Introduction
Reverent Dr. Susan Brook, a professor in theology, in Chicago theological seminary, states in her blog that one hug is not enough to end racism in the United States of America (D'Souza 16). This implies that despite the media publicity regarding the end of racism, there is ongoing racism in the United States and is recognized by thespians and other leaders. Despite the fact that racism is central to the history of the United States, most Americans struggle to understand the fact that the history continues to influence contemporary life. The problem with the current misunderstanding is the fact that the current Americans lack comparative experience since what they all know is the American society and you may never be able to pick any anomalies.
Racism is a concept that describes prejudice and segregation that base on social perceptions regarding biological differences between people basing on their races and skin color. It normally takes the form of social beliefs, actions, and practices, political systems and presumptions of inherited traits and qualities. The end result is different treatment of different races. This essay provides an outlook in the social concept of racism in America today.
Martinez (2) explains that the definition of racism includes intentional and unintentionally discriminations such as making assumptions with regards to preferences and abilities of others basing on their racial characteristics. There are also symbolic and institutionalized racial stereotypes as seen in media stereotypic circulations and sociopolitical dynamics as seen in stratifications with racial components. There are also inclusions of malignant forms of discrimination that are conscious and most people consider all forms of assumptions that an individual’s behavior is tied to their racial background as inherently racism.
One perfect example of racism in America is the recent case of Michael Brown, a black teen shot by police in a case said to be racial profiling. According to Martis (1), a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown on August 9th and prompted protests for weeks. Although there are no reports linking the police action to being racially motivated, there have been protests over grand jury decision in the case, which is similar to the Eric Garner case. The officers involved in the shooting were not to be charged with crime and protestors burst into the streets after the hearing. Analysts claim this is like the utterances of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said that protest is the voice of the unheard, which refers to the voice of the black majority in Ferguson, Missouri.
The case was determined by a grand jury, which is a composition of ordinary citizens representing the community in making decisions on whether to indict or pursue the prosecution depending on the validity of the evidence presented. In the Michael Brown case, the grand jury decided not to pursue with the case and the police were free. Analysts base their racism claim in this case by looking first at the composition of the jury, which was composed of 12 citizens randomly selected. Looking at the composition, there are six white men, three white women, two black women and one black man. This was considered as a high profile indictment and the jurists were to act as co-investigators. They were to determine whether the officer was to face a murder charge or manslaughter that was voluntary or involuntary. In order to indict the officer, nine out of the 12 members of the jury had to vote yes. However, the family of the victim sensed secrecy in the proceedings of the jury and felt left out in the judicial action against the culprit. Additionally, the protestors felt that the prosecutor was impartial and the composition of the jury favored the white race.
The mix-up of witness stories did not give enough evidence of struggle between the police officer and Mr. Brown who got six shots for alleged confrontation with the officer. Mr. Brown had his hands in the air as a sign of surrender as reported by some of the witnesses, while others claimed that he did not have his hands raised at all. The choice of the jury members to take the side of the witnesses who said the victim did not raise his hands leads to analysts citing racism in the case. The racial bias also manifests in the fact that in normal cases, the grand jury does not hear testimonies from the individual likely to face indictment, yet in the Michael Brown case, the officer Wilson was called in to testify for four hours. Additionally, there was no evidence that linked Michael’s juvenile life to crime and he had no felony records to make the police treat him as a suspect and a potential criminal. The FBI opened a civil case later to inquire on the shooting and the Justice department also begun an investigation on the tendency of the police to discriminate and misuse force in administration of their duties. The police force in Ferguson is nearly all white with only four black officers within the predominantly black community.
Another example of relevance in discrimination cases occurred on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks when a woman was arrested and removed from the plane, which is a case of racial profiling. Racial profiling is developing suspicious stereotyping against members of a particular racial group. Warikoo (1) outlines that the incident on the 10th anniversary involved a 36 year old woman of half Jewish and half Arabic descent at Metro airport in Detroit, where the airport officials strip-searched her and placed her in jailed for more than four hours. The FBI and other federal officials held Shoshana Hebshi, a U.S. citizen from Sylvania, because they suspected her to be a terrorist basing on her racial origin. Not only the law enforcement takes the blame, but the flight attendants on the plane had alerted the pilot about the two men arrested alongside her of being probably of Arabic descent.
The concern of the “colored” Americans regarding their treatment based on their color in the hands of law enforcers is indicative of rampant racism in the country even in the 21st century. The skin color and names have the powers to place your freedom and liberty at risk in many areas including transport sector, banking, and education, employment, among other areas or importance.
Relevance of the topic and historic development: major players
Although the United Nations does not define racism, Daniels (63) states that it has a definition of racial discrimination, which implies the same thing as racism. It uses color, race, national or ethnicity and descent as the grounds of discrimination, distinction, and exclusion. In America today, discrimination has taken different forms including racial discrimination, where there is social separation of people into different categories that eventually results to different treatment. For instance, there are many reported cases of racial profiling in the name of fighting crime and terrorism. Workplaces have had many incidences of racial discrimination in the country; for instance, in terms of job application and recruitment and studies indicate that 50 percent of job applicants receive feedback for interviews just for having white sounding names. Additionally, there are discrimination court cases against whites in America that have been withheld in the name of promotion of diversity in education or work environment; hence, implying an evidence of strongly rooted racial discrimination in United States.
Institutional racism has also taken precedence as a form of racism in United States. It implies discrimination by corporations, governments, educational institutions and religions with the power to influence lives on the basis of color and race. Institutions fail to provide appropriate treatment and professional service to a group of people, or an individual on the basis of their color and origin. Most of the heads of institutions only know the “people of color” through historical stereotypes, yet still use them as the basis of discrimination in providing professional assistance (Martinez 36).
Historic economic disparity is a form of discrimination that is still practiced in most parts of United States today, although it alleged to be caused by historical reasons and past racism. The past economic racism continuously affects the United States present population through economic deficits in formal education provision and unconscious attitudes and actions of the minority groups. For instance, the bank of America has had to pay a sum total of $335 million as a recompense for having discriminated against African and Hispanic home buyers in the year 2011.
Another form of discrimination that is practiced in America today is symbolic racism, which implies outward acting as unprejudiced whereas inwardly the culprit maintains the prejudice attitude. Some people will act hesitantly towards the black people and present positive reactions in public contexts and still hold negative expressions and views in private contexts. Another example is when the hiring process has decisions in which recruits are disfavored unconsciously based on their color despite the positive evaluation process. This is a characteristic of explicit stereotyping in combination with resistance to changes in the structures of discrimination for non-racial reasons in determination of individual opportunities.
Ever since the Second World War, there have been new ideologies and practices in terms of societal customs and beliefs that enhance the assumption that the products of a given cultural group (including the traditions and language) are superior to other cultures. Researchers have dubbed this belief as cultural racism. In America today, there is acceptance of stereotypes in matters concerning ethnicity and population groups. Therefore, racism in such a context in America holds that the white population is far superior to other races and so their culture is definitely superior to other cultures (Daniels 15).
The return of racism in America was after the radical civil rights movement where the people began thinking of their attitudes towards the other race, which resulted to the major changes in the public policy. The people, therefore, have a choice on whether to preserve the existing policies structured on racial differences.
How racism can be ended
Ending racism in the United States is entirely optional since the people have the power to end the menace. Preservation of policies based on racial background was a post-civil strife option that favored racism in the United States. Making relevant choices with regards to racial policies remains at the disposal of the governments, yet deciding not to introduce better policies is like a decision to retain the status quo; hence, upholding racism. Therefore, the people must rethink from the past and ask themselves fundamental questions regarding racism and race. The people must understand that racism is a product of fear and ignorant and an irrational prejudice. Rethinking of the social policies regarding racism will enable harmonization of the black rage and the white backlash and will conquer racism.
According to Martinez (29), another way of eliminating racism is through understanding the fact that man is evolving; hence, capable of making positive changes to the environment and to themselves. Educating others to work together towards a bigger goal will ensure collective fight against racism. Talking about racism all the time implies that people still acknowledge the vice; hence, not talking about it, will result to positive feedback. Stopping to categorize people basing on their color and ethnic background will help the people to sail above racism. As much as prevention of racism might be difficult, discouragement is possible through enactment of harsh policies and taking stern action against reported cases in the country. Apart from that, there is the need to embrace social integration among difference races by sensitizing and educating communities to avoid discrimination at their places of work, schools, hospitals, correctional facilities, and in sports.
Work cited
Daniels, Katie C. "A Final Word 63." Confronting Racism in America As an United States Census Bureau Enumerator. London: Xlibris, 2014. 72. Print.
D'Souza, Dinesh. "Blacks and Whites Define Word `Racism' Differently." The Washington Post 8 June 1995, 12th ed., Society sec.: 16-18. Print.
Martinez, Roy. "Personal Reflections on Racism in America 29." On Race and Racism in America: Confessions in Philosophy. Illustrated ed. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State UP, 2010. 161. Print.
Martis, Eternity E. "What the Michael Brown Case Tells Us About Women, Fear, and Black Males." The Huffington Post 2 Sept. 2014, 23rd ed., The Black Voices sec.: 18-21. Print.
Warikoo, Niraj. "Ohio Woman Sues over Unlawful Arrest Resulting from Racial Profiling." States News Service 22 Jan. 2013. USA Today. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-315960789.html?>.
