African american racial status in the 21st century - Essay Example

An Analysis of the African American Racial Status in the 21st Century Introduction Racism has been a curse for the American society from its birth in 1751. It has stained the nation’s identity with the African-American’s blood for years until the Civil War in **** and the 13th Amendment. Though the 13th Amendment in the US constitution was a resistive response of the most progressive and conscientious part of the US society to the barbaric practice of slavery, slavery had not been wiped out from the society overnight. Racism was so much deep rooted in an American’s heart that the enactments of anti-slavery laws and the relevant amendments in the US Constitution were merely to redirect a racial mind to find alternatives for white superiority over the Black. Indeed the amended Constitution provided the legal safeguard to the Black, barring the practice of slavery at the state level as well as, to the extent the state could interfere into the public affairs. But it could do nothing to bring about the changes in the culture and the society that intrinsically nourished the racial hostility against their former slaves. The inbred racism in the Americans’ heart continues to discriminate between the White and the Black until today. Therefore the 14th and 15th Amendment with along with numerous other subsidiary laws and government-induced initiatives has been required to wipe out the remainders of racism from the American society. But the question whether racism and discrimination against the African-American black have been wiped out from the society may engender a lot of debates since the question itself is ambiguous. Inbred Racism and Racism in the Heart of America A close analysis of the status of racism in American society in the late 20th century and the 21st century will reveal that America has been significantly successful in wiping out the all the institutional and constitutional racisms. But non-formal and non-institutional racisms still are prevailing in the society. In this regard, Saeed Shahbaazz says, “A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, released in December 2006, stated that most Americans, White and Black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States.” (1). Though racisms at institutional levels are discernible, at non-institutional level they remain out of the reach of the public eye. These non-institutional racisms at the private level are be found by close observational or empirical research. In this paper I will discuss the findings of two such empirical research papers on inbred and institutional racisms. Discussion about the new form of Racism in the 21st Century Racism at the less the private level has been revealed in various researches that were led in the 21st century’s context. One such research article is “A Fly in the Buttermilk” by Devis et al. In their article, ““A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University” Davis et al explores deep into the self-realization -from the student’s perspective- of a non-white minority student about his or her position among the white majority. The title of their study explicitly asserts the concerns of the Successful Black Undergraduate Students with their University Life among white majority. The researchers prudently selected 11 black students as the participants of their study. Davis et al’s purposed selection of the successful participants can be justified on the pointed that information and experiences provided by the participants would remain free of any fear of being discriminated. The participants were chosen ensuring the following conditions: a. successful students were chosen, because they experienced the full, 2. successful students would be free of being the victim of racial discrimination academically, 3. these students would be able to track any change during their four or five years graduation. Devis et al’s research shows that even in the 21st century, the black student’s perception of their student-life among the white as well as the white’s attitude towards the black student are best expressed by the phrase, “a fly in the Buttermilk”. In 2006, the CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll led the survey research among “328 Blacks and 703 Whites” (Shahbaaz 1). In that survey, about “84 percent of Blacks and 66 percent of Whites considered racism to be a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem, and 51 percent of Blacks and 26 percent of Whites claim to have been a victim of discrimination” (Shahbaaz). Indeed the CNN’s survey may have revealed the bitter truth about the inbred racism of the American society, as referring to the result, Prof. Dovidio, “We’ve reached a point that racism is like a virus that has mutated into a new form that we don’t recognize.” (Shahbaaz 1) But the reactions to the survey’s findings were much diversified. In a press release, Project 21, a black conservative group, stated: “The CNN report serves only one purpose, and that is to convince the public at large—specifically White people—that they are evil racists. It is a vulgar exercise to try to find racism in the fiber of every White.” (Shahbaaz 1) In another comment, a former co-chair of the Millions More Movement, Bob Law said that “Why is it that Whites are still racist—still using race as a tool—anything else is a bogus discussion” (Shahbaaz 1). Obviously the CNN’s result and the subsequent African-American reactions to it reveal two things clearly: first a significant number of the whites are still racist in the Twenty First Century and the Blacks also, being supported by the constitution and laws, have ascended to such a position that has enabled them to challenge any racist attempts of the White. In such a position, the Blacks, though they are the minority, are both legally and constitutionally, equal to the white. Therefore, any Black’s grudging comment against the white can be, logically, considered as the Black’s racism towards the white. The fake charge of racism against Shirley Sherrod, a black official at the “United States Department of Agriculture” proves not only the white’s antagonism towards the blacks but also the possibility that the Blacks could be racists. If the blacks were not enjoying the privileges that the whites have already enjoyed so far, such accusation against Sherrod, though it was fake, would not have been possible. Referring to another evidence of racism in the 21st century, Rev. Jackson says, “CNN does not have a single show hosted by an African American,” (Shahbaaz 1). Such white antagonism is essentially the society’s racist section’s reaction towards the achievements of the African-Americans in the second half of the 20th Century and throughout the 21st century. Analyzing the achievements of the African-American’s Movements during the recent years, the 21st century can be considered as the movements’ harvest time. During the past ten years or so, the African Americans’ political empowerments were significant. Blacks’ political empowerment in the 21st century started with the appointment of Collin Powel as the Secretary of State in 2001 and this political empowerment reaches its climax in 2008 through Barak Obama’s victory as the 44th president of the United States in the national election. In his victory speech Barak Obama says, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” (Arsenault 34) Ironically it is also true that racism in new form in the 21st century is also possible in the country. In the last 20th century, the African American Blacks were involved in numerous movements regarding the blacks’ civil rights. The blacks’ positions in the White House can be viewed as sequels to the numerous movements in socioeconomic, educational, religious and political movements in the 20th century. Since the blacks in the political system of the United States are merely the face-value, these progresses of the blacks’ movements cannot be considered as the overall progress of the entire African American’s socioeconomic and political condition in the country. The offstage racism still exists in the country’s environment. Indeed, the blacks’ political empowerment has forced the white’s racism to change its nature, as Winant says in this regard, In the post-civil rights period…..New racial formations have developed from the processes of confrontation and accommodation, of conflict and reform that swept across much of the world over the past few decades. Changing racial dynamics are in part the effects of anti-racist movements and of the achievement of democratic reform in the latter half of the 20th century. (Winant 27) Debates on Race-blind America Through Race-conscious Initiatives and Policy In the 21st century some critics like Schuck, Owen and others, have increasingly questioned whether the government’s initiatives for the Black in order to retain the ethno-racial diversity is healthy for a color-blind American society. America at a time, wants to unify her nation on a common national platform, but it continues to support and at times, directly provides initiatives in different governmental sectors to retain the diversity (Schuck 2-3). Indeed, the problem is not as easy as it seems to be at a first glance. Here the question that arises is whether America really wants to grow a race-neutral American identity or not. In fact, contributing to the American ethno-racial diversity, the American white majority not only attaches a stereotype-based black identity to the minor ethnic populations but also it creates an unbridgeable gap between the white majority and other ethnicities. The interpolation of African-Americans as ‘black’ by the dominant culture has often been an object of satire by different critics. Critics claims that though the ethnic and identity tends to be destabilized and to be assimilated into a broader American identity, white society-imposed stereotypical black identity impedes these processes of destabilization and assimilation (Owen 2-5). In such a dilemma, the US Government should let the history go on its own way, while yet supporting the unprivileged ethnic population with the “package-privilege help” in various sectors such as education sector, health sectors and job sectors, etc, because these packages for the ethnic population, -though affirms their racial identity- will help them to be assimilated more with the American identity. Though the US government has taken so far the initiatives for the blacks’ socioeconomic and educational progress, in the 21st century, the government’s approach to the race-conscious affirmative policies has been subject to various criticisms regarding the fact that whether race conscious policy can create a race-blind America. Such debate has been reflected in the Supreme Court’s rule on the Grutter v. Bollinger Case in 2003, the court says, “race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time." (Bankston 89) Also it is evident in the debate on the Top Ten Percent Plan admission policy of the University of Texas-Austin. The policy of Race-blind admission at the University of Texas is the measure to meet the goals of diversity under the race-neutral affirmative action without going directly into conflict with the law and the constitution of the state. At the beginning, the policy was able to play significant role in increasing the enrollment of the non-white students. Even the performance of the Top Ten Percent Plan students was encouraging enough to win the legal mandate. It was claimed by the advocates of the policy that it was capable of establishing equal opportunity on the base of merit-conscious admission. Ultimately, the outcomes that the policy yielded through the passage of time tended to proved the policy to be deprivation of opportunity. The policy for the Race blind Admission taken by the authority of the University of Texas is a milestone and at the same time, an epoch making event in the US history of building a race blind nation that will stand unified at one platform. The admission policy is exemplary in the sense that it was proficient enough to meet both the legal guidelines of the court and the pressing requirements diversity that was usually maintained under the Affirmative Actions in the pre-Hopwood admission policies. In a study, Chapa and Horn (2007) shows that the Top 10 Percent Plan was more effective in the context of the educational institutions than the race-conscious affirmative policies of pre-Hopwood period. Meritocracy revealed itself in its own color. From 1998 to 2004, an analysis of the number and ethnicity of the students who were admitted under this plan significantly revealed that the number of the white students who enjoyed the offers of the Top 10 Percent Plan declined from 66% to 58% of the total number. The enrollment of the Black students remained intact at 7%. However, from 1998 to 2004 the percent of the enrollment of the Asian students rose for 1 to 10 (percent). The major gain for the enrollment of the non-white students was the in the enrollment of the Hispanic students that rose from 18% to 22% throughout these 6 years (Chapa & Horn, 161-165). The whole picture can be viewed in the following figure: Source: Chapa & Horn, 2007 Scholars note that the TTPP plan has a lot to do with the inspirational impact on the minority, but with the concrete influence. Tienda et al note that Knowledge about the Top 10 Percent Plan has a positive impact upon the inspiration of the students to enroll in the four-year institutions. It is asserted that the minority students were greatly inspired by the contagion effect of the law that contributed to focusing their mind “on meeting the requirements for college” (Tienda, Cortes, & Niu, 78). “Students who knew a lot about TTPP were more than five times as likely to enroll in a four-year institution as the comparable student who did not know about the law” (Tienda, Cortes, & Niu, 25, quoted in Chapa and Horn). As Edward Blum expresses his experience of the plan, These enrollment figures at UT are welcome news that apparently come as a surprise to the traditional civil rights advocacy groups who claimed the Hopwood decision was going to permanently re-segregate our institutions of higher education. (Giraffe, Color of Meritocracy, 57) Conclusion In the 21st Century, the African Americans’ increasing political empowerment can be considered as the face-value of the African-American’s racial status in the white society. The CNN’s survey and Parker’s note about CNN’s reluctance to employ black host, Sherrod’s forced resignation, Devis et al’s research- all show that racism is a lingering problem of the American society. But there is another possibility that the Blacks are over-reactive and complaining to the White. The CNN’s survey shows that the perception of racism among the blacks in higher than the white’s perceptions. Even though the blacks in the 21st century are enjoying the maximum of Civil rights like other ethnic races, they are more reactive than others. Joseph Healey notes that the white view for the black is grossly influenced by the stereotypical ingredients that continually tend to characterize the black ethnicity within certain moulds. Therefore, Bonilla and Silva’s statistics shows that the highest percent (96%) of American white people are driven by the abstract liberalism frame of color-blind racism, while only 35% of the Latino-Asian population holds the abstract liberal view of it. The polarity of both the white’s and the black’s perspectives on color-blind racism has its root in the history of America. Josef Healey notes that “blackness” itself as an ideology was crucial to the exploitation of the labor of the African in early America, and it “provided the very source of whiteness and the heart of racism” (Healey 288). This master-slave relationship greatly influences both the American’s and the Black’s view of the color-blind racism. Whereas the White American’s view is that of a repenting master, the Black people’s view is a grudging slave. This historical dichotomy of bipolar black-white racism is reflected in the following quote: “The discrimination, oppression and hatred experienced by Native Americans, Mexicans, Asian/Pacific Islanders and Arab Americans are forms of racism” (Healey 288). Works Cited Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009 Bankston, Carl. "Grutter v. Bollinger: Weak Foundations?" Ohio State Law Journal, 2006 67 (1): 1–13. Chapa, J. & Horn, L. C. Is Anything Race Neutral? Comparing “Race Neutral” Admission Policies At the University of Texas and the University of Calofornia. Charting the Future of College Affirmative Action: Legal Victories, Continuing Attacks, and New Research, The Civil Right Project. Ch 7, pp. 157-172, 2007 Davis et al, A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University, The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 75, No. 4, 2004 Healey, J. F. “Hispanic American” Diversity and Society Race, Ethnicity, and Gender (pp. 201-304). Place: Publishers. 2010 Owen, Dianna, “American Identity, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism”, Sep 11, 2005. Nov 02, 2010. Schuck, Peter, “Understanding America—A Commentary”, the May issue of The American Lawyer. Public Affairs/Perseus. May 2, 2008. November 02, 2010. Shahbaaz, Saeed. “Racism in the 21 st century: The problem of the color-line”, Feb 19, 2007, available as Tienda, M., Leicht, K., Sullivan, T., Maltese, M., & Lloyd, K. Closing the gap? Admissions & enrollments at the Texas public flagships before and after affirmative action. 2003 Winant, Howard. New Racial Politics: Globalism, Difference, Justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2003 Read More