Institutional racism is a part of one of the patterns followed by social institutions. There is a group of people who are given a negative or different treatment based on their race. Government organizations, banks, schools and other organizations often display such inequality and give unequal treatment to people based on race or skin color. Often, institutional racism (Mendez)is not intentional and is just pattern that is followed. Whether qualified blacks and Latinos get the right job opportunities or are victims of Institutional racism, is a debatable issue. With the arrival of an African American family in the White House, and as the first family, should mark the end of institutional racism and shatter those institutional barriers. Obama’s triumph in the election certainly shows that there is no barrier in the United States for anyone to realize their aspirations.
It is an intolerance to other societies that attack the liberal roots of democracy. In the United States, slavery, segregation, Indian reservations were the products of institutional racism, and these patterns had long-term impacts on the society. Racial stratification and disparities are still seen in employment, healthcare, education, and other sectors. Major inequalities still exist despite many laws that were passed against institutional racism. Institutional racism still denies qualified blacks and Latinos job opportunities they deserve. They are still lagging behind white people in virtually every sector, whether it is education, wellbeing and jobs.
The survey results show mixed views on progress toward racial equality and institutional racism. The economic abyss (Williams, 323-48) between blacks and whites remains, and when it comes to household income or getting jobs, the gap has only widened.As for the white people, they have an important role to play and root out institutional racism. White Americans need to understand that the persistent disparities can leave the society in despair. These disparities have been created by the white, preserved by the white institutions and ignored by the white society. The strangest thing about institutional racism is the blindness of the perpetrators. The blacks and Latinos, who have attended college and got jobs are likely to say that major strides have been made to remove racial bias, and they did not have to face any institutional racism.
A field experiment was done to study current discrimination among white, black, and Latino job applicants who were similar on interpersonal skills and demographic characteristics. Results showed that black and Latino applicants received fewer callbacks or job offer as compared to the equally qualified whites. Even those black and Latino applicants that had cleaner backgrounds as compared to the whites received no better treatment. These results show that those patterns of systematic forms of discrimination still existed and continue to shape employment opportunities.
Still, there is another viewpoint on the situation that questions the employer discrimination in the employment market (Jones, 218). It is not easy to get clear answers as discrimination is hard to measure and it is difficult to study the actual hiring decisions, what conditions actually led to the certain employer behavior and his decision making when hiring a white over a black. Perfect answers are indefinable as discrimination is tough to measure. Moreover, there are impersonal market forces that too have a role to play. For example, the upcoming features of low-wage labor markets demand new skills form workers. The job growth is concentrated more in service industries, and there is a strong emphasis on self-presentation. Personality-related attributes are of importance here as the worker has to interact with customers. The “soft skills” of black have always been questionable according to most employers.
With the rising increasing heterogeneity of the urban minority work force, the low-skill black workers are likely to contest amongst each other. Interviews with employers show that they prefer Latinos over blacks as they are looked upon to be more hard-working and reliable. Moreover, disadvantage leads to disadvantage and unemployment leads to low-wage among the blacks and Latinos, who are unable to give their children the education they need.It is seen that at the end of the 20th century, the jobs employing semi-skilled black workers shifted from the central city to the suburbs. The extreme absence of opportunities in the central city lead to massive unemployment and poverty in suburbs. The unfortunate reality that exists today is that pronounced differences in qualifications among workers exist by race and is the result of the patterns that were rooted in historical and social circumstances. The impersonal economic forces(Wilson, 3-11) that have been working for the last several decades have left many African Americans poor, jobless and declining real wages. The economic fate of African Americans remains connected to the structure of a broader modern economy. The faster spread of new technologies, especially in the in recent years have altered the demand for workers. International competition and new emerging technologies have worn out the basic establishments of the mass production system and eliminated manufacturing jobs in the United States. The significance of physical capital and natural resources has been reduced, and new jobs are emerging making others obsolete. These changes benefit the highly skilled workers, while prove to be a threat to the unskilled workers, thus creating problems for the blacks and Latinos. The educated worker get trained further to keep pace with technological changes while the less educated trail further behind.
The racism is a system that has evolved with the establishment of this country, and will need long term efforts to remove it completely. The racial differences in employment still remain, and the unemployment rates for black men are much higher as compared to whites. The white people should feel responsible for promoting racial justice, rather than turning a blind eye. Simply ignoring the issue or having discussion over it is not going to make any shift. There is a need to do something about Institutional racism, and this would require a compelling mission with an unwavering focus. Money may lift African-Americans but may not help them rise above the veil of racism.
References
Mendez, Dara. "The Effects Of Institutional Racism, Perceived Discrimination And Maternal Stress On Preterm Birth." (2009). Print.
Williams, Jenny. "Redefining Institutional Racism." Ethnic and Racial Studies 8.3 (1985): 323-48. Print.
JONES, TERRY. "Institutional Racism in the United States." Social Work 19.2 (1974): 218. Print.
Wilson, William Julius. "Toward a Framework for Understanding Forces that Contribute to Or Reinforce Racial Inequality." Race and Social Problems 1.1 (2009): 3-11.
