African Americans:challenges today - Research Paper Example

? s School Topic African Americans: Challenges Today Though the recent developments in the socio-economic scenario of U.S have empowered the African Americans to some extent, but they still remain to be a marginalized sect of the society. This paper aims at discussing various issues this community faces even today, i.e. a lower employment rate, discrimination in education, health issues, racial discrimination, challenges regarding criminal and economic justice, and the challenges which are being faced by the Black churches, and in the light of these issues the position of the African Americans will be analyzed and the implications will be discussed. Though the Blacks have availed their civil rights as being equal citizens of U.S rhetorically, but they continue to face discrimination in almost all aspects of life. Since the whites are the most dominant decision makers, and the general white population being in majority fails to accept the Blacks as intellectually and socially equal individuals to them, the Blacks have to suffer a lot. Democratic Party is the political voice of this largest minority group in America, though they diverge to a large extent over many social issues. The 20th century saw an enhancement in the rate of the job opportunities for the African American population and many agencies were found recruiting individuals belonging to the minority group for prestigious managerial positions in the company. On one hand where a positive trend is observed, on the other hand the employment challenges still don`t seem to be resolved. Many African-Americans are found complaining about discriminatory practices they came across in their workplaces, effecting their work performance to a large extent (Nandi 1996). According to a survey, out of 800 African American families who were analyzed indicated that regardless of their job designations and performance, they are being discriminated against at their workplaces. Also, many of the African Americans even protest over the fact that their pay scales are lower than those designed for whites and this is a huge deterrence in their job development and growth. Though the civil rights movement owed much to the progression of the legal system of America, as the discriminatory practices were minimized to a large extent but the Blacks still continue to face a lot of problems with the system even now. There is a shared perception amongst the white population that Blacks are associated with many criminal activities, which is reflected in the legal system of the U.S. According to the Harris (2000), the African Americans constitute about 13% of the total drug users found in America; however the arrest rate for the African Americans convicted for drug abuse is about 38%. These stats thus indicate the discriminatory practices found in America, indicating flaws in the system specifically targeting the Black population. Similarly, Marable (2000) indicates in a study over juveniles that if African-American juveniles are found engaged in a criminal activity their sentence rate is higher than the white juveniles found guilty of similar charges. However, this is just one aspect of the issue and the legal system is often found discriminating against the Black population. Racial profiling is found to be higher for cases involving the African Americans than for any other cultural group, which clearly suggests that the white population perceives the Blacks to be naturally associated with criminal activities. A common example includes the African-American drivers who are often being stopped by the authorities merely on the basis of negative bias against Blacks. Moreover, to analyze the economic stokehold of the African-Americans it is important to access the properties and assets they own, and the level of investment they make at various ventures. Surveys have concluded that the stock market is short of the African-Americans spending at a large pace, and the quantity of those making impactful significance continues to be low. Also, studying the stats regarding the business ownership of the African Americas a positive trend is indicate as it has been increased over the years. However, if the trend is contrasted with the proportion of the Black population, it still seems to be low. This can be related with the status of the African Americans in America and their role in decision making over fiscal issues. Since their involvement is low, consequently their lobbies won`t be too strong which would lead towards the weakening of their positions over the state level. (Tidwell 2000) African Americans also stand to be the most intensely poverty stricken segment of the American society. According to a report, in 2008-2009 alone about 1.1% increase in the number of African Americans had been observed in the poverty rate of the African Americans. This is an astonishing rate, as instead of being controlled the situation is getting even worse. Since the African American community is comparatively the economically vulnerable community, they strongly support the welfare support system in the U.S. Though most of the blacks are highly conservative in their ideologies and disagree with the liberal democrats, but one of the main reasons why the voting base for democrats is generally the African American community is their tilt towards the welfare state system. Since the African-American community is the one suffering the most from joblessness and other economic issues in America, they rely over the welfare aid programs even more than any other minority group. Thus, they are the ones advocating for a lower tax system from the lower and the middle class of the society, thereby diverging strongly from the otherwise conservative Republican Party. The family life of the African Americans is naturally associated with the Church practices. The concept of extended family is still intact amongst this community, and this concept is the sole savior of the family life of the poverty stricken community. Though the rate for African American marriages continue to decline and the children living with single parents continue to increase, but the conservative values of the Black community is still apparent and this is where the church comes in. More than a source of religious satisfaction, a church acts as an institution gluing together the Black community under similar moral values including the family values (Rigmaiden 1996). Thus, Church acts more as a social institution aimed at incorporating integrity and other moral values amongst the conservative minority segment of the U.S. Also, historical evidence indicates that churches have widely been used for political activism aimed at empowering the Black community, thus also acting as a political institution in many cases. For this reason, the white community has even targeted the Churches and held the religious members as victims for propagating illegal content. Thus, the churches are no exception to the rule and discriminatory practices target even the religious congregations of African Americans. (Averill 1996) Adding insult to injury, the African American community is even widely hit by the health issues which are increasing with time rather than being controlled. HIV AIDS is the most common disease found in the African American community with the rates increasing every year. Also, pregnancies at an adolescent age is also a huge issue being the most apparent one in this community. Other major diseases found in the group are cancer, sickle cell anemia, lupus, hypertension and other crucial health issue. Due to institutional discrimination, the group is deterred from going through a rigorous heath care system which is the root cause of the issue. However, the issue is even related with the economic state of the community. Since most of the African Americans belong to the lower income group, it is quite natural that they have limited access to health facilities owing to fiscal restrictions. Other social issues still remain to be a huge challenge for the Black population. For instance, a lot of African American students studying in schools and colleges are victims of hate crimes against them, which is otherwise banned in America (Ashe 2011). However, there are still instances where the Black students are openly harassed or being made fun of at the campus. This naturally affects the learning ability of these students as they feel complexed and marginalized (Marshal 2011). Similarly, many members of the African American community find it difficult to socialize with the other members of the society, for instance some of the black women often complain that they have to face discriminatory attitudes while they try to enter and blend into various nightclubs. Thus, the marginalization leads towards many other social problems for the minority groups. Thus, an analysis of the entire situation indicates that the main issues that the African American community is facing are related to the flaws in the system and the dominance of the white community which fails to accept these minorities as individuals equal to themselves. This leads towards the triggering of an entire cycle and the interrelationship between variables lead towards the deterrence in the development of the community. The fiscal situation directly leads towards the economic suffrage of the Black community and vice versa. Since there are only a few influential elites belonging to the African American community who actually have a say in decision making, the African American lobby is naturally weakened. When most of the members would themselves strive for the marginalization of the black community, the situation would keep getting worse, and Black empowerment will never take place. Also, when the poverty rate will be high, the education rate will remain low while the divorce rate will continue to be high. Conclusively, even in this most progressive era so far U.S remains to be effected by the discriminatory practices against the minority groups, specifically the African American community. The community has to face many different challenges that they have to deal with including various law enforcement challenges as they legal practices tend to discriminate the Black population as they are perceived to be violent. Similarly, the economic investment rate of the African American community remains to be quite low, which owes to the high poverty rate of the community which needs to be controlled. This segment is immensely struck by a high poverty rate, as unemployment continues to be the most crucial problem for the population. This leads towards health issues as they don`t have the access to the basic health facilities. Also, though family values are quite strong but many Black children are found living with single parents. Moreover, discriminatory practices even target the Churches which are also institutions for propagating moral values and organizing themselves for political activities. Since the white community is resistant to the empowerment of the African American community they even target the churches. The African American community is economically the most vulnerable segment of the society thus the support base for the Democrats is the highest despite the divergence over the various other issues. However, there needs to be done something before a saturation point is reached and conditions get worse. References: Harris, D. (2000). Driving While Black and Other African American Crimes: the Continuing Relevance of Race to American Criminal Justice. The State of Black America 2000, National Urban League Publication. Marable, M. (2000). Racism, Prisons, and the Future of Black America. Along Color Lines, Aug. 2000. See printed version for web site address Smith, R.D., and Tucker, T.T. (2001). Mega Churches: African American Churches in Social and Political Context. In re: The State of Black America 2001, National Urban League Publication Tidwell, B.J. (2000). Parity Progress and Prospects: Racial Inequalities in Economic Well-being.: The State of Black America 2000, National Urban League Publication Bureau of Labor Statistics (2000). In re: Tidwell, B.J. (2000) Parity Progress and Prospects: Racial Inequalities in Economic Well-being. The State of Black America 2000, National Urban League Publication. Averill, L. (1996). The Fires of Racism: Black Churches Burned While Government Investigates Congregation. The Freedom Socialist, 17(3), Oct.-Dec. Nandi, C. A. (1997). Issues and factors affecting the recruitment and retention of African Americans in the special education profession Rigmaiden, P. Q. (1996). Issues and trends in contemporary African American religion Marshall, J. N. C. (2011). Lessons learned from men of color student success initiatives: A descriptive analysis of the characteristics of community college programs and an in-depth analysis of the evidence of effectiveness for selected programs. Austin, Tex: University of Texas Ashe, M. L. (2011). Recruitment and retention of African-Americans in school psychology in a social justice context: Practitioners' perspectives. Read More