Consideration of Institutional Racism - Essay Example

al Racism al racism is the inequality based on race and it has come to take place among Middle Easterners in all walks of American life, especially in educational institutions. Media has played a significant role in the institutionalization of stereotypes of Middle Easterners based on how they are treated within the United States (Cohen 74). Institutional racism perpetuates an image of people from various racial groups, usually in an unconscious manner, which is not true and is instead based on racial stereotypes which have long been promoted in society. Therefore, in this paper, I will be discussing institutional racism based on stereotypes and how it has come to affect Middle Easterners. I will attempt to make a comparison between past and present treatment of students of Middle Eastern origin in the United States as well as show different places where this type of discrimination might take place. Furthermore, I will discuss how stereotypes of these individuals often affect these individuals in both their public and personal lives based on my own experiences. In the United States, institutional racism has become a part of everyday life for many individuals especially from the Middle East or for those Americans who have origins in this region. In my experience as a student of Middle Eastern origin, institutional racism enforces stereotypes of people from this region without necessarily taking into account their individual differences. I have been faced with many problems during my stay in the United States and this has been based on beliefs by ordinary Americans that because of the way I look, I am a threat to them. There was an instance where after going into a restaurant to get something to eat, I was viewed suspiciously by not only its staff, but the customers as well. Many of these customers actually moved away from the table that I took and despite waiting for a long time, no one seemed to be willing to come to my service. This was within my first few days in the United States and my dreams of this country being a bastion of liberalism were shattered as I came to realize that the stereotype of Arabs as terrorists had become firmly entrenched in American viewpoint (Oswald 1775). I later came to experience open discrimination at the University of Arizona when attending classes, and this became a trend because whenever I entered a classroom, and took a seat, the students who had been sitting all around me would move away from me and take other seats. Only those who did not seem to have a problem with me or my race did not do the same and it is these individuals who made me aware that the others were scared that I might blow them up simply because I was an Arab. The other form of discrimination that I, alongside other students of Middle Eastern origin at the university experienced was based on how we were graded in class. There was an incident where a tutor often chose to fail me despite all the effort that I put to ensure that I passed all assignments and exams that he gave in class. In most cases, even though I had completed all his requirements, including following all instructions given, he tended to either fail or give me low grades. Whenever I compared my assignment with that of my white classmates, I found out that even though the quality of their work was lesser than mine, they were always given passes or even higher grades (Engberg 473). This turn of events often depressed me because I did not know what to do especially when I realized that I might end up failing the course. Eventually, I got the courage to confront my tutor and I asked him directly why it was that he kept failing even though I believed that my performance was above average. My directness seemed to offend him and after using abusive language and declaring that he did not owe an explanation to a terrorist, he asked me to leave his office. This treatment was completely unexpected because as a tutor, it as his responsibility to treat all of his students equally without consideration of race or background. I later came to find out that the tutor had lost a family member during the 9/11 attacks and his son during the war in Iraq. As a result of the negative stereotypes concerning Middle Easterners that many of my fellow students had, my social life at the university did not go as well as I had hoped. I had very few American friends, a circumstance which forced me to end up being a loner. The few students of Middle Eastern origin who I got to know were in their final year and it was difficult for them to socialize since they were often quite busy. In some cases, students from the Middle East are denied the opportunity to study courses which are deemed to be of a sensitive nature because it is believed that they might end up using their knowledge to launch attacks against Americans. One Middle Eastern student, from Saudi Arabia, despite having had a desire to study nuclear physics, had been denied this opportunity (Phillips 173). When he had applied, he had been told that all slots for that class had been filled and that he would have to select another course. Only later did he find out that the nuclear physics course was still available but that he had been deliberately denied entry because of his racial background rather than his qualifications. In conclusion, institutional racism is socially constructed and it has come to have an extremely negative effect not only by its victims, but society as well because not all individuals have the rights and services that they deserve. Furthermore, it perpetuates ideas which influence individuals or people in authority giving preference to those from certain racial and cultural roots over others. In the current American society, people often make jokes based on stereotypes, but while it might be funny to talk about others’ races in a sarcastic way, even if an individual does not mean any harm, these views are never a laughing matter for those who experience its brunt. Works Cited Cohen, Karl F. Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1998. Engberg, M. E. “Improving Intergroup Relations in Higher Education: A Critical Examination of the Influence of Educational Interventions on Racial Bias.” American Educational Research Association, 74.4 (2004): 473-524. Oswald, Debra L. "Understanding Anti-Arab Reactions Post-9/11: The Role of Threats, Social Categories, and Personal Ideologies". Journal of Applied Social Psychology 35.9 (2005): 1775–1799. Phillips, Coretta. "Institutional Racism And Ethnic Inequalities: An Expanded Multilevel Framework." Journal of Social Policy 40.1 (2011): 173-192. Read More