Discrimination is the disadvantageous treatment of an individual based on race, sex, color, age, religion, disability, etc. Although discrimination is publicly looked down upon in most countries, discriminatory policies and practices remain in every part of the world. In my opinion, several measures need to be taken in order to deal with discrimination.
First, we need to tackle the root of this problem. Discrimination occurs when people in a certain group or category feel superior to those belonging to another group or category. To improve human relations in our society, each county, town, and village needs to build a community for all the residents, no matter of their race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, and disability. The community should answer the practical, spiritual, and social needs of its people, and the members should learn to love and need one another (“What is the solution for racial discrimination?”, n.d.). As long as strong bonds among people are built in many communities, people will find it much easier to get along with others and that the whole city becomes full of joy and affection.
Second, the rapid development of Internet media and social network could be used to fight against discrimination. In the past, when discrimination occurred to underclass persons who were struggling for their living, one can imagine how difficult for them to fight against the mistreatment. In contrast, even those who are struggling in poverty know how to post status on Facebook and many other social networking websites. After reading others’ tragic stories from Internet, many people would stand up and support the mistreated, by applying pressure to the government and authorizes, donating to the mistreated, and thus helping the anti-discriminatory movement.
United State government and the whole society have been seeking solutions to prevent discrimination and provide remedies for those who have been mistreated. First, in the United States, several anti-discriminatory laws have been enacted since middle 20th century. They include Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Fair Housing Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and Violence Against Women Act (“Discrimination”, n.d.). These acts prohibit discrimination in the workplace or in the sale of rental of housing based on race, color, sex (including pregnancy), religion, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. In addition, each state has its own anti-discriminatory laws, many of which expand protections beyond those covered by the federal laws. Second, federal and state anti-discriminatory agencies were founded to hear complaints and provide remedies for people facing discrimination. Among these agencies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the most important one in reinforcing the federal anti-discriminatory laws (Reid).
These measures, however, are not very effective in prohibiting discrimination for several reasons. First, the laws and agencies can only regulate the act of employers and businessmen in the workplace or in business practices, while discrimination occurs in every corner of the society. For example, racial and ethnic minority children are more likely to be bullied in schools. In addition, discrimination occurs often in verbal situations, which cannot be regulated or corrected by laws. For example, an African American Kmart employee slapped a white costumer who cursed and used the N-word against her (“Racial Discrimination: Black Employee Fired After Being Called the N-Word. DiversityInc”, n.d.). After being fired by Kmart, the fired employee filed a Title VII race-discrimination case against Kmart, alleging that the latter was encouraging a racially hostile environment by firing the victim of harassment(“Racial Discrimination: Black Employee Fired After Being Called the N-Word. DiversityInc”, n.d.). This allegation, however, was not supported by the court, which ruled against the fired employee(“Racial Discrimination: Black Employee Fired After Being Called the N-Word. DiversityInc”, n.d.).Here comes a question of whether the misbehaved white customer should also be punished in some way. It is certainly difficult for legislators and authorities to define one’s everyday behavior.
Second, it is extremely difficult for an individual to fight against the discriminating company or organization. Those discrimination cases leading to enormous settlement always involve a significant large group of people as the plaintiff and often many prestigious lawyers. If an individual or a small group of people decide to sue their former employer, the chance of winning the lawsuit is almost always slim. This is because even if an employer decides to fire an employee because of the latter’s age or disability, he or she always gets help from lawyers to avoid language that can be viewed as age- or disability-related, eliminating any possibility of a lawsuit.
Third, the anti-discriminatory agencies, including the EEOC, have been largely underfunded by the governments, understaffed, and ineffectively at doing their jobs in helping people fight discrimination (“A Simple, Legal Way to Help Stop Employment Discrimination”, 2013).
In sum, while the current laws and government agencies are fairly ineffectively in protecting people from discrimination, to fight against this issue, people should start building good relationships in communities and using social media to protest discrimination.
Reference
Discrimination.(n.d.). Retrieved on May 5, 2013 from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination
Reid, S. Solutions to Discrimination in the Workplace.Chron. Retrieved on May 5, 2013 from: http://work.chron.com/solutions-discrimination-workplace-11040.html
What is the solution for racial discrimination? Retrieved on May 5, 2013 from Wiki Answers: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_solution_for_racial_discrimination
Racial Discrimination: Black Employee Fired After Being Called the N-Word. DiversityInc. Retried on May 6, 2013 from: http://www.diversityinc.com/legal-issues/racial-discrimination-black-employee-fired-after-being-called-the-n-word/
Cohen, P. A Simple, Legal Way to Help Stop Employment Discrimination. (2013). The Atlantic. Retried on May 6, 2013 from: http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/a-simple-legal-way-to-help-stop-employment-discrimination/274519/
