Effects Of Discrimination On African American Society

Prejudice strongly relates to Edward .R. Murrow’s idea that everyone is a prisoner of their own experiences. This means that prejudice and discrimination can cause a person to feel trapped and imprisoned in their own life. When you judge someone on the basis of something that isn’t their fault it’s called prejudice. Prejudice is usually polarised; this means that people victimise others that appear opposite to themselves. For example, different races tend to victimise each other. Insecurity is going to be a key theme in this essay, due to the fact that discrimination can affect someone’s personal stability and cause someone to become extremely isolated and insecure. In this essay I will be talking about the effects of racial discrimination on society. I will be comparing and contrasting John Steinbeck’s book: Of Mice and Men – set in the 1930’s, John Agard’s poem: Half-caste set in 2004 and Maya Angelou’s poem: Still I rise – set in 1978. All of these pieces link to racial discrimination and prejudice in some way. I am going to be exploring the similarities and differences in these pieces. I am also going to be explaining how these pieces help us to understand how prejudice can affect personal and social insecurity.

People have been stereotyped into a certain group because of their skin color or they have been discriminated against because of how they dress, their name, or even their hairstyle. Minorities such as African Americans deal with this type of racial discrimination every day because of their skin color and the way they might sound despite if they do not sound as the way they appear. For example, if an African American person walked into an interview dressed nicely and clean and a caucasian went in for an interview dressed just as nice and clean, the Caucasian application is more likely to get the job and receive a higher rating than the African American applicant. (Zimmerman) It might seem to the naked eye that minorities in general somewhat have the same opportunities as Caucasian people but in fact they do not really have them. All in all, there is still racial discrimination in America and African Americans do not have the same opportunities as Caucasians in housing, education, and jobs.

We saw a video of how 1960s African Americans were being discriminated against getting home mortgages and getting contracts instead and were basically paying much more than their house were worth and, had rules like if they missed 3 payments they will be evicted from their house. Most of them didn’t even know they were a target of institutional racism. It is hard to believe that this was about 50 years ago and that the law was allowing for banks to let this happen. Even after protest and boycotts it took a while for this issue to get resolved.

I was nine years old when my family moved to San Mateo. Though the Bay Area is extremely diverse, very few black people remain and more are being forced to relocate as the housing prices continue to skyrocket. As one of the few black students at my school, I was challenged with the task of representing my people.

Imagine living in a country in which someone was denied the right to vote or be a regular citizen because of his or her skin color. This was the main idea of the Jim Crow Laws that existed in the United States from the 1890s until the civil rights movement in the 1960s. African Americans were being separated from whites under the doctrine of “separate but equal”(Teachers’ Curriculum Institute). Blacks and whites had different facilities for every aspect of life. They were segregated due to the racial discrimination of the whites in most of the southern states. In the 1950s, these laws were starting to come to an end, but racism was still present in the South. Racial discrimination in the South during the 1950’s affected the living conditions of those affected because they had low-paying jobs, lived in poor areas and ghettos, and had bad health care.

African-Americans encountered many difficulties in 1957 as they struggled for equality and personal success. Majority of African-Americans were harassed and unfortunately this prevented many from standing up for themselves. Segregation caused many to think they wouldn’t have a chance at success because of their race. Many schools’ supplies were old supplies from the all white schools; most of the supplies past on to them were in very poor condition making learning hard. Their voices were often looked over and went unheard because they were looked as unequal or moot. This made it even harder to stand up for what they believe in. The threat of people causing harm to their family or destruction of their home prevented many from protesting or

Throughout history, people had to fight or protest to be heard. An example of this would be African Americans endeavoring to secure their rights in the United States. It seems as if the oppressor is apathetic towards the people striving for the freedom they deserve. I concur with Martin Luther King’s statement “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” because of the history of African-Americans in the United States, privileges because of race and ignorance amongst the oppressor.

During the early 20th century, not only were African Americans suffering from prejudice from white America, but also Native Americans and Asian Americans faced indifference. According to Brain Ward and Ragina Johnson, the Native Indian “had long faced injustices and racial discrimination driven by policies of the U.S. government to steal more and more Native lands, using racism to justify this theft” (Socialist). Also, they states that “even more overt discrimination and racism pushed Indians of different tribes together into a Pan-Indian/Red Power movement to fight for self-determination, the right to speak their Native languages and the defense of tribal lands and dignity” (Socialist). From this information, one may infer that Native Americans

Throughout history, people of minority ethnicities have been discriminated against. Furthermore, this is largely caused by high ranking administrators operating in the prison system and our economy, which favors non-Hispanic, non-Arabic Caucasian people more than other races or ethnicities.

African Americans for years have a long history of being treated unfairly and disgracefully by the people who founded this Country. The White Americans that live in the United States have always denied freedom and equality towards African Americans because of society treating them as slaves and property in the early years of the Country’s origin. From being slaves and treated as property, to being terrorized and lynched by the KKK, African Americans emerged with an organization to end all of any forms of violence, unfairness, and discrimination towards them. The Historical actions and people in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people has achieved the objective to ensure the political, educational, social and economic

“Racism the belief to distinguish a race with beliefs that they are superior to another”. As racism remains a major setback in America, it is in no Comparison to how it was like back in the days. From the pain it caused and the poor innocent people being tarnished on just cause of the color on their skin, this was a horrific phase to those who lived upon it. We have accomplished enormously but then again we still have much to improve. With the most discreet subtle form, modern racism is slowly catching up to us.

One of the most dramatic demographic events that had a significant change in America would be the Great Migration. It had to do with the moving of 6 million of African American from the southern hemisphere of the united states to the northern hemisphere around the time of the 20th century. To better explain this event in American history it would be best to start with the chain of events that caused it in the first place. That starting point would have to be the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. This was an announcement that was laid out to say that if any state if not by the start of the 1863 that is in rebellion would have all there slaves declared free if they did not reunite back with America. Abraham Lincoln, being the president at this time, pushed this through because would have hurt and reduce the South’s capacity to start a war by encouraging and threatening that their slaves would leave the southern lines and come to America’s. Once the slave would come and join America they would be enlisted into the army and fight against the south. This defiantly was the most important and first act done to help Africans in America because it helped bring up the idea of freed slaves, but this was only done as a war measure because slave was at that time very essential to the South’s war effort and did not have helping and freeing slaves as the main idea. This announcement did not

According to Merriam Webster, Racism is defined as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (Merriam Webster, n.d.). Knowing this, Racism is certainly not particular to the United States of America, As Alex Haley, the author of Roots, told Scott Ross, CBN journalist, in a 1992 interview, “If you think about it, …there is no grouping of people to my knowledge, of any consequence, who have not, at one or another time, been the object of hatred, racism, or who has not had people against them just because they were them” (Ross 2016). Racial discrimination and related treatment of African Americans over the decades may be deeply rooted in American culture. In fact, it can be traced to the Founding Fathers. As history tells us, two of the most famous Founding Fathers owned slaves, and it goes without saying that for one to justify another’s enslavement—as did wealthy American colonials—that person would have to hold to the belief that the slave is by definition, and inferior being. Our first and third presidents: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were slave owners and their treatment of African Americans is well documented. (Smithsonian, 2015) The dehumanizing way Early Americans treated Africans who were imported as slave labor became universally accepted among the population from the very beginning while still under British rule. In spite of the

In addition, when they claimed racial discrimination against them, sociologist Samuel Lucas, finds no solution to the effects of racial discrimination in the United States. In his research journal, he explains discrimination in America is not simply an action that one person performs in relation to another, but something way crazier that pervades the surrounding environment in which they live and work in. Also, how making a clear distinction between prejudice and discrimination is different. Lucas believes that analyzing discrimination as a structural feature of American society and history, rather than as an act by X against Y, is "treacherous. . .terrain," and "unsettling" because to "the dominant social scientific approach, it may appear

Moreover, about 60 percent of Afro American high school students, who did not make the graduation, will end up in prison. All these statistics show that things do not get better, but worse. The police force against Afro Americans strengthen up and with all these deaths the Afro Americans will only feel more discriminated. All in all there is currently no sign of a non - racist America.