Racism And Discrimination : The United States

As children grow up, they become the person they turn out to be because of experiences and the culture and society they grew up in. Nations are affected in the same sense because the people living in a nation affect how the nation is influenced and builds its character.

Intro: The American Dream attracts many people from all over the world, people have an image that living in America grants them the life of their dreams, but does living in america really grant people the perfect life? The Case For Reparations by Coates explains how African Americans have struggled in the past with racism and discrimination. He goes on to talk about their lives during slavery and post slavery, and how African Americans are unemployed and undereducated. Aja ET AL.’s essay From A Tangle Of Pathology To A Race Fair America also talks about the lives of African Americans, the discrimination, segregation, and unemployment. They both go on explaining how Blacks are always discriminated against and are not given equal

Racism is the trend of thought, or way of thinking, which attaches great importance to the notion of the existence of separate human races and superiority of races that are usually associated with inherited physical characteristics or cultural events. Racism is not a scientific theory, but a set of preconceived opinions they value the biological differences between humans, attributing superiority to some according to racial roots. Even in such ethnically diverse country as the United States, racism continues evident against people of different ethnic traits and skin color. According to Steinberg (Steinberg, 1995), racial discrimination has been the most important cause of inequality between whites and blacks in the U.S. Because of that, minorities in American society have been fighting over years for equal rights and respect, starting with the civil rights movement in 1960s. Also, public policies implemented since 1964 in the United States have been instrumental in reducing economic inequality between blacks and whites, such as the affirmative action, a federal program that tries to include minority groups by providing jobs and educational opportunities (Taylor, 1994). From this perspective, does racism still play a dominant role in American values and American society? If so, what are the consequences of this racism that still remain in American society? What is the impact of the Barack Obama presidency on the unending fight against racism in this country?

We have issues: more specifically , the United States has issues, continuous and all-encompassing issues of racial inequality.The United States is experiencing a outburst of racism, as can be seen from the 2014 killings of two unarmed African-American men, to the brutality of white supremacy in Charleston and the string of arsons in black churches across the South. Of course, it’s nothing new for a nation with a long history of extreme racist violence—the most recent lynching-related death occurred in 1981, hardly a lifetime ago, when Michael Donald was hanged by two members of the Ku Klux Klan.The United States, however, continues to avoid its history on race, refusing to confront its past in a “post-racial,” “colorblind” society, and that policy of systemic ignorance is particularly strong when mention of racial equality is brought up. Although the concept of equality has never truly existed in this world, as can be traced back to the very beginnings of recorded history we see the nobles ruling the commoners, conquerors reigning over the conquered, the will of man dominating women; the United States needs to acknowledge the fact that racial inequality still exists within our country and has in no way progressed towards betterment.

When the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted employees felt sigh of relief because now it was unlawful for employers to discriminate against once race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. “Title VII provided the legal basis for all people to pursue the work of their choosing and to advance in their chosen occupations subject to the limitations of only their individual qualifications, talents, and energies” (McConnell, 2013, p. 46). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce the antidiscrimination requirements of Title VII. What employees didn’t know was that this was merely a law and laws are broken all the time, although there are severe consequences.

Discrimination in the workforce is not only illegal, but it has been the center of controversy for multiple cases throughout its existence. The purpose of this writing is to reflect on particular personal circumstances based around actual events. First will be a clearly defined section of the Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, followed by a brief description of personal experiences involving discrimination, and concluding with a reflection as to how the American workforce is protected by law. The writing will cover any ethically related issues, personal thoughts and ideas, and illustrations of how the law pertains directly to personal events, as well as provide direct links to any and all reference material covered under the purpose of this writing.

Throughout history discrimination has always been present anything that makes an individual different from another individual. Discirimination happens all the time which is tragic.During the 1960’s EEOC was created following the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a civil rights legislation. The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination and enforced that everyone was getting paid the same amount. Although , discrimination was still there but the law did help not have as much discrimination.The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected individuals against employment discrimination. Title VII was in effect towards employment agencies as well as the federal government. The belief was that equal opportunity cannot be denied because of a person’s race or sex. Title VII also restricted employment decisions based on stereotypes as well as abilities. During that time it was against the law to victimize against any individual towards employment.

Systemic racism occurs when policies and practices exist is institutions that discriminates against and excludes one group or exclusively fosters another. The system is setup so that it doesn't need individuals to discriminate themselves because it is structured so that discrimination is omnipresent. Systemic racism is responsible for the inequity of schools between poor minority neighborhoods and rich white neighborhoods, because it puts restraints on their ability to learn and what they learn, which then hinders their ability to attain equal status.

Racism and discrimination inequalities have become a major discussion throughout the years in our society. Inequalities has impacted every level of humanity on this earth. Education, tolerance and acceptance can be used to challenge one another in attempt to change the negative traditions that continue to exist in our culture. Racism and discrimination inequalities continues to be passed from generation to generation.

According to a February poll from the Public Religion Research Institute, an overwhelming 87% of black Americans say black people face a lot of discrimination in the United States, but only 49% of white Americans say the same thing. From this poll, we can see that racism, especially in the black community in America, can negatively affect a person’s level of confidence and their willingness to work hard in order to achieve an important dream. The American Dream, the archetypal notion that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, is an ideal that most people strive to achieve. Unfortunately, in the past and in modern day, the population that surrounds

While it is difficult for the younger generation to identify the idea of discrimination, the turmoil and the effect that the country endured continues to exist. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took effect nearly 50-years ago, the racial discrimination continues to be an important point because of its representation which affected every gender and ethnicity. The purpose for writing Title VII was to ban the employment discrimination based on race, color, religion and national origin, it was also to prohibit discrimination in employment with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, labor unions, state and government agencies and federal government employment (BUSI LAW, 2017). Nonetheless, prior to Title VII, many employers have the right

After living in a place like Bend Oregon for 18 years I haven’t ever noticed a difference between blacks and whites. Bend has been said to be “one of the whitest places to live”, yet I never viewed a city by its race. Being racist to me meant that it was the whites who had a problem with the blacks and whites didn’t want anything to do with blacks. I hadn’t actually seen racism in action from anyone here. Now, after watching the film Crash and reading the essays “Blinded by the White: Crime, Race and Denial at Columbine High” written by Tim Wise and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” written by McIntosh, my understanding of race, diversity, and communications have changed.

As one of the most ethnically diverse countries on the planet, the United States faces the unique challenge of allowing a multitude of different races, religions, and cultures to live peacefully and prosper every single day. With a revolutionized idea of human rights spreading like wildfire across the world, individuals and groups are standing up to fight for equality in growing numbers. Racial discrimination and oppression have been the ugly past of our country, but it is now all of our responsibilities to guarantee that it is not our legacy. Healing our morally damaged history takes a great deal of time and effort, starting with changes in our government such as new legislature, and finally in our social atmospheres. Already our government has made huge bounds towards equality, beginning with a multitude of laws and amendments that cement the ideals of equality into law. In recent years, establishing that all races have an equal opportunity to hold government office, which culminated with our first black president in 2008. These legislative types of change are easy to recognize and measure; social change, however, is entirely different in nature. It takes time, it’s difficult to force a person to change his or her beliefs. To promote this social change, our country has adopted a set of legal behaviors that are intended to restore the rights of minority groups in our country, but are in effect doing so at the expense of other’s rights. While attempting to fix the unfair

The first video was based on an experiment with taxi drivers who were paid actors that made conversation with their customers about different races, ethnicities, and even homophobia(ABC Prime, 2008). They conducted this experiment in Las Vegas, Savannah, and New Jersey to see if they would get different reactions from different people. The first person in the experiment was a Puerto Rican woman on her way to work in New Jersey. She was quick to debunk the notion that all Arabs are terrorists and even said that she is far from prejudice(ABC Prime, 2008). However when her driver started to talk about Asians she piped in and said, “They can’t see right or left”(ABC Prime, 2008). As the experiment continued there were people who either sided with their driver or challenged them. One person in particular was an African American women who stood up to her taxi driver and told him that America is a place where people can think different things and that is why America is the way it is but also that America was not built on intolerance or hypocrisy and that is why America is great(ABC Prime, 2008).

“…Everybody jumped on him, and beat him senseless… Everybody was hitting him or kicking him. One guy was kicking at his spine. Another guy was hitting him on the side of his face… he was unconscious. He was bleeding. Everybody had blood on their forearms. We ran back up the hill laughing… He should have died… He lost so much blood he turned white. He got what he deserved…” (Ridgeway 167). The skinheads who were beating this man up had no reason to do so except for the fact that he was Mexican. Racism in this day and age is still as big of a problem as it was in the past, and as long as hate groups are still around to promote violence, society is never going to grow to love one another.