Discrimination In The Black Community

Is it racism or economics which hinders many African American communities from progressing economically in the 21st Century? This research proposal will address this question by examining the social and psychological impact caused by racism and the economic impact it’s had on the African American community. This proposal will further investigate whether the emotional scars of slavery continue to hamper African American progress or if racism is actually the cause.

There are multitudinous signs that are highly indicative of the poor condition of blacks in America, and there does not seem to be any immediate relief in sight. If I had the responsibility of summing up the current condition in Black America in one word, that word would be “Crisis.” The term crisis is expressive of a pivotal point in which an already dire situation will either turn for the better or turn for the worse. The black collective is in crisis in almost every aspect of its existence — creating a situation in which proactive and strategic measures are in order.

The root cause of the problems and issues that faced African Americans from the beginning of the Reconstruction Period well into the 20th century “is the problem of the color-line, -the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of the Black Folk, 1903). The most obvious root cause for racism problems and issues African Americans face is white supremacy.

We are reminded of that history with every breath we take of injustice. The unfair treatment of blacks can mostly be attributed to lingering after effects of the end of the civil war and the bitter-sweet downfall of the confederacy. Violence that claims the pavement that we walk on and the lives of those who are our future. Poverty takes hold of the lives of the youth. The dehumanization of those who do not fit the social confines that have been drafted by those who try to crush the people they consider beneath them: It creates a new, invisible barrier that many choose to hold as the definitive disparity that cordially distinguishes the blacks from the

Even though black people have descendants who suffered much more inequality issues than they have faced nowadays, they still have to deal with this historical problem in different ways. The wealth gap between whites and blacks is huge, “every extra dollar of income earned by whites generates $5.19 in new wealth over 25 years while another dollar of income for a black family adds a mere 69 cents to its bottom line (Starkman)”. These numbers show us that we still live in a segregated

“But race is the child of racism, not the father.” A quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates in his book Between the World and Me encompasses the culture of racial bias toward the black community. Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Walter Scott are just a few names that represent the widespread, institutionalized racism embedded within our police and incarceration systems. From traffic stops to America’s prison population to mandatory minimums, racism is prevalent in every facet of America’s “domestic security” apparatus. Facing harsher punishment, 1 in 3 black men will go to prison and receive a 10% longer sentence than their white counterpart. Cocaine and Crack Cocaine are virtually the same substance but with vastly different mandatory minimum sentences. Cocaine is inhaled through the nasal cavity and Crack Cocaine is smoked with a pipe. Powder Cocaine is predominantly used by affluent white males while Crack Cocaine is predominately used by lower income black males. The mandatory minimum sentence for possession of 28 grams of Crack Cocaine is 5 years in prison while it takes 500 grams of Powder Cocaine to receive the same sentence. That comes out to nearly 18x harsher punishment for Crack Cocaine users, who are mostly black, than Powder Cocaine users. These are only few of the many injustices facing minority communities around the country that are brought fourth by an engrained stigma of racism within police forces and prison systems across the nation. Can these

Wacquant introduces four “peculiar institutions” that are responsible for the “control” of African Americans throughout United States history: chattel slavery, the Jim Crow system, the ghetto, and arguably the dark ghetto

From the 1830’s all the way to current times, African Americans have suffered at the hands of imbecilic Americans with the banning of blacks in education and states, Alabama beginning statewide convict leasing which constructed the state’s first state-run prison system in 1839, the passing of “black codes” in 1865, the Plessy v. Ferguson case which legally sanctioned racial segregation by establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine as national law, the many lynching throughout the years, to the “Little Rock Nine”, and the many cases of racism that plagues our nation. We have for surely been two steps behind while our nation as gone ahead of us. Leading me to believe that W.E.B. DuBois had truth in his saying, “a system cannot fail those

The impact of systematic oppression on members of the Black community traces back to the 17th and 18th centuries during the time of slavery within the United States (Feagan, 1986). Systems were established to steal Africans from their homeland, to ship them to America for the purpose of using them as chattel for economic profit. During this daunting time within history, millions of African lives were lost and families were separated (Feagan, 1986). Slavery impacted the Black family structure by indefinitely separating men, women and children (Auslander, 2013). Moreover, families were impacted psychologically with the use of traumatizing tactics forcing them to adhere to inhumane treatment, while internalizing notions that they are less human,

Discrimination lingers under the diversity of the United States. Minorities across the country are targeted and eventually fight for their respect or learn to ignore the harassment. These struggles have caused beautiful revolts and renaissances throughout history. What are a few examples of these cases?

African American women tend to have many problems with discrimination pertaining to the workforce. Women of color are typically under represented such as in unions or support in any career field. Although many African American are employed, women only make up about 12 percent of the workforce in the United States. Bias labels tend to keep women of color unemployed. Many believe that black women are given a low eminence education due to their race and schools funding. They are presumed to have a deficiency of intelligence in relations to any professional careers, in which stems from their upbringing. Majority of African American women were brought up in rural areas. African Americans have the highest rate of poverty compared to other ethnic

The occurrences of modern Black social phenomena 's reflect Black people 's history in America; they are byproducts of a social system that has neglected their equality, liberty, justice, and needs. Most Black social phenomena are ironically misunderstood by the very system that help creates them. Along with being misunderstood, Black social phenomena 's are also blamed for many of society 's ills. The present welfare system was not created by black people but they receive the blame for its inefficiency. A vicious cycle has been created. Black social phenomena 's occur with little control by black people, but the negative effects and consequences are blamed on Black people.

Generally, people come in all colors, shapes, and sizes, however, the idea of a person’s skin color and other relatable physical features is what makes up a country’s order status among the members living in the same place. All people are different, and they all come from several geographical areas around the world, which scholars believe to be traced to climatic adaptation. For this reason, racism often harms groups within a population, specifically a white population. With this said, “the darkest people are for the most part at the bottom of the class-status hierarchy” (Hartmann & Uggen, 280). Social class and political movements are repeatedly dividing Blacks, which has been a problem since the abolishment of slavery in 1864. Generally, Blacks are still suffering more than any other nonwhite groups of similar class positions such as Mexicans, and other Hispanics from Caribbean countries from situations of harsh discrimination and segregation, even though they are wealthy and well educated. For a better understanding, the separation of classes by race is not helping the diversity of races within a country. For the most part, “African Americans continue to commit a proportionally greater share of the street crime, especially street drug sales—often because legitimate job opportunities are scarce” (Hartmann & Uggen, 283). Then again, situations like this one create chaos among Blacks that are perceived as being inferiors, therefore, creating hatred among the classes and giving justification for whites that “they are less deserving than immigrants” (Hartmann & Uggen, 284). William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, also known as W.E.B. Du Bois was born in 1869 and died on 1963. He was one of the twentieth century’s most prominent social scientist, writer, and public figure, and the author of many

Racial inequality has been around for the majority of the United States history, many have fought for equal rights but lost. Not until the late 1940s and 1950s did African Americans start to win the battle of segregation (Lec. November 11). By the mid-1960s progress was slow and very long, which didn’t please the Black youths. According to Oakes, northern states had many protest from African Americans that critized liberal whites ignoring racial inequality in the northern states, which would eventually erupted into a riot. With frustrations mounting up militant African American groups started to form in a new movement called Black Power (Oakes, pg866).Though there

Racial discrimination too many people is seen to be gone today. Many people think everything is fair and people have no biased based on someone’s race. Minorities today are still minorities though, everyone does not get a fair shot at the same opportunities the majority do. In 2002, the National Football league had two African American coaches who were fired, one with a winning record and the other with his first losing season in ten years with this team. The US civil rights attorneys then did a study on black and white coaches. The study showed that black coaches had better winning percentage, yet were still less likely to be hired. It also showed even the ones that do get the job have had a more likelihood of being fired. The following year