garvey Martin, Luther King, and Malcolm X, among other prominent leaders (Sunderstrom & Kim, 2014). Other minority groups being discriminated against is the Hispanic communities. Thesis: Racism is a constant factor that has divided the country for centuries despite the enactment of the civil rights acts of 1964 that protects every citizen in their country against any forms of discrimination.
However, racism as a concept is still evident in current society despite the numerous efforts made by both the government and other non-governmental organizations in discouraging Discrimination of any kind. Racism is also referred to as racialism, which is defined as a belief that humans can be divided into groups based on aspects other than exclusive biological entities, including skin color (Dreyer et al., 2020). As mentioned, the history of racism can be traced back to the slave trade era why Africans were sold in plantations in North and South America. However, the fight for racial equality did not begin with the civil rights movement (Austin et al., 2016). The American civil war was the first step well states in the North Joined forces to fight for equality and unification and led to the Civil Rights Act’s enactment in 1964. Although this was not enough4 was the most significant step towards racial equality in the country. The rules supported the idea that the white majority or more superior to the African American minorities in the country and therefore encouraged separate economic growth in the country (Sunderstrom & Kim, 2014).
Under the segregation laws, African American children went to separate schools that had fewer resources and different, inferior syllabus. Health care facilities and other social amenities or also divided by race, with African Americans having the lowest quality of all social amenities well, the white majority receive the best available quality of all social amenities. This segregation last divided the country into two and increased the hatred between African Americans and the white majority. Although the country had gone a long way from slavery segregation, African Americans still felt the need to fight for equality as a way to improve economic and political development (Dreyer et al., 2020).
Racial discrimination has created a great divide between the two major races in the country. After the enactment of the Civil Rights Act 1964, the kisses of discrimination went down by a great deal. Africans so enrolled in better schools and got the opportunity for better job employment. Study shows that little discrimination went down but is not yet over. African Americans are still discriminated against in different aspects of this society in the country (Austin et al., 2016). Police brutality directed towards African Americans has been on the rise over the past decades, an aspect that has created a huge deep divide between African Americans and the police force. The treatment of white by the police is most civil and respectful compared to the treatment of African Americans by law enforcement members.
The Watt riots of 1965 Was an outcry of African Americans’ plate due to discriminatory laws that prevented them from accessing basic human needs. Watt region of Los Angeles, for instance, was in riots for six consecutive days; this led to the deaths of 32 African Americans, with 1000 more being injured. The cause of these riots was rumors of an African American woman being injured by police officers (Mclntyre-Brewer, 2019). This sparked anger that leads to significant riot destruction of properties and the great tension between African Americans under the law enforcement agencies. An inquiry into the matter should ensure that the case of an African American woman being hurt is not sufficient to warrant a race riot of that magnitude. Therefore, the consensus was that the Sparks by the case of police brutality but was, however, caused by a history of discrimination and segregation that had divided the police officers and African Americans in the country. The pain of generational discrimination has also intensified the divide between African Americans and the white majority in the country (Austin et al., 2016).
The cases of African Americans dying in police custody or during the process of arrest are also significantly high. African Americans are more likely to be shot during their arrests than white people majority. These factors led to increasing scrutiny on police contact concerning racial discrimination in conducting their duties. The functions of law enforcement are to facilitate law and order society. This function entails the protection of all citizens and arresting wrongdoers in society. However, this job’s efficiency depends on the flow of information too low enforcement about crimes or any suspicious activities in society (Mclntyre-Brewer, 2019). However, this ability has been crippled but increased racial discrimination against African Americans by law enforcement agents. The most recent cases of police brutality include the murder of George Floyd In police custody. The video footage released of the gruesome murder sparked uproar across the world spearheaded by the black lives matter campaign. Breonna Tyler was also shot dead by the police in a raid in her apartment. This incident increased the divide between the police force and African Americans and whites and African Americans in the country. Although all citizens’ rights and freedom are guaranteed in the constitution, the cases of racism in all aspects of life are still high and seem to be escalating.
Health care is yet another avenue that has high levels of discrimination based on race. According to this group of people, access to healthcare by most African Americans is limited and has increased concerns over the health care services (Serchen et al., 2020). The majority of African Americans live in low-income families, making it hard to access healthcare’s I have said that it is accessible to other white majorities. The quality of services offered in health care facilities is also different. In some cases, several health care facilities offer poor quality healthcare to African Americans while the best case over to whites. This aspect leads to an increased gap between African Americans and whites in their country (Sunderstrom & Kim, 2014).
Although racial discrimination is not new, several organizations have tried to advocate for equality with little or no success at all. However, the fact that they struggle is still on shows that discrimination based on race is also ongoing. There is currently support from all over the world on matters of equality, especially the position the country holds in the global sphere. Human rights are an integral part of the economic and political development of any country. The lag in political and economic aspects in some regions has been attributed to racial discrimination (Mclntyre-Brewer, 2019).
Amnesty International has condemned the cases of racial discrimination in the country, a recognition that the result case of the racial divide in the country threatens to tear it apart. From a historical perspective, it can be seen that groups of people who practiced racism held the idea that African Americans of much lower status in a society should be accorded only last those jobs well the white majority who are doing undress want to have exclusive access to economic resources political power high-status jobs as well as unrestricted civil rights. This perception is also the basis of the increased racial discrimination cases in the country, which has subsequently increased tension and division. Political leaders have a role to play in unifying the country (Nardi et al., 2020). President Donald Trump’s administration has never shown the reluctance or rather lack of interest in fighting for racial equality but rather showing disregard for this aspect. After the death of George Floyd and other subsequent attacks on African Americans in the country, the president was more focused on trying to squash the demonstration rather than appeal to the people to Unite as a country. This shows that racial discrimination is entrenched deep in the minds of all some of the people in the country, including leaders.
Although African Americans are not the only race being discriminated against, they have experienced the highest number of cases throughout history. However, other victims of racial discrimination include Hispanics, which stands at the third position after African Americans and the white majority. The black lives matter campaign (Nardi et al., 2020). Has been the primary movement advocating for African Americans’ rights to equal treatment in their country one of its greatest success was the push to justice for the police officers were involved in the death of George Floyd. Despite this effort, African Americans still fight against systemic racism in the country, which has been widespread over the past few decades.
Therefore, it can be deduced that Racism is a constant factor that has divided the country for centuries despite the enactment of the civil rights acts of 1964 that protect every citizen in their country against any forms of discrimination. As mentioned, racism can be traced back to the slave trade era that was facilitated by the transatlantic slave trade. Progress has been made from the slave era to the current society that has greatly improved graceful equality in the country. However, this is not enough as equality entails zero cases of discrimination based on race in any aspect of society. Therefore, the number of current reasons concerns that racial equality is far from being achieved underneath this effort by leaders to unite the people. Two of the most known movements that fought against racial discrimination in their country include the civil rights movement that facilitated the enactment of the civil rights act of 1964 that guaranteed freedoms are rights of all African Americans like any other citizen in the country. Black lives matter campaign has been the most recent movement that pushed for reforms, especially in Law enforcement agencies, on matters such as police brutality and excessive use of force.
References
Austin, C., Crawford-Roberts, A., Kahn, M., Lynch, G., Mirand, C., & Ostrer, L. (2016, November). Beyond implicit bias: a medical student course of race and racism in medicine. In 144th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.
Dreyer, B. P., Trent, M., Anderson, A. T., Askew, G. L., Boyd, R., Coker, T. R., … & Montoya-Williams, D. (2020). The Death of George Floyd: Bending the Arc of History Toward Justice for Generations of Children. Pediatrics, 146(3). Retrieved from : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diana_Montoya-Williams/publication/342489831_The_Death_of_George_Floyd_Bending_the_Arc_of_History_Toward_Justice_for_Generations_of_Children/links/5eff4463299bf18816fcfef2/The-Death-of-George-Floyd-Bending-the-Arc-of-History-Toward-Justice-for-Generations-of-Children.pdf
McIntyre-Brewer, M. S. (2019). Environmental racism throughout the history of economic globalization. AUC Geographica, 54(1), 105-113.
Nardi, D., Waite, R., Nowak, M., Hatcher, B., Hines‐Martin, V., & Stacciarini, J. M. R. (2020). Achieving Health Equity Through Eradicating Structural Racism in the United States: A Call to Action for Nursing Leadership. Journal of Nursing Scholarship.)
Serchen, J., Doherty, R., Atiq, O., & Hilden, D. (2020). Racism and health in the United States: a policy statement from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine, 173(7), 556-557. https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-4195
Sundstrom, R. R., & Kim, D. H. (2014). Xenophobia and racism. Critical philosophy of race, 2(1), 20-45. Retrieved from: https://philarchive.org/archive/KIMXAR