Racism, Race, And Ethnicity

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.

This issue of racism is popular by name but tends to be sugar coated by the way people see it. In order to truly understand racism you need to take a bite into the topic in order to get a taste of what it is really like. Racism comes in many different forms and can be seen many different ways. But why even care about racism at all? Why does it even matter? One would think that with such a harsh background regarding racism in America it would no longer exist in society today. But sadly that is not the case here, racism continues to show up all over the country sometimes being worse than others but still racism is racism. People should all be considered equal regardless of what they look like, talk like, or even do that makes them who they are.

I would like to focus my response to the reading in Gabbidon & Greene, Chapter 1, generally around the idea of social construction. Furthermore, I would like to specially provide responses to discussion questions number one and two as posed in the conclusion of chapter one. Discussion question number one asks to “Explain the origin of race and its implications for race and crime.” Discussion question number two asks “Do you believe there are distinct races?” I will also provide perspective on issues surrounding the term “minorities”.

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

I would like to discuss the issue of race and ethnicity in sports. We will also explore the bigger questions. How much does race and ethnicity matter in the sports world? Are certain races dominant in certain sports? Is there a difference in how we treat players based on race and ethnicity? Does it matter? I would like to answer some of these questions and gain a better understanding of how much of a part they play.

Preference, segregation, or enmity coordinated against somebody of an alternate race in light of the conviction that one 's own particular race is superior is prevalent. Prejudice is as old as human culture itself. For whatever length of time that individuals have been around, the contention has remained alive; people have constantly despised or dreaded individuals of an alternate country or skin color. It is said that racism or prejudice is simply some portion of human instinct, but we are not born with racism. We learn to discriminate from our societal norms.

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”).

Built by immigrants across the globe, the United States has flourished tremendously for the past 100 years. But what we tend to overlook are the millions of unheard voices deep in the plains, those of the non-immigrants, the Native Americans. Rich in their culture and heritage, the Native Americans built a system, and co-existed with the environment, in which they hunted and gathered, and shared amongst one another. Their reign was long, and their territory plenty, but this would only last until the early 1490’s when Christopher Columbus would reached the Americas and instill a change and fear that would offset the balance for centuries. With weapons that surpassed that of the indians, they were soon overpowered, leading to years of oppression and division of the races.

At the beginning of my freshman year, I joined the future educators’ club. I wanted to be a teacher, and after hearing about a full-ride scholarship to St. Francis that was being offered to members, I signed up. Although I was the youngest person in the club, and there were only about five of us, I continued attending. A few meetings passed, and I asked about the opportunity. This moment exposed me to the other side of the racial spectrum. Unfortunately, I was told that I was ineligible for the scholarship because I was Caucasian. In order to qualify, I had to be a minority. I suddenly realized that although there is a vast amount of racial injustice, there are also opportunities for minorities that are not offered to whites. Even though I might earn the same grades as someone of a different ethnicity, I was not given the chance to participate. In my mind, that doesn’t

Throughout the assigned texts we have been reading there have been many underlying themes that all contribute to one major theme, racism in early

For long there has been a notion that the minority groups are usually poor and have a low living standard as well as contribute less to the economy of the USA. However, there is a group that is fast growing and is surmounting odds in overturning this notion. They are striving hard to attain the highest possible academic and economic levels in order to match the majority white population. Indeed they are surpassing a significant number of the white population; the Asian Americans.

Race, nationality, and ethnicity are several of the most written about subjects in sociology. Sociologist discusses the basis on a person and the unity that they feel with others from the same or different origin. Sociologists like to study those ties as well as the negative effects.

This chapter focuses on race and ethnicity. “Race is a socially constructed definition based on some real or presumed physical, biological characteristic, such a skin color or hair texture, as well as on shared lineage” (p. 178). Ethnicity is socially defined like race. Socially defining race and ethnicity is formed by the concepts of race and ethnicity, majority- minority relations, racism, and race and entity in global context.

Have you ever been stereotyped? In most cases, the answer would be yes. The thing is, we are all guilty of it. At one point or another, we’ve stereotyped another person we have seen or know. A stereotype is defined as making a generalization of a group of people based on the actions of a few. People will generalize you based on your race, religion, ethnicity, and age.

To understand whether or not racism is learnt, we first have to divulge into the nature of racism. It is usually assumed that racism has been a part of civilisation since civilisation started, that it is embedded into how people work and that no matter what, it will always exist. Another assumption is that racism derives from the capitalism of the slave trade by white elitist men seeking to dehumanize people for economic gain, and used racism as a way to mask their financial motives to justify enslavement as righteous. After anti-slavery movements began to happen, the capitalist motives behind slavery “took on a new form as the justification of the ideology of imperialism” [4].