The Impact of Discrimination against African Americans - Assignment Example

 (a1) The Impact of Discrimination against African Americans. Since time immemorial, there has always been a hierarchy, a division between men; in Rome for instance the society was divided into the slaves and the free men, in feudal states the society was divided into the landlords and the serfs, in India people were divided into different castes, and so on. Racial discrimination is another way to create divisions between individuals, based on their race; one race of people that has been heavily discriminated against in the past is the African American race. Taking examples from politics, history and psychology, the extent and impact of discrimination against African Americans will be demonstrated. From the political standpoint, it is interesting to note how the criminal justice system across most societies is deliberately organized against African Americans. African Americans in the USA have faced racial discrimination in the courthouses and by the laws that have been passed by the state; also, since the Jim Crow Laws had been passed since the 1900s, the African Americans were segregated from the rest of the population, and denied equality in many areas of social life such as voting (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System ,page 66). Also, even though African Americans make up 13% of the population in the USA, in 2004 African Americans were accused of "47.2% of murders, 53.3% of robberies, 31.9% of rapes, and 32.7% of assaults," (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System, page 67); as we can see, this seems to be a skewed and disproportionate report, one that demonstrates racial discrimination against the African Americans. Following the "Rodney King" case, it was found that there does seem to be racial prejudice and bias being practiced against the African Americans, seen from the use of excessive violence, verbal harassment and invasive actions against them by police officers, (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System, page 67). Moving onto historic examples of discrimination against African Americans, it would be worthwhile to mention the incident of the Red Summer of 1919, in which African Americans and the white population of Chicago launched into racially charged riots that lasted for 5 days; many African Americans were lynched, shot, wounded. The most significant reason for these racial riots was due to the feeling of intolerance and xenophobia towards the African Americans (Norvell & Tuttle , page 210). There was also a general feeling amongst the white population to push the African Americans back to the "bottom rung of the racial ladder," and to force them away from their houses in white neighborhoods and back to live in their "ghettos," (Norvell & Tuttle , page 210). It was the African Americans who were mainly targeted in this Red Summer, and the fact that the racial riots were started mainly because of the white population's hatred towards the African Americans demonstrates how the phenomenon of racial discrimination is not something that the African Americans have never experienced in the past. Lastly, within the sphere of psychology, a study was carried out by D' Auguelli and Hershberger in 1993 on African American students to assess the racial discrimination they felt they faced (Swim et al ,page 40). From this study, it was found that 59% of these students said they were verbally abused whereas 36% claimed that they were threatened with violence. Another psychological study was carried out by Landrine and Klonoff in 1996 to again examine the extent to which African Americans faced discrimination, and it was found that 100% of their sample had experienced some degree of racism in their lives (Swim et al, page 40). It is evident from these studies that African Americans do face discrimination in their lives; it has a tangible impact on their lives, seen from their reports of verbal abuse and threats of violence against them. (A2) African American Success in USA. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about successful African Americans in the USA is President Barack Obama; the fact that an African American is the President of the a country with a white majority demonstrates how far African Americans have progressed in the US. Thinking in terms of the three spheres of social life mentioned in the previous answer, i.e. the political and historical arena and within psychology, it would be apt to claim that the position of African Americans in USA today is not as poor as it was in the past; nevertheless, they still do face discrimination which makes it difficult for them to succeed in society. As mentioned before, there tends to be in the criminal justice system a prejudice towards African Americans; even today, it is considered that crime is mainly committed by African American men and that African American men are "violent and menacing street thug(s)," (Welch, page 276). Welch also found that in the courts, African Americans are still punished more severely than the white offenders, and that often prosecutors "perpetuate racial stereotypes by characterizing Blacks as particularly prone to violent criminality, which results in higher conviction rates , (Welch, page 280). It has also been found now that every African American male will be accused of a crime and be punished at some point in their lives (Welch, page 281), and that there is a racially skewed depiction of African American males on the media being accused of committing crimes (Welch, page 281). All of these negative attitudes towards African Americans are bound to have an impact on their success in society. Though history is full of examples of how the African Americans were discriminated against, in America today the situation of the African American has slightly changed. For instance, slavery of the African American existed in the 17th century, African Americans were subjected to many slave codes that stripped them of many of their human rights, the Jim Crow laws were passed that made it legally acceptable to segregate the African Americans from the rest of the population (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System , page 66); African Americans were clearly discriminated against. However, since then their position has changed slightly; for instance, after the Civil War slavery was abolished, the Jim Crow laws were scrapped and laws were passed that forbade segregation and declared African Americans as free and equal (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System , page 66). However, many psychological studies have shown that African Americans do face instances of racism and discrimination against them, every day (Swim et al, page 42). As mentioned before, researchers have found alarming numbers of Africa Americans who have reported instances of being threatened, or abused and discriminated against because of their race (Swim et al, page 42); practically 100% of African Americans questioned in one study claimed that they had experienced discriminatory behavior towards them. It was also reported that many African Americans who were questioned in the research claimed that they received "hostile glares," and bad service in shops and restaurants (Swim et al, page 52). As it is clear from this example, African Americans have not really made much progress in society in terms of their social standing or status, since they are still being discriminated against and treated with hostility, as was in the past. (A3) The Importance of Black Studies. As Dr DuBois clearly states that if the "Negro is ever to be a factor in the world's history," "it must be placed there by black hands," (Woodyard, page 239). The central importance of Black Studies is therefore to give the African Americans a forum, an outlet through which they can make their contribution to the world of art, academia, literature and anything else that will allow them to portray their African culture to the rest of the world. Black studies aims to give the African Americans an opportunity to reveal their thoughts to the world, and Karenga notices that Black studies is characterized by feelings of self-consciousness and demarcation (Woodyard, page 240), i.e. the African Americans who contribute to it and study it are consciously aware of their own unique, African identities. In 1916, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History was set up, whose purpose was to publish books on African American history, (Woodyard, page 242). There was also attempt made by the Black scholars to correct the negative portrayals and stereotypes of African Americans that were prevalent in society (Woodyard, page 243). As it is clear, the main purpose of Black Studies is to allow the African Americans to develop their own Afrocentric perspective (Woodyard, page 240) and publish knowledge and ideas that are part of the African American culture. Biondi in her article also emphasizes the importance of Black Studies; this discipline allows for the development of a "black ethos," (Biondi, page 227) and teaches African American students how to deal with problems in "poor black communities," (Biondi, page 228). Also, Balck Studies is important since it teaches how to understand racism and race, (Biondi, page 233), and it teaches the value of multiculturalism, cultural diversity and plurality (Biondi, page 234). Works Cited. Biondi, Martha. "Controversial Blackness: The Historical Development & Future Trajectory of African American Studies." DeepDyve. N.p., 2011. Web. 24 June 2013. . Norvell, Stanley B., and William M. Tuttle. "Views of a Negro During "The Red Summer" of 1919." Www.jstor.org. N.p., n.d. Web. . Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System. N.p.: Www.sagepub.com, n.d. Pdf. Swim, Janet K., Lauri L. Hyers, Laurie L. Cohen, Davita C. Fitzgerald, and Wayne H. Bylsma. African American College Students’ Experiences With Everyday Racism: Characteristics of and Responses to These Incidents. N.p.: Www.sagepub.com, 2003. Pdf. http://www.sagepub.com/healeystudy5/articles/Ch3/Collegestudentsandeverydayracism.pdf Welch, Kelly. Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling. N.p.: Www.sagepub.com, 2007. Pdf. http://www.sagepub.com/gabbidonstudy/articles/Welch.pdf Woodyard, Jeffrey Lynn. "Evolution of a Discipline: Intellectual Antecedents of African American Studies." Www.jstor.org. N.p., n.d. Web. . Read More