Racism Still Exists in America - Essay Example

Racism in America Racism in America Despite being the oldest democracies in the world today, racism has remained the stench chocking the American. Looking back at the effects of racism before the signing of the emancipation proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, not much has changed (Williams, 2004). The recent video chats, which surfaced online, from University of Oklahoma students hurling racist remarks, reminded the American society, how much it needed to do to tame the scourge of racism. The racist chant from members of the Sigma Alpa Epsilon (SAE) baffled many, especially given that those were scholars. One would expect in educational institutions to help in reducing the racial resentments or even temper the outward expression of it. Ironically, the racist chants from Oklahoma students were unfortunate. Even more shocking was the revelation that the chant was part of the institutional culture of the chapter (Romano, 2003). Utterances of lynching emerged from the chant as the fraternity members were heard singing on a chartered bus that headed to the annual Founder’s Day event in Oklahoma City. It is therefore candid to admit that such an incident, at such a time in history, offers a perfect opportunity for Americans to reevaluate how they perceive and think about the whole issue of racism in America, and if better the ways by which it can cease. Racism knows no age, a pervasive tale that has occurred through generations. Since the days of Abraham Lincoln, one would say that old racists died out, and in these days of Obama, new, young, and progressive Americans have replaced the society. Shockingly, the new racists seem to emerge (McWhorter, 2005). One of the underlying challenges is that most Americans, especially the Millennial have a distinct perception of what racism is. In today’s American society, racism embeds itself in the institutions; a case sample is what happened in Oklahoma. Because of racism, class stratification and discrimination in terms of culture is yet to diminish. Such a happening seems like an odd thing, especially emerging in America today. It is thus beyond doubt that the United States contains well-anchored structural racial issues that needs to be streamlined (Williams, 2004). Racial and cultural favoritism gets its means of expression not only through direct discrimination, but also through the power of history. For instance, in America, as much as history would like to define it, the black community has found itself on the receiving end (Flax, 2010). This may be the reason as to why sometimes they have sparked waves of retaliation, like the Baltimore incident. In some cases, black and Latino men find themselves in mass incarceration, which as a result affects their families, in which their children grow up in poor neighborhoods, stinting upwards mobility for these communities. The interpretation from these races is that they suffer because of their race even when they are on the wrong side of the law (Graves, 2004). The inclusiveness of a civilized society, which the founders of the American society hoped for, is slowly slipping away as racism creeps fill the void. Because of its effect on gender, it would thus be reasonable for the American society to tame racism through creating a forward-looking agenda. When one talks of racism in the current American society, the incidences of recent shootings of unarmed black men and boys (Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin) as well as SAE scandal resonates in the minds. It might look like a barbaric act towards the victims of these racist attacks, but the reality is that it is happening in an era where no one would anticipate (Williams, 2004). The reaction that is sprouting from the SAE scandal and the previous shooting of the unarmed blacks insinuates that the American society is ready to accurately identify and shame open racial acrimony. The challenge, however, may be that most Americans are not attuned to it. To some extent, even progress seems to entrench structural racism in America. For instance, in the eve of president Obama’s election, University of Michigan Professor Vincent Hutching exposed that the blacks and the whites remained as far apart on the issue of racial policy in 2008 as it was in 1988 (Graves, 2004). The reality is that Americans need to wake up into the reality and re-look at its history and how it continues to affect its citizens (Romano, 2003). For instance, research has exposed that the whites, who live in areas that had high concentrations of slavery have resulted, up to this day, in espousing racially biased attitudes. This means that the current American society cannot rely on a mass opinion change, or for older whites to die to slay the dragon of racism in today’s America. There is racism in America and one would wonder how the society got into that point. The protests that sprouted following the deaths of unarmed black men by police officers in Ferguson and New York forced the American society to relook at the issue of race relations (Lowery, 2014). The reality is that these conversations scarcely proceed beyond the exchange of bitter recriminations, as the issue of race is not an easy one. For example, the incidences of Oklahoma, Ferguson, and New York can be manifestos of explicit racism. It thus makes the matter more difficult since it has become a subconscious racial bias (Williams, 2004). Therefore, a debate on whether the Americans of color received ruthless treatment from the criminal justice system or even grapple with economic hurdles that their white counterpart do not face should form the big American discussion. Many may find this not a serious matter as it deserves, but denying race issues is like denying that human activity is the reason for the continuing global warming. As a nation, American society applauds itself as a nation that has moved beyond the chains of racial discriminations (McWhorter, 2005). The truth is that the society is still haunted by the ghost of racism. For instance, in the cities like New York, the Hunts point, complete with train tracks paved road, which may feel like unpaved, the stench of poverty and industrial waste in the black occupied regions portray the social stratification. The poor side of the town in New York still features entirely the black race. The barriers existing between Hunts Point and the rest of the New York city are not as high as they were between the white supremacy and the occupancy of the blacks in the 1960s (Graves, 2004). In the current generation, citizens, irrespective of their color, can pass over them. What is more unbecoming is that, practically, they are more of insurmountable in the modern America. The truth is that the overt, violent, and legal racism is long gone, what is left in the current American society is a subtler version. This stratification finds its roots in the history of the American society, the effect of what unresolved racial relations might escalate to. Ironically, the laws in the books speak of alternative hence they appear as idyllic words that contrast with the daily reality. The truth of the matter is that everything, before and post slavery times, gets stacked against those who are born of black or brown gene. To many, racism might appear easy to ignore, easier to deny yet consequently it is almost dangerous. The heightened tensions in Ferguson and SAE scandal can tell it all (Romano, 2003). Racism is not a topic to ignore since it is affecting human relationships in the multi-cultural society of the current American society. As many Americans would like their well famed and advanced democracy to get rid of racism in this era, waiting for a mass action on the same subject is a job in futility (Graves, 2004). As the Atlantic’s would have it, it is now a case of reparations. The American society needs to rise to the occasion and address their sins of the past (Lowery, 2014). This issue affects all the Americans owing to how history judges of America in relation to racial matters. The silent question that runs through the minds of every American citizen is what this particular race owes the other race. In a more solid way, the issue would be what the United States owes the African-Americans, whom largely have been the victims of racial discrimination (Williams, 2004). Every American citizen is part of this challenge. Another way that this challenge of racism may be tamed is through having a demographic change, which in turn would lead to a more diverse nation (Flax, 2010). The challenge in this process is that it might even take more than a half century and the reality is that white dominion has a way of shifting to lodge the changing realities of the day (McWhorter, 2005). Therefore, racial justice in the American society may need an inclusion of deeply integrating the neighborhoods in order to provide and avail everyone with an equal opportunity. Furthermore, this integration would cumulatively reduce the racial animosity, which in the current American society is fueled by mass incarceration and racially biased policing policies (Williams, 2006). The latter ought to cease with immediate effect if the citizen of American society would love to tone down the tempers of racial animosity (Graves, 2004). Alternatively, the United States ought to close in the funding gap between majority white and those that accommodate the students of color as well as the distance between the rich and the poor schools (Romano, 2003). These are issues that have made the educational institutions in America result in breeding racial undertones from within, a case example is the SAE scandal. If such measures could be put in practice, there would be that baby bonding from within the societies as this would help in reducing the racial wealth gap as well as the deep-class division in asset ownership. In conclusion, since racism is a reality in American society today, accepting the challenge and finding a way out would help much in healing the racial relations. Contrary to the affirmation of conformists and their upcoming democratic imitators, racism in America is a reality today, which blunts the survival of African Americans as well as the lives of other racial minorities. This veracity connects with the irrefutable and positive liberalization of attitudes that relate to racial issues, which seem to have taken the better part of American society from the heyday of the famous civil rights movement. As discussed earlier, they do not need any legal framework based on the racial justice agenda (Williams, 2004). On the contrary, what Americans need to acknowledge is letting them be part of an opportunity, for, all, the white, Latino, and Black Americans change their society for better. References Flax, Jane. 2010. Resonances of slavery in race/gender relations shadow at the heart of American politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Graves, Joseph L. 2004. The race myth: why we pretend race exists in America. New York: Dutton. Lowery, Tabitha. 2014. Looking backward toward progress: Re-evaluating whiteness through Puritan texts. http://hdl.handle.net/2346/58499. McWhorter, John H. 2005. Winning the race: beyond the crisis in Black America. http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID={8B272205-09C8-43CE-B870-5C19652EECBC}&Format=410. Romano, Renee Christine. 2003. Race mixing: Black-white marriage in postwar America. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Williams, Juan. 2006. Enough the phony leaders, dead-end movements, and culture of failure that are undermining Black America-- and what we can do about it. New York: Three Rivers Press. http://downloads.bclibrary.ca/ContentDetails.htm?ID=130A4588-ED04-4F04-9DBA-4C05597E12C1. Williams, Mary E. 2004. Racism. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. Read More