Discrimination in America Today
African American discrimination is an interesting topic because it is one of the controversial global issues being solved till today. People are discriminated based on their natural characteristics such as color. Commonly, African American discrimination emanated from the distinction of color among the American citizens. Racial discrimination is still present in the current American society. However, discrimination is still prevalent in the current American society and there are incidences of racial discrimination, especially in the employment sphere. The struggle for equal rights between whites and blacks has cost the lives of many human rights activists, some of whom got killed due to the political influences from whites. The blacks were perceived as the minority group and were highly discriminated. In America, racial discrimination has been occurring since time immemorial and has failed to completely subside. Currently, there is the Civil Rights Act that is making efforts to fight discrimination that is based on the race, national origin, sex, color or disability. Racism in America has been initiated since the development of United States of America.
The white people considered themselves more superior than the blacks. Discrimination led to the slavery of the black people, and they were forced to perform tedious activities. The blacks were usually kidnapped and handled like animals in the land of slavery. The black people were highly demoralized by the treatment they received from the white people. Their children were kidnapped from them, numerous families were separated, and they were beaten to death or subjected to hard labor. “Discrimination had great effect on the psychology as well as physiology of the black people” (Siek, 567).
Racial discrimination is evident even in education and health sector: “The American education systems can not provide equal access to the quality education, and Black Americans have no other options than to learn in schools that have no facilities while their white counterparts enjoy high quality education”. Black Americans’ schools are discriminated even in the allocation of resources, but that has never stopped them from learning and being competent. On the other hand, black Americans can not enjoy good health care as it was in the case of white people. They can not access treatment in some hospitals because they are known to be a reserve for whites.
In America, the African Americans are considered descendants of the enslaved African Americans. The African Americans within the boundaries of the current United States of America are believed to be related with black slaves that were shipped to America. Over the years slavery was dissolved, but the effect of racial discrimination was extremely powerful to fade. In the modern society, African Americans are still experiencing discrimination, especially in the working environment. Racial discrimination in the society has become consciously or unconsciously conducted. People exercise discrimination by creating a wall against certain people inherently. Other people develop racial discrimination in the society for malicious purposes. It has become extremely challenging for the African Americans to acquire employment opportunities. Majority of companies in America offer employment opportunities to the white people.
Lack of employment among black Americans has highly demoralized them and has led the majority of them to shoddy jobs. Other African Americans have engaged in criminal activities in order to earn a living. In addition, lack of employment made black Americans settle in slums, since they could not afford to live in decent houses. These slums are faced with constant crimes and other social problems as a result of poverty contributed by discrimination in the job market.
There are laws that have been set to resolve discrimination, but they are usually not followed. Instances of African American discrimination are still numerous in America. The rate of discrimination in America is high based on the current statistics. According to statistics, middle class white families earn more than the middle class black families. Clearly, the majority of white people have better lives than the black people due to the different economic status. The white people are guaranteed access to quality resources such as health care because of their financial stability (King, 567).
Racial discrimination is also evident in the percentage rate of ownership among the American citizens. An enormous percentage of the middle class white families have their own domestic premises. Approximately 40% of the entire American population comprises of African American citizens that have their own homes. Clearly, majority of the African American people cannot afford purchasing their own homes. There are housing projects in America that facilitate public housing by state, federal and local agencies. Public housing offers subsidized aid for the impoverished people within the country. The housing projects cater more for the white people than for the African American citizens. There are numerous African Americans that are impoverished due to lack of employment. The whites are offered the first priority in acquiring houses through the house projects. As stated earlier, the number of white people that are employed is higher than that of the African Americans (Kinbrough 90).
The African American citizens are rarely offered the opportunity to utilize their potential, especially in the corporate world. In an instance, the Microsoft organization has whites as the majority of employees. The number of African Americans working in this organization is highly limited. The capability of the black people is usually based on their color and origin by the white people. The white people are considered being more intelligent than the blacks, thus they are offered higher working opportunities than the blacks. Still, racial discrimination has become rampant in the American judicial system. Primarily, majority of the judges are the white citizens. “Approximately 98% of the judges in the USA are white citizens” (Stern & Katz, 134). There are few African American citizens that are stated as qualified members of the jury. Still, it is evident that numerous African Americans are more likely to get imprisoned than the white citizens
The African Americans are commonly suspected to get involved in crimes in the country. It is clear that the majority of the African American citizens are involved in crime activities due to poverty. Others engage into crimes due to the peer pressure since they fail to attend educational institutions. Based on the fact that the majority of the African Americans are involved in crime, the authorities investigate these crimes basing their suspicions solely on the black people. The judgments of the police officers are usually clouded by racial discrimination thus making wrong decisions. They ignore the fact the white citizens could also be engaged in crime activities. Sometimes African American citizens are imprisoned on irrational basis. An enormous percentage of death sentences are offered to the African American citizens compared to the white citizens. The judges in the judicial system are highly inconsiderate to the African Americans because of the effects of racial discrimination. “Clearly, racial discrimination is still highly felt in the United States of America till today” (Nunnaly, 356). Unfortunately, racial discrimination is also being experienced within the governmental institutions in the country. Majority of the people employed in the federal and state offices are the white citizens.
The African Americans are denied many opportunities due to the perception that the white citizens hold. The whites believe that African Americans should be exposed to more harsh conditions than the white people. Racial discrimination has become part of the American nation and commonly the whites discriminate the black people unconsciously. Racial discrimination has highly affected both the whites and African Americans psychologically. Racial discrimination occurs unconsciously amid the whites and African Americans. The white citizens associate African Americans with animals such as apes. Numerous people in the United States continue to bear prejudices against people of other races. “The whites bear prejudices against Latin Americans, African Americans and Muslims” (Blank, 1009).
Racial discrimination in the United States of America is globally recognized. The most intense racial discrimination occurs between the whites and the African Americans. This race is usually discriminated due to their skin colors which differ from that of the white Americans. Basically, the matter of racial discrimination against African Americans has been a long matter in America. African American citizens suffered for numerous years due to slavery. They have continuously fought for their rights in order to acquire equal civil rights. White citizens continuously oppressed African Americans based on their country of origin. “The enslaved African Americans were brought from colonized African countries by the whites” (Hill & Durr 789). In the ancient period, the whites invaded African countries, grabbed their lands and kidnapped people for slavery. The Americans have always perceived African Americans as the inferior race that does not deserve any rights in the country. African Americans have encountered tough journey towards achieving their freedom from discrimination.
Historically, some people have died due to their endeavor in fighting for the right of black Americans. Racial discrimination is rampant in the United States of America because whites have rebelled against significance of the equality. They are oblivious of the significance of African Americans as human beings because of their dark skin. On the other hand, African Americans blame Americans for depriving them of their history. As mentioned earlier, black people were brought from their African countries and taken to the foreign countries for slavery. “They were taken from their families and eventually they lost sense of their identity” (Painter, 245).
Now African Americans only have the notion that their roots are from Africa but are not aware of their specific African families. Over the years, the whites have instilled their values and culture in African Americans thus dissolving their history as blacks. Their African names were altered to the American names so as to fit in the American society. The process of eliminating the history of African Americans has highly contributed to the belief of African Americans that they are actually the inferior race. The African Americans have continued to belief that they do not deserve the same treatments and rights as whites. It is clear that elimination of the African Americans’ history has great impact on their lives. African Americans are discriminated because they do not have firm culture and background like white people do. They have adapted to the culture of white people thus considered as people without an appropriate background.
African Americans should retrieve their history and get to understand who they are as human beings. African Americans should understand their culture in order to escape an inferiority complex. They should have culture and background that they can appreciate like white Americans. African Americans need to have a sense of belonging in order to evade negative effects of racial discrimination. They need to overcome the feeling of inferiority or inequality. Racial discrimination was enhanced by lies and assumptions that whites have against African Americans. Consequently, they fed African Americans with the lies that have greatly affected their lives. However, African Americans have unremittingly fought for their rights because they have realized that they are equal human beings with whites. Racial discrimination is still being felt in America despite the fight for equal rights.
Currently, the black Americans’ struggle for equal rights in the provision of public services and allocation of resources has played a major role in enabling black Americans to prove their capabilities to work successfully in various sectors of America. This has resulted in the fall in the incidences of discrimination and Whites in American society have started appreciating Black Americans’ capabilities. For instance, America is currently governed by Black American president. This acts as a proof that whites are currently appreciating the capabilities of black people. Despite of considerable fall in the rate of discrimination, it still exists in American society.
According to my perception discrimination in American society is very unfortunate, “since it subjects black Americans to life full of challenges”. Black Americans should be given equal rights in the provision of public services, allocation of national resources, security and employment. This is because the difference between black Americans and white Americans is only color, but they have equal capabilities to work in America. There are many black Americans whose contribution has played major role in the growth of America. For instance, president Obama has proved his ability to lead a super power country, despite his color. Therefore, black Americans should be given equal opportunities without discrimination.
Buy custom Discrimination in America Today essay
|← The Movement||African-Americans and Civil War →|