Racial Boundaries - Research Paper Example

Racial Boundaries s America, with its global image of the superpower, of a multinational, multicultural and democratic state, has been struggling with the issue of race virtually since the time of its birth. Racial inequality used to reach extraordinary heights including slavery (which had literally become a trigger for the civil war); however, the U.S was past this shameful point of its history in the second half of the 19th century, when slavery was abolished on the federal level due to efforts of Abraham Lincoln. Since that time, federal laws banned race-based discrimination among Americans, but – despite freedom and rights granted to nonwhite citizens by the amendments to the Constitution – segregation thrived on the American soil for years more, i.e. to the 1960’s, reflected in the social life, work, education and many other spheres. Laws discriminating colored citizens of the U.S. (Jim Craw laws, which were in effect till 1964) were issued on the state level, especially in the south, which made all colored Americans formally free, but actually unequal to the whites and discriminated. Race was a ground for strict separation between Americans in buses, restaurants, bus stations, cinemas and many other facilities; education was also greatly influenced by racial inequality, with colored children having no right to study at the same schools where white kids studied. The event that broke the ice was a mass 381-day boycott of public transport in 1955. Later, due to decisive struggle of colored population mainly led and inspired by Martin Luther King, the process of desegregation commenced, eliminating boundaries between white (European) Americans and citizens of different races. Naturally, the U.S. racial issue has always been mainly about African Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans. Decades after the desegregation breakthrough, American government promotes tolerance and equality as the key values of this great multinational country. Tolerance has become the greatest value in this democratic environment. Colored citizens have been enjoying far more rights and have been considered equal to whites. Promotion of tolerance and equality as the basis of democracy was probably amplified with emphasis on a single, unitary national language: English must have acted like cement for all ethnicities and races. Moreover, the idea of racial equality got enough high for a “colored” person to run for office and win presidential elections. But, at the same time, modern America displays disturbing tendencies of returning to racial inequality, though equal rights for all races have been widely promoted among the population. “Contrary to post-racialism, it is unmistakable that racism still remains a major phenomenon in the United States today” (Herndon, 2013). Due to studies and evidences, racial issue is becoming all the more relevant again, and it is illustrated in a wide range of areas and cases. Education The level of segregation in American education is mainly evaluated due to such measures as racial isolation/exposure and racial imbalance. It is known that measures of isolation/exposure evaluate segregation at school according to the proportion of races and ethnicities, which are present in a certain school. Obviously, this means that an educational institution attended by the majority of black students is considered racially isolating (Reardon and Owens, 2013). On the other hand, adherents of racial imbalance as a measure prefer to evaluate the level of segregation in education due to uneven distribution of various racial groups across educational institutions. Whereas after the court’s decision on Brown case, segregation in education was substantially reduced, the recent data indicates that racial isolation has increased in the last decade. While in late 1970’s around 90% of children even in the South attended desegregated schools (Bouie, 2014), the process seen today indicates a kind of regression. According to the report of the report of the Civil Rights Project, the level of school segregation is about to reach the mark of the 1960’s (Olfield and Frankenberg). Nowadays, most average colored Americans tend to attend “minority-majority” schools, where proportions of ethnicities and races are very uneven. As Bouie states, referring to the Civil Rights Project, percentage of children attending such schools has been rising, with more than 40% of black children attending 90%-minority schools in the recent years (Bouie, 2014). At the same time, the report states that percentage of black students in majority schools is decreasing, having constituted only 23.2% in 2011. Moreover, “black and Latino students have especially low exposure to white students in largest metropolitan areas and in midsize central cities” (Olfield and Frankenberg, 2014). Nevertheless, the levels of exposure and isolation aren’t the only concern. Another one problem is the fact that black and Latino students tend to get worse education than white and Asian American students. Nowadays, minority students are again concentrated in low-achieving schools with high average poverty rate, whereas the white majority attends more affluent institutions that are better funded (Fiel, 2013). Minority schools are mostly characterized by lower accessibility of learning facilities and materials, less qualified teachers and high teachers’ turnover level. Housing and income According to the same report, modern schooling segregation isn’t only approaching the level of the 1960’s, but is also a multidimensional issue, which is closely connected with other factors in a manner of cause and effect. Thus, human rights activists and researchers seek to draw public attention to the fact that fundamental cause of school segregation lies in residential segregation. Residential segregation, though not so harsh as before 1960’s, takes place in the modern American society, too. Commonly, nonwhite citizens, first of all, Hispanics and African Americans, live in less favorable areas of cities. As for situation with home ownership, in 2007, 87% of homeowners in the U.S. were white (Schwarz, 2008). Later, in 2010, surveys indicated that 71% of white Americans were homeowners, whereas percentage of homeowners among African Americans, Asian American and other minorities remains below the average level. This tendency is closely connected to the issue of income among representatives of different races and ethnicities: as low-income groups are less likely to afford owning a house, the number of homeowners among minorities remains low. It is obvious that nonwhites are more likely to live in poverty or have much lower income rates than whites. On the other hand, in terms of rent, white Americans owning more income levels were reported to be ready to pay more money for housing in white – or predominantly white – areas. Rent of the equivalent housing in purely white neighborhoods is higher (Kiel & Zabel, 1996), and higher cost of rent virtually excludes possibility of meeting black people in the area. Moreover, black citizens are often unable to pay more money for housing in the white neighborhood. Due to evidences presented in numerous modern studies, the gap between races in the U.S. continues to widen because of intensification of income segregation. “A typical white family in the U.S. is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class, according to a recent report from Brandeis University in Massachusetts” (McGreal, 2010). Healthcare One more domain, where racial inequality can be seen even in modern America is healthcare. Healthcare services are still less accessible for minorities, moreover, the quality of services is lower, leading to greater health issues in citizens and especially in children and adolescents. Particularly, adolescents belonging to minorities are more likely to have obesity, asthma, vision problems etc. Furthermore, the level of medical insurance delivery among racial minorities is also rather poor. According to the research, “Latino and AI/AN adolescents were significantly more likely to be uninsured than white children, and Latino, African American, and AI/AN adolescents had higher proportions of sporadic insurance coverage” (Lau et al, 2012). Data provided in the report of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2010), “despite improvements, differences persist in health care quality among racial and ethnic minority groups”. This report provides brief yet informative data on racial disparities concerning healthcare. For numerous measures evaluating healthcare quality, blacks, Asian Americans and Hispanics received worse services than whites. Accessibility of healthcare was also reported to be uneven due to racial differences. However, the report contains information about some positive tendencies, too, for instance, narrowing of the gap between Asian Americans and whites in terms of healthcare services distribution. Ferguson unrest In terms of modern racial segregation, it is impossible not to grant a special place to the topic of Ferguson unrest as the most recent and disturbing race-related issue. The tensions began to escalate in Ferguson, a town of 67% black population (Payne, 2014) after the white police officer shot Michael Brown. According to many sources, including The Washington Post, racism is believed to have been a factor that influenced shooting (Lowery, 2014). Unrest burst out in the town with robberies, arsons, vandalism and street clashes between the residents and the police. Generalizing the issue related to shooting, it is possible to state that this very case served as a trigger, because demography of Ferguson Police Department was already an issue of controversy: for a mostly black community, there were only three (other sources report about five) black police officers. This fact is enough to raise concerns about equality in the federal system of law enforcement, even despite the black man holding the position of the U.S. president. Furthermore, the system is reported to have been treating black citizens unequally, starting with minor traffic offenses and enormous fines for them. Even more, according to The Guardian’s report, “Many African Americans interviewed by the Guardian said Obama’s race partly explained his impotency as president; his inability to influence events from Washington to the streets of Ferguson» (Lewis, 2014). Judging by the provided information and examples, which are, unfortunately, are rather frequent in the modern society, one could conclude, that post-racial ideology isn’t strong enough in the U.S. yet. However, the general picture of the race relations and boundaries has changed over the recent decades, making the issue of segregation even more intricate. “Whereas a generation ago racial boundaries in the United States were largely drawn along a dichotomized “black-white” axis—where “black” was understood fundamentally as “not white”—today the rapidly growing presence of Latino or Hispanic and Asian immigrants and the resurgence of Native American identification have greatly complicated cultural and official racial mapping” (Lewis et al, 2004). Racial and ethnic minorities still experience hardships of inequality, though this inequality isn’t dictated by the laws. America is struggling hard – or, at least, - seems to in order to eliminate the idea of racial differences and unify the nation. However, American society still cannot be called post-racial, because under the cover of tolerance and advocacy for equality there are still obvious traces of racism. Racial boundaries have transformed according to changes in minority demography, but they are still there. References Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2010). Disparities in Healthcare Quality Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr10/minority.html Bouie, J. (2014). Still Separate And Unequal. Slate. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/05/brown_v_board_of_education_60th_anniversary_america_s_schools_are_segregating.html Fiel, Jeremy E. (2013). "Decomposing School Resegregation: Social Closure, Racial Imbalance, and Racial Isolation."American Sociological Review. no. 5 (2013): 1-21. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://asr.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/08/23/0003122413496252.full.pdf Herndon, L. (2013). Why is racial injustice still permitted in the united states?: An international human rights perspective on the united states inadequate compliance with the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. Wisconsin International Law Journal, 31(2), 322-351. Kiel, K. A.; Zabel, J. E. (1996). "Housing Price Differentials in U.S. Cities: Household and Neighborhood Racial Effects". Journal of Housing Economics 5 (2): 143–165.  Lau, M., Lin, H., & Flores, G. (2012). Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care among U.S. Adolescents. Health Services Research, 47(5), 2031-2059. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.adams.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f11058b6-552f-4bc7-afc4-210761e85d52%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4212 Lewis, A.E., Krysan, M. and Harris, N. (Eds.) (2004). The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity. Russell Sage Foundation, 5. Lewis, P. (2014). Ferguson unrest: Obama don’t feel the pain, cos he never went through this. The Guardian. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/26/ferguson-unrest-obama-dont-feel-the-pain Lowery, W. (2014). "Even before Michael Browns slaying in Ferguson, racial questions hung over police". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-before-teen-michael-browns-slaying-in-mo-racial-questions-have-hung-over-police/2014/08/13/78b3c5c6-2307-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html McGreal, C. (2010). Racial income gap widens in U.S. CCPA Monitor, 17(3), 6. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.adams.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=137ae970-0eb8-4a84-9d65-65466e5fe85e%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4212 Olfield, H. and Frankenberg, E. (2014). Brown at 60 Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future. The Civil Rights Project. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/brown-at-60-great-progress-a-long-retreat-and-an-uncertain-future/Brown-at-60-051814.pdf Payne, S. (2014). America’s racial tensions are on show for the world to see in Ferguson. The Spectator. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/americas-racial-tensions-are-on-show-for-the-world-to-see-in-ferguson/ Reardon, S., Owens. A. (2013). "60 Years After Brown: Trends and Consequences of School Segregation". Stanford University. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from: https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/reardon%20owens%20ARS%20segregation%20oct2013.pdf Schwartz, A.F. (2008). Housing Policy in the United States. New York: Routledge, 22. Read More