Racism And Racial Bias / Index

Racial bias, defined as “unreasonably hostile feelings or opinions about a social group” by Dictionary.com in which the social groups are different races, has been a problem for a long time, and it still exsts today. People cannot ignore the truth that is being shoved in our faces on the media. There are multiple examples of racial bias in the criminal justice system. If you don't believe this, here are some statistics by the Huffington Post: In a California study, the ACLU found blacks three times more likely to be stopped than whites, African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than whites stated in a May 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Sentencing Commission in March 2010 stated that, in the

In recent years and in light of recent tragedies, police actions, specifically police brutality, has come into view of a large, public and rather critical eye. The power to take life rests in the final stage of the criminal justice system. However, the controversy lies where due process does not. While the use of deadly force is defined and limited by departmental policies, it remains an act guided chiefly by the judgment of individual officers in pressure situations. (Goldkamp 1976, 169). Many current studies have emphasized the racial disparities in minority deaths, primarily black Americans, killed by police through means of deadly force. The history of occurrences reveals the forlorn truth that police reforms only receive attention in wake of highly publicized episodes of police misconduct. The notorious 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the matter to mass public attention and prompted improved law enforcement policy. Significant local reforms resulted, for instance, ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs. Additionally, on a broader platform, in 1994, Congress approved provisions to the Crime Control Act in effort to tackle police abuse in a more structured way.

On August 14, 2014, the infamous case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, took place. A police officer shot an unarmed black teenager after an incident which was clouded in unclear details. At first, no one really knew whether the officer had been in the right to shoot Brown, or what the circumstances were for either side of the incident. However, eventually, the details started to not matter. The events around Michael Brown’s case became the spark that ignited a nationwide movement to fight against police brutality towards minorities, specifically African Americans. Protesters of police violence toward minorities created a phrase that was used all over the country after Brown’s death: “hands up, don’t shoot”. Many have used the events behind Brown’s death as a springboard to consider what makes a criminal. One side of the issue claims that race directly affects criminality, while others believe class to be the cause of criminality.

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?

Over a century after the emancipation of millions of slaves, and twenty-five years following the declaration that “separate is not equal,” the case Regents of University of California v. Bakke ruled in favor of affirmative action. Justice Harry Blackmun affirmed in this decision that “[i]n order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” As one of the most liberal judges on the court at the time, Blackmun tended to rule favorably in regards to expanding the rights of women and minorities. In presenting this opinion, he explains that issues of race must be addressed and considered in order to fix racism, prejudice, and systemic oppression. In regards to affirmative action (among other positive

Almost everyone has heard the famous hymn, “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” but not all understand the true meaning when it says, “Red, and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” The moment sin entered into the world, perfection no longer existed. This loss of perfection changed the way humans viewed each other. It made one ethnicity view another ethnicity as inferior, and in doing so, created what people now know of as racism. For centuries, racism has been a part of society, shaping the way humans view each other, but with the aid of Young Women 's Christian Association (YWCA) - Stand Against Racism, racial discrimination and injustice can be eliminated.

Along with misogyny and LGBT+ phobia, racism is one of the many methods of discrimination and bias that still exists today in America. It affects many ethnicities; Asian, Latino, even Indigenous Americans, but racial bias in the United States today especially focuses on African Americans as it did since the times of slavery. How does the race system still exist? The answer is simple; racial bias, like a living creature, will constantly adapt to its surroundings as time passes. Michelle Alexander’s nonfiction book, The New Jim Crow (2010), discusses the several changes made to the racial caste system following slavery and how most African Americans themselves cannot see it in its form today.

Today, racism and racial discrimination is something you see everyday. Whether it be in a news story, an article on social media, or something that you personally witness, but what is racism? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes racism 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. This means that one race will discriminate another because they believe that their race is better. Some people think that the only people that can be racist are white people. Their definition of racism is summed up to white people discriminating against the minority including African Americans and Latinos. Their definition of racism is not true. Racism does go both ways. Anyone is capable of saying, “Hey, my race is better than yours for this reason.” This is called reverse racism. The term reverse racism is referred to as discrimination against racial majorities inflicted by racial minorities. Reverse racism does exist and it is just as common as racism (“Racism”).

Although we seem to see a new news story every day concerning racial bias and blatant racism, it is not a new issue. “We have been engaging in this conversation for as long as I can remember. Fighting this fight for centuries. Caught in a cycle of bias for as long as they can remember.” (Nichols) I believe all the adversity we are facing as a country today can be attributed to the attitudes of the early American settlers who laid the basis for our bias as a country. In fact, historians date racism in America as far back as the 1500’s with the beginning of the Middle Passage and our first look into racially profiling individuals for slavery.

According to the Institute on Race and Poverty (IRP) in 2000 a white individual making the same income annually as any other race has a seventy-eight percent chance of owning a home, and only a twenty-two percent chance of having their credit denied on a loan, however, minorities like Blacks and Hispanics have a significantly lower chance of both. (Lawrence, and Keleher 3). In fact, Blacks with those same specifications only have a forty-eight percent chance to own a home, and an astounding forty-five percent chance to have their credit denied on a loan. Meanwhile, Hispanics have a forty-six percent chance to own a home, and a thirty-percent percent chance of having their credit denied. While this may seem overtly discriminatory with just a glance, one must first delve into what those numbers actually mean, and the details went into creating those numbers, as well as take a peek into the institution that created those numbers before jumping to the conclusion that it is empirically racist. Recently, racism has exploded into the spotlight worldwide, and especially in the United States of America with stories of racially motivated police brutality and a supposed “race war” taking center stage. All this coming forty-seven years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sought to end racial tension and racist government

In the United States, many deaths have occurred when a cop has shot a person of a different race for an unjustified reason. Majority of these victims have been unarmed and their reasoning for being shot is unknown. It seems as though since these victims are of different races, the reasoning can be suspected to have something to deal with racial bias. Racial killings are becoming more and more common to the world and are a bad epidemic for communities to face. The killings can cause many outbreaks and can make a community feel less safe to its’ citizens, especially those of color. In today’s society, equality of the races has been an issue and the outbreaks of racial killings do not help the fight for overall equality. Since the beginning

“I can’t breathe,” imagine having to hear your father, son, or brother desperately gasp for air while murmuring those words, “I can’t breathe.” It’s heart wrenching, but now visualize him being viscously choked from behind by a police officer. The predicament is startling and unseen. Your loved one has surrendered but the officer has no intention of relinquishing his grip, restricting the airway, making it incredibly difficult to breathe. Suddenly, the police officer forces your loved one’s motionless body to the ground, proceeding by mashing his face into the pavement. Slowly loosing conscious, he lifelessly lays on the Staten Island concrete. Nobody performs CPR, not even the ambulance upon their arrival. Your loved one is pronounced dead at the hospital, and the officer who stole his life walks a free man.

In the article The World Is Not Black and White: Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot in a Multiethnic Context Implicit racial biases were examined in the decision to shoot potentially hostile targets in a multiethnic context. Results of two studies showed that college aged participants and police officers showed anti-black racial bias in their response times: the participants were quicker to “correctly” shoot armed black men or targets and to indicate “don’t shoot” for unarmed Latino, Asian and white targets. In addition to this, the police officers showed racial biases in response times toward Latino versus Asians or whites, and surprisingly, toward whites versus Asians (Sadler, Correll, Park, Judd, 2012, pg.286). These results also

One of the biggest disputes in current racial politics is whether an act, policy, or event constitutes racism. Using text from a variety of media sources, I examine the different ways in which racism is defined and how claims and counterclaims are examined. I also researched how the nature of racism discoursed the ways of advocates seeking advantage of the debates of politicians The struggling racism as a by law enforcement are two of the biggest things that is happen in the United States today do we as a whole seem color blindness or is it systemic racism.

Talking about race has always been a taboo subject. Even though these times are referred to as the post-racial area, it is difficult to say it is true. After the abolishment of slavery in the United States, colored Americans still had to deal with segregation for many years and racial persecution. Those ideas of racial superiority of white Americans were instilled into the American culture which is still prevalent. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the government took their sweet time to provide aid to the residents of the Gulf region. Which left them without water, housing, healthcare and other necessities. Many of those left behind were poor and black, and “President George W. Bush and his administration were criticized for not taking swift action because impoverished African Americans were apparently not a priority to them” (Nittle 3). Even with incidents like this, it still makes many people hesitant to bring up racial issues, mainly because on paper, this is a country where racism is dead. According to Aaryn Green, who has a Ph.D. in sociology, a study of racial and ethnic humor has demonstrated that comedy can impact racial relations and its understandings in several ways. One of those ways is that “it can encourage reflection and investigation of existing racial systems or experiences” (Green 5). Green continues to talk about an experiment that was done with both black and white participants. The participants were shown a humorous movie where one of