Ethnic Inequality In America Essay

In today’s society people are hurting and they are struggling to survive. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, while each state within the United States provides its own minimum wage. Low wages equals no healthcare, which in turn equal’s to individuals being sick and not being able to receive the help they need. Low wages also equals mass incarceration which in turn equals to high crime. The high crime usually involves low income neighborhoods, which in more than one way effects minorities.

One would not want to live a life if they knew their chances of reaching their goals, were almost certainly downsized or marginalized by their race. Well, sadly this is the case for Blacks in America. Blacks are often found to be, at the bottom of the American society. America is suppose to be “The land of the free, and the home of the brave,” allowing all citizens equal opportunity. However in a harsh reality it is not, but instead the land of the incapacitated, and home of the Whites. Looking back in time, America has always been a country of racial inequality that benefited Whites and demeaned any other race. Examples of racial inequality in our history consist of the American-Indian war, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and general discrimination. Thus the term “White Supremacy,” meaning Whites have dominance and are superior, came about. The feeling of Whites Supremacy is still felt in today’s society, and is one of many reason why race still matters. Even though the are many theories of why race still matters, it is important to realize 3 major reasons why that is so. In short, race matter because of the increased likelihood of minorities experiencing: poverty, racial profiling and Institutional racism.

Johnson, H. B. (2014). The American dream and the power of wealth: Choosing schools and inheriting inequality in the land of opportunity. Routledge.

There are approximately 7 billion people in this world. Each person has a unique combination of traits such as skin tone, face shape, body type, eye color, hair color, and other characteristics. These traits vary due to genetics, environmental factors, and much more. An individual 's race is defined by their physical characteristics and how they differ among others. Race is not defined by the way an individual behaves or portrays themselfes; it is based strictly off of their physical traits. Since America was founded, race has played a significant role in the relations of the citizens in this country. For decades, different races have been stereotyped and been prejudice towards one another, without realizing how invalid their judgements are. Specifically, African Americans have been discriminated by caucasians in America since it’s founding. It began by the enslaving of African Americans, and today, the discrimination and inequality is more hidden in society. Although America has made significant progress in overcoming racial inequality in the country, many African Americans are still being subject to hardships that Caucasian Americans do not face, especially in regards to the justice system.

Historically in the United States, there has always been a significant difference in the way different races have been treated. Even after many years of laws and bills being passed to create a smaller gap in the inequality of the different races, we still see a large problem with inequality today. One of those inequalities is the difference between white and African American’s, in history whites have always been at the top, and blacks at the bottom, civil rights movements lead by black leaders in the 1950s and 1960s changed the way blacks were treated, but although there was some change our society still recognizes blacks as the inferior race. Looking at inequality today, blacks are still being treated differently in jobs, the criminal justice

African American has been facing racial inequalities for hundred of centuries now. Blacks were viewed as being less than human for a very long time, as they fought though the harsh years of slavery which began on American soil back in 1619 when the first African American slaves were brought to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. These people were being starved, they little to no clothing, no shoes, they were ripped from their family, they were beating, many were killing and the women were often raped. Their children were working at very young ages they were all (men and women) uneducated and basically were under all circumstances they were to be kept that way.

The research into racial inequality has mostly focused on the disadvantages experienced by the oppressed group. As the field continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to examine the privileges experienced by Whites (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). But to effectively examine this, the White individual must accept the fact that White privilege and racism still very much exist in the United States and how it affects all aspects of our culture and institutions.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue. Everyone knows the story of Christopher Columbus; they are taught it in grade school if not before then. When he landed in America by accident, he had no idea that he would be creating the world's largest Melting Pot. This "melting pot" provided means for a new country, made from a mixture of many cultures and beliefs, thus creating a new country with a new and ever-changing culture. One complication with a Melting Pot is that you cannot put people of different race and ethnicity together without conflict.

There are various ways that race has been utilized to rationalize inequality. For instance, the fact that America ultimately created a race. Under those circumstances, American created this ideology which has constructed political and economic goals that favor the Whites. One of the founders of this inequality is Thomas Jefferson who believed that blacks were inferior to the Whites in the endowments of body and mind. There was a belief that Africans were different kinds of people. Additionally, scientific experiments were constructed that allowed scientists to compare human beings’ skulls with one another to prove a racial hierarchy. Furthermore, race has been utilized to shift attention and responsibility away from opposers and toward the

Something that I also found really interesting is how white people get offended by fact that color of people accused them of the inequality that we have in this country, for example some of the things they bring up is that “they didn’t ask to be white”, yet they still contribute to the idea of color blindness by refusing to see the reality that they will always have more power over a person of color regardless their education level or income. Whites will never understand the harsh reality of race in the U.S., Lopez makes a great point about this “ But beliefs in innate racial inequality could not be perceived as morally evil until they were first seen as factually wrong. This was impossible to imagine for persons steeped in the belief that

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” President Obama, then senator Obama, declared these words at a speech to supporters in 2008. If we are ‘the ones that we’ve been waiting for’, why aren’t things changing? Why is there still racism? Why is there still discrimination? These are crucial questions that I anticipate will remain unanswered forever. After Barack Obama secured enough electoral votes during the 2008 Presidential election, Obama became the first African-American president in the history of the United States. On January 20, 2009 Obama was officially sworn into office, commencing an extremely instrumental part of American history becoming the first black male as president. Unfortunately, still to this day many people cannot wrap their heads around the fact that slavery was abolished in the middle 1800s but yet there is still significant amounts of racial inequality and discrimination. Although it might seem far-fetched, we have the power to end racism. Despite our prejudice and disregard, racism can be significantly impacted and possibly even terminated with unity, partnership and cooperation amongst the people. Still to this day people of color are often faced with various disadvantages that can severely impact their quality of life, disadvantages such as poverty, education, and financial decisions.

As the only sociologist that has been chosen on the North American council I would like to address my main concern, which is that having one person voice the social inequalities for approximately 580 million people is not just. In my best attempt to be as fair and voice the major concerns that I feel are prevalent throughout North America, I chose racial inequality, educational inequality, and gender inequality. Before I further discuss these inequalities I would like to define social inequality to give the reader a clearer understanding, “Social inequality is the long term existence of significant differences in access to goods and services among social groups”, as quoted from our textbook.

At around 12 o’clock pm during the summer of 2009 on July 16, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested. Gates is an African American professor at Harvard University, returned from a visit from the People’s Republic of China, and made it back to his house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He showed up in a limousine with the driver being an African American as well. The driver helped Gates out of the car and helped him carry his luggage to the front door of his house. As Gates struggled to open his door with the key because it was somehow jammed, he asked the limo driver to help him force the door open (Staples).

Since America’s beginning, race based barriers have mired the fulfillment of our shared principles and many of these barriers still persist today. The institutionalized inequalities are detrimental on an individual basis as well a societal basis. Racism does not only affect the individuals that are being oppressed but also how society functions as a whole. Racial inequalities have manifested in American society in ways that underlies a wide range of societal domains such as housing patterns, educational opportunities, healthcare inequality, and incarceration rates. Current events and experiences demonstrate moreover that racial inequality is still adamant in the American culture. Long after slavery, the Jim Crow Era, and the civil rights movement, racial inequality has taken distinctive forms which affect many people within a racially oppressed group. Racial segregation at large is embedded within a structural matrix that not only permeates in the American culture but in our private and public institutions. Disparities in the criminal justice system and housing patterns remain a key barrier to racial equality in America. In order to eradicate racial inequality, there needs to be policy solutions that place fundamental changes to a system with profound historical origins, one that structurally disadvantages minority groups.

In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.