Race: A Prevailing Factor in American Politics

Conflict Theory – Macro level – This is built off of resources, status and power that is not evenly distributed throughout groups in our

The conflict perspective highlights the notion that society consists of individuals of different social classes and status groups that are of conflicting self- interests. As

Race, simple external differences linked to other complex internal differences, has historically created issues in American society. “Race and racial inequalities are one of the most vital issues confronting contemporary U.S. society,” explains Sociologist Ronald Takaki. In the past race has had both biological and social implications across the country.

I believe race is so central to how we organize social life in many societies because it has been the defining factor that breaks humans apart from one another just based off of something as simple as sight. It is the easiest way to classify individuals aside from gender or nationality. Race has also become something that individuals have personally adopted, and I believe many people are more comfortable being around those that share the same characteristics as themselves.

Race in the United States has always been a problem in the past and still remains the same in the present society. Race relations is defined by relations between members or communities of different races within one country (en.oxforddictionairies.com). Minorities have been denied legally and socially rights in the past by the dominant race, White Americans. Now in modern society minorities are the majority of the United States, but are still being racial targeted, profiled and killed by White Americans.

Many historians argue that race has played a central role in the history of the United States. The statement previously made is a factual statement because there is historical evidence to prove it is true. Knowing and taking in count that there is a lot of racial discrimination for all different races, our main focus will be on the African American (black) race.

The Color of Christ is a book that evokes memories of the exhausted images and lives of Jesus which preponderantly contributes to “the saga of race in America.” (5) The book modifies and wisely propagates the stereotypical images of Jesus throughout the history of the U.S, which offers the most striking responses. In the book, Blum and Harvey portray the world as a place that is filled with various images about Jesus. The book, in its entirety, has been used by the two authors to substantiate the atrocities that were prevalent at a time when there was supremacy among the whites. White supremacy echoed loudly and was basically reinforced by the argument that Jesus Christ was white so he would agree with this notion. From the vicissitudes, and the happenings in the first six chapters of the book, Blum and Harvey have carefully interwoven a tapestry of visions and dreams of Americans to illustrate the fact that Americans have remade Christ. Instead of the thought that we, humans were made in the likeness of Christ, the son of G-d, we reinvented this theory of Christ in our likeness to suit our bias whether it be positive or negative. Again, Christ is emblematic of their aspirations strivings for power and racial justice, and their deeply- entrenched terrors.

Race in America has always been extremely controversial. From people of color struggling to being counted as citizens, to the Black Lives Matter movement today. My initial stance on Race in America was that race generally does play a factor in today’s society. My original score was a 3.8. The majority of my answers I put “Disagree” or “Neither Agree or Disagree”. This meant that I was unsure or there were contributing factors to my answer. As I read the articles and listened to my fellow classmates my position on Race in America changed.

When watching a TED talk you automatically know your going to leave with some new profound thought or have your ways of thinking changed slightly. The primes behind TED talks is “Ideas worth spreading” right there in their mission statement is what persuasive speech is. In Ms. Alexander’s TED talk she did just that, she spread the idea to her audience of what the future of race in America will look like if we don’t seek to change the social, economical, and political policies that almost certainly put people in america as legal second class citizens.

What can we say about race in America that has not been said before? In reading the book, one gets more disheartened yet. Though the author's statistics are now dated, I found a calculation made by the National Criminal Justice Commission that by the year 2020, 33.3 percent of African Americans and 25.6% of Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 34 will be incarcerated most frustrating as those numbers would seem to apply to the loss of young people through war or epidemics such as aids. In the harsh environment of prisons, race becomes the all- encompassing issue.

Racial issues have never ceased being an important topic in America. A time with heavy impact on racial issues is between the early 20th century through the end of World War II. During this time, we see the discrimination of many groups. From the effects of Jim Crow laws on African Americans, to harsh immigration laws, to Japanese internment during WWII, racial issues were on fire and basically anyone who was not White was under fire.

First of all, conflict theory is derived from Max Weber and Georg Simmel, German sociologists who initiated this idea of how the upper class affects in a negative way the lower class. In other words, conflict theory can be defined as the “inequality based on differences in wealth, status, ideas, religious beliefs, and so forth” (Lanier, Henry, & Anastasia, 2015, p. 245). These inequalities are the reason causing many conflicts between the rich and the poor in a disproportionate divided society. The term

Conflict theory sees societies comprised of groups with conflicting values and interests. (Vold et al. 1998)

Race in the U.S. functions as a means of discrimination and oppression through societal and lawful institutions to perpetuate the hegemonic belief of white supremacy. As stated by Almaguer, ethnic groups in the United States were all racialized differently, but no matter how they were racialized, they were never racialized in a way that would make them equal to white Americans. The only exceptions to this statement are the ethnic groups that have ascended the racial hierarchy into whiteness such as the Irish and the Jews through racialized labor and assimilation. The main reason that they were able to be considered white is because they generally have white skin. As these groups migrated to America and culturally assimilated, it was easy

Conflict theory is the theory that human behavior in social contexts is the result of conflicts between competing groups, as different social groups, be they class-, gender- or race-defined, have unequal power and access to power, yet all groups compete for limited resources. This inevitably gives rise to tension and conflict, albeit often of the subtle variety, as oftentimes the conflicts between groups have been institutionalized in society to such a degree that the conflicts and tensions are such an expected part of society that the conflict, and inequality, itself disappears from public sight, and consciousness. For example, an adherent of a world systems theory of conflict would point to the global competition for resources, particularly the inequality between rich and poor nations struggling to provide the basic necessities of life to their inhabitants, as evidence of global conflict. Conflict theories seek to explain the interactions of groups within society, and assert that social order is preserved involuntarily through the exercise of power one social class holds over another (Lindsey, 2010, 7). The conflict between groups is not always obvious or apparent, so it must be unraveled and examined in order to identify and establish the impact of such conflict on society as a whole, as well as individual members and social groupings.