Ethnicity and Minority Groups - Case Study Example

Racism, Ethnicity and Minority Groups The ideas presented in the selected readings clearly present in a nutshell, the discrimination being faced by these groups, at the hands of those who consider themselves ‘better’ in a social context. These racist beliefs did not die with Lincoln, and have remained ever so apparent. Being denied basic right on the context of a ‘social deficiency’ is not only absurd, but is also a direct contradiction of the Human Rights Charter of the United Nations. The ethnic backgrounds of people, their color ordained by genes, and religious beliefs, should not be a point of contention for anybody, let alone the society as a whole. These are mammoth challenges for the specialist communities, inclusive of social scientists, policy makers, governmental units, students of society, and members of minority and dominant groups. This situation urges for all these people, to contrive a way through which everybody can surface as a human being, and not as a specific color, class or creed. Where the social scientists need to develop ways and means which suit the humans of current times, the policy makers need to establish laws and regulations that are followed in letter and spirit. The students also need to play and instrumental role, as they are the grass-roots which shall develop or destruct the prejudice system in the next decades. Bias always in embedded in the foundations of a society, and needs to be tackled at that very level. As Chen clearly specifies through the example of what happened with Eboni. Discrimination of black children not being allowed to play simply because the place ‘looks bad’ is a horrendous representation of a society that preaches democracy and freedom to the rest of the world. Subsequently, the battle for the house acquisition goes on, not only with this family, but with many others, who keep on getting rejections because they are not visually and conceptually acceptable. Further, as is elucidated in the environment-based discrimination case as well, there is a colossal prejudice according to demographic data in the facilities and general well-being available to the minorities in the Los Angeles County. The fact of the matter is that ever since man has entered civilization, he has ceased to be ‘civilized’ in the context of equality. In most recent times, especially in the context of the US, this discrimination has been from the onset of colonization, and has turn a multitude of economic, political and social turns to take its shape as it is today. As a claimant of ‘the land of opportunity’, the country was eager to allow more and more people coming in, from all cultures, religions and background. And while the economic opportunity was there, there was a dearth of social acceptance and tolerance. Nonetheless, as the facts suggest, the minorities have also stayed on the threshold of economic independence, some thing which has lead to a major societal and class difference in a capitalist society. Resultantly, the minorities in the form of race and ethnic groups were segregated behind many glass walls and ceilings. Herein another problem can be highlighted as well. Though people with a strong willpower may well be able to deal with situations in a different manner, but everyday social psychology purports that people living in minority groups are likely to have low self-esteems. This is simply because they are being looked down upon, merely because of their lack of strength. And a lack of anything is likely to generate a challenge for the self-esteem of the individual. Self-esteem is a very integral personality concern, but issues of discrimination generate self-esteem challenges on a collective and communal level. Where this may also provide within the group, this also highlights the injustice being done at a wider scale, which affects a whole host of people. The Evolution of Ethnicity on the Social Map The land of opportunity as it was and is, has constantly witnessed the influx of people from all nationalities, religions, races and ethnic groups entering its massive pool of multicultural population. This has resulted in the changing face of the process of ethnicity orientation; it only has been evolving with a positive vector, and never really could get down to changing its form or reducing its intensity. The economic development in the US has rapidly sharpened the contours of the racial divide, and has given it a more contemporary look. The essence nonetheless remains the same. The slaves may have gone, but the desire to rule is till there. To add, there is the odd person who is vulnerable enough to be subjugated, thereby maintaining the absurd rules of the game. Facts suggest, that while a 40% increase in Latinos is matched by a corresponding 40% decrease in African Americans may leave the percentage of minorities unchanged, the neighborhood will in fact be transformed. This is another important revelation. The minority status remains the same, but the type of minority changes, creating even more sub-levels of divisions within the society. What’s more, that that people do not seem to have an idea about the extent to which the divide is actually there. Either there are whims, or complaints about the system; rarely anybody knows the actual state of affairs. The alarming fact depicted by this finding is, that even in those areas where there is a possibility of less segregation being there, even there the biases of people have become so string that they have already make pre-emptive decisions and biases against groups, and situations therein. The most fundamental influence being done is changing of orientation, and making different and intolerant opinions of others. Ironically, that the very extremism that the US set to fight in the rest of the world, back home it would develop in the form of an uncontrolled cancer. Being fundamentalist does not involve strapping a bomb to one self and exploding; it is a connotation that does not allow the person in question to be pragmatic, and think beyond the conventional thought. Therefore, if a small child in school does not share a cookie with a mate due to ethnic, racist or religious grounds, that is perhaps the greatest representation of grass-root extremism in a society; something which is well underway in the US! This becomes a colossal study area and area of responsibility for the social scientists. In this arena, human inter-personal relations are being tested like in no other condition. The interesting thing remains, that there would always be a patter that is being followed in the social variations, pertaining to inter-group relations, prejudice, assimilation patterns, intermarriage, housing patterns, the lessoning and/or persistence of social and economic inequalities. Still the prime issue, which ends up as the originator and root-cause for all the aforementioned is that of race. This is a biological reality which has sociological and political consequences, hence it become an interdisciplinary challenge for the researchers. Still, the actual role and responsibility lies with the individual who is being persecuted. The actual segregation is not caused by the enforcers, but by the people who yield to it! The individual has to decide where he wants to live; provided he can undertake the economic obligations, no place should be out of bounds for any human being. The sad reality is, that one of the greatest living colored American icons of the current era, Michael Jackson, actually underwent a multitude of painful surgeries to change what he was. So one thinks, if a person of his standing cannot represent his true self and be proud of his persona, then who else would be? Residential Segregation and Social Prejudice The existence and persistence of residential segregation is one of the most crucial factors responsible in creating biases between people and communities. Where a person lives, become his eternal abode, in as far as the world is concerned. Hence, when bifurcations are made in this cadre, then people are definitely prone to viewing this as a differentiating factor. All across the world, there is a social divide that forces people to inhabit segregated pieces of land. However, the reasons and impact of many of them are purely economic in nature. However, in the US, this has taken a more racial and ethnic flavor, wherein people of a group initially lived together by choice, and now they have to live there by default. Social scientists consider residential discrimination as a central factor, which causes differences. However, in the US, now the opposite is taking effect as well. Instead of residential segregation causing social divide, it is the racial discrimination that is triggering and maintaining the residential preferences; something that is even more chronic and alarming. This has now become a vicious cycle, which is not giving way to the people entrapped within. What’s more, the society and the general environment are playing an instrumental role to maintain the momentum of this cycle. Even animals tend to have their territorial demarcations, and the violation of the same often leads to fatal results. Similarly, man instead of behaving alike a civilized social animal, has opted to draw his own limits and parameters in order to separate human from human. Essentially, within residential segregation, people there are laws and mores, which are established overtime in order to inhibit and prohibit people from a specific group/representation to be a party to the land. Property as been a bone of contention for man ever since civilization; thus, the stronger group would never like people from the minority group to gain the advantage of having supremacy of the land. Land ownership is an undisputable asset, which automatically demands social respect and dignity; something which is generally denied to the weaker groups. A very chronic form of induced segregation is hyper-segregation. In this, the affected party is isolated from the geographic, political, economic and cultural perspective within the community. For all practical purposes, there is nothing left for the group, and it finds it self in the form a social jail. Even more disheartening is the reality, that federal regulations give way to these hyper-segregations, which do not allow for people of ‘specified specifications’ to become eligible for particular benefits and facilities. Such people then become completely dissatisfied and unwelcome within the society, and end up having low morale and self-esteem. In California, white land-owners had actually included a clause in their property accusation papers that no colored individual will be able to purchase their land. Such deliberate attempts of segregation not only strengthen the cause of the divide, but also depict the crooked intensions of the people propagating the segregation with full force. The first day a colored individual went and sat in the ‘colored only waiting room’, he actually subjugated himself and his entire race to the commands of the adversary. Individuals therefore can make a massive difference in this domain, let alone communities. We must remember that Martin Luther King was the name of ‘one’ man. People should not go down to the level of servility to accept living conditions that are environmentally, socially and humanistically unacceptable. The demarcation of acceptability comes from the benchmarks established by the more fortunate of the society, but who decides as to who is the more endowed member of the community? Read More