Racial Discrimination

I was watching the news, when the footage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster came on. The news reporters were showing a black man walking in flooded waters near a market with a bag full of food and labeled him a “thief”. Social media in the United States has portrayed people of different racial backgrounds differently and unequally in recent years. In the essays “Theories and Constructs of Race” and “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?” the authors discuss in both essays about issues with racial equality in our world today. Authors Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe discuss in the first essay racial schemes are created through prejudices and the telling and retelling of stories. While, authors Cheryl I. Harris and Devon W. Carbado discuss in their essay about the issue of “colorblindness” in social media. Holtzman is a professor of communications and journalism at Webster University, while Sharpe is a professor at Webster as well. Similarly, Harris and Carbado are professors at UCLA’s School of Law and have addressed widely on race, gender, civil rights and constitutional issues. Both essays do a good job at explaining their ideas and supporting them with evidence of racial discrimination in our world today. The authors from both essays organize their ideas and summarize them, which helps understand the main idea of racism, discrimination and racial inequalities in today’s society.

America’s views on biracial individuals can be dated back to slavery when slaves were forced to bear the children of their masters. These children were referred to as mulatto, meaning “the offspring of a "pure African Negro" and a "pure white”(Davis), and their treatment was often based on the complexion of their skin; if they had fairer skin, they were sent to work in the master’s house and were often times treated

If a child had any form of black ancestry he would be considered black regardless if they were partly white. This was considered the one-drop rule. The child was not a pure white person therefore was treated as someone of color. Today we have often forced multiracial groups to classify themselves as one race or as a category of other. It was not until recently that the U.S. census allowed for more than one racial classification to be marked down. Not many survey allow this, regardless of the increasing population of multiracial ethnicities. In addition, they are often criticize and torn between picking sides of their race. For instance if someone is half back and half white they might be criticize for no acting “white” enough of “black” enough. Rockquemore and Brunsma describe this as “The biracial experience…being one of marginality and uncertainty, as these individuals attempt to find their place within a highly racialized society” (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002).

According to Paul R. Spickard, “race is derived from an individual’s ‘physical features, gene pools and character qualities’” (Chávez and DiBrito 40). Counselors Gita Seshadri and Carmen Knudson- Martin define race as the “social identification attached to physical traits such as skin and hair color, despite huge variations among people that are considered a part of a particular racial group” (44). In that case, what is considered to be an interracial relationship? Rose M. Kreider of the Census Bureau defined an interracial relationship as one in which the spouses are “identified as falling into different categories where the choices are: American Indian, Asian, Black, White and Hispanic” (11).

In the early years interracial marriages was illegal in the United States. The biggest problem our country faced with interracial relationships arose during the slavery era. The raping of

The first of three aforementioned relationships is that of the mixed race child and the deceptively uniracial population of the United States. Historically, miscegenation has never been regarded as a norm or socially acceptable, and Caucasian-dominant views created this idea of inbreeding which has endured over centuries. Race has been utilized to justify slavery, colonization, segregation, and genocide. A weakened desire for racial purity still exists in some cultures within the United States. Furthermore, pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people into "caste, religious, and social groups" and "who will be rich, poor, educated, beautiful, or plain" (Brown 30). The necessity for separation and distinction of one race from another emerged during the enslavement of black people in Europe and the United States. From slavery emerged the mulatto. White male slave owners would often impregnate their black female slaves--sometimes consensually, often by force-- to ensure another slave would be born. Frequently regarded as an economic boost, these mixed children also came with issues of what caste they belonged to. Granted, the white-supremacist government rarely penalized wealthy slave owners, but the offspring

Until laws were federally overturned in 1967, most U.S. states banned marriages and relationships between White and non-White people. Biracial and multiracial children were once considered illicit results of such illegal marriages and relationships. The multiracial child and adolescent population in the U.S. is growing rapidly with a 32% increase in 2010 since the previous U.S. census (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011). Multiracial children are now the largest demographic group among U.S. citizens under the age of 18. This remarkable increase is because mixed marriages and

Interracial marriage has been a social issue for a long time but is not talked about as much as other issues. In the journal of social issues, the topic interracial marriage is talked about in the United States of America. The editors use five objectives: discuss the concerns, examine the process, review the attitudes of people towards the interracial couple, assess the “clinical and policy implication”, and synthesize “contemporary scholarship”. The introduction begins with stating that interracial marriage has been increasing in the United States. Interracial marriage has been increasing since the court case Loving v. Virginia in 1967 and The Nature of Prejudice in 1954-1979 allowed couples the “right to marry” anyone they want, regardless of race, or ethnicity (Gaines, Clark, & Afful, 2015). Even though the laws have been passed for interracial marriage, but the couple that gets married outside of their race experience racism; job discrimination, residential segregation, and hate speech and the racism are likely to continue (p. 648 & 650). The journal of social issues has been gathering research for past three years on interracial marriages. It clearly defines the definitions of race and ethnicity. “Race as individuals’ presumed biological heritage”. “Ethnicity as individuals’ presumed biological and/or cultural heritage (Gaines, Clark, & Afful, 2015, p. 649). Providing the definition give a clear image of how the words are used in the journal.

The usual way that race labels are applied in the United States in everyday parlance and in government statistics fail to capture a phemenon poised to reshape how race is actually lived in America: the increase in multiracial marriages and births, which almost certainly will lead to more blended populations in future generations. As this trend continues, it will blur the racial fault lines of the last half of the twentieth century. The nation is not there yet. But the evidence for multiracial marriages and multiracial individual identity shows an unmistakable softening of boundaries that should lead to new ways of thinking about racial populations and race-related issues.

Fifty years ago, many Americans strongly disapproved of interracial relationships, and especially in the south, they clearly voiced their opinions about them. Interracial couples dealt with many trying situations in the late 1800s and clearly 1900. Even though many interracial couples today do not experience such severe punishments from society as they did fifty years ago, they still know they are viewed negatively by some Americans. Although, American society’s attitudes about interracial relationships, the lives of most mixed couples are negatively affected even today. For many generations, parents have had an extremely difficult time accepting that their children were in interracial relationships.

America’s first biracial child was born in 1620 before anti miscegenation laws were created to prevent African Americans from getting involved with Whites. Negative attitudes towards interracial relationships were fueled by racial discrimination and the devotion to keep each race authentic. In today's evolving society interracial relationships are still discouraged especially between Whites and Blacks (Childs, 2005) due to race preference, parental approval, racism, and an individual's background. Interracial unions are believed to be evidence of a culture development in America’s conventional practices of racial boundaries in social interaction (King & Bratter, 2007). In today’s diverse society it is influential to increase contact amongst

Do Americans feel like there is still racial discrimination in today's everyday life? Racial discrimination is treating someone differently because of the color of his or her skin. Racial discrimination has been around for a long time. There are laws that are supposed to protect non whites from being racially discriminated against but these laws are not applied to everyone equally. There are a lot of different types of discrimination such as gender and age but the main type is racial. Racial discrimination still exist in America based on discrimination at work, police brutality, and arrest rates.

“...concerns that children and grandchildren will suffer society’s lingering prejudice” (Root, 2006, para.5). Mixing race can cause bullying or one to be judged because it is not accepted. Although people are still against interracial couples, there are many who support it. Interracial relationships are becoming more common in the world today. Mixing races used to be uncommon because it was never accepted. Now that it is becoming more accepted the numbers have been rising and are expected to keep rising throughout the years. “The percentage was 14.6% in 2008, up from 6.7% in 1980…” (Jayson, 2011, para.6). With numbers continually increasing, it means that many people are becoming more tolerant with the fact that interracial couples are now accepted and can legally be joined as one. When the anti-miscegenation law was passed in 1967, interracial couples began to slowly appear. Once numbers started to grow, it was an influence on many people because it was now portrayed as “ok”. This gave a sense of hope to many and showed that everyone now had equality to be with whoever they chose. Moreover, interracial relationships bring acceptance in society because kids now see mixed raced forms in the media. “Younger Americans have grown up in an environment where they have been immersed with multi-cultural images from sports, to television, to music, to gender to literature” (Watson, 2014, para.6). As one sees biracial or multiracial people around them or in the media , it makes the individual more comfortable with the subject of mixing races. Growing up in an environment with multiracial people can help bring acceptance and a welcomed feeling to all

Racism takes many forms. In general, it is a belief that a particular race or ethnicity is inferior or superior to others. Racial discrimination involves any act where a person is treated unfairly or vilified because of their race, color, descent, national or ethnic origin. Racism may take the form of stereotyping, name calling or insults, commentary in the media, speeches at public assemblies and abuse on the internet. It can include directly or indirectly excluding people from accessing services, employment, education or sporting activities.

Living in the United States means living with diversity. A historically controversial topic that comes with diversity is interracial couples. Having only been made legal in 1967 by the United States Supreme Court ruling in the Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia, there are still prominent parts of society that took down upon mixed raced couples. (Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1967) This research paper is designed to show data collected from ___ interviews from participants of a variety of ages and ethnicities. The purpose of this study is to see how modern day college students and working members of society see interracial couples now and in the future. Interracial marriages has increased dramatically since the 1970s but according to 2007 U.S. Bureau of the Census data (2009), Black/White marriages count for half a percent of all marriages in America (Field, Kimuna, Straus, 2013, p. 742). In fact, white people are less likely to marry black people then they are to marry any other ethnic race other than their own. According to a 2012 Current Population Survey: