Struggle for Equality in America - 1945 to Present - Case Study Example

By the 1990s, mass incarceration had already begun to increase exponentially. Moreover, racial inequality in America failed to reduce in a significant manner. There is no suggestion that inequality and its resultant malevolence will subside in a meaningful manner. The increasing role of gerrymandering in some states has further reduced the electoral weight of Black American votes, further excluding them from local state and federal decision-making. In terms of educational achievement, Black children have been unable to close the gap to their white peers. By the end of the 1990s, on average, Africa American students only scored 75% of Caucasian ones in standardized scores. Among the main issues for the discrepancy in the difference in environments that white and black children grow with Black children, on average, growing up in more poverty. The trend has continued to the end of the 2010s with Reeves and Halikias, noting that "large racial gaps in SAT scores persist." SAT scores have a predicted effect on college graduation and social mobility. Consequently, the low test scores for Black Americans affect their college admission and graduation rates and impact future employability.

Employment gaps have also failed to close since the start of the 1990s. According to Jencks and Phillips, in the early 1990s, black people earned only 67.5% of what Caucasians earned. The rate continued throughout the 1990s, with Black Americans being twice as likely than whites to be unemployed. Masterson notes that in the 1990s expansion, employment grew for whites, while the Black people's rates remained the same. In the labor market, Blacks continue to experience more considerable obstacles than Whites. Economic shocks affect like the 2008 financial crisis had a lasting effect on household incomes in the U.S. Consequently, the 2008 economic crises other than wiping out Black wealth, also led to increased unemployment among Black people. By 2018, the difference in median income between Black and white families had grown by ten thousand dollars from 1970 to 2018 to result in 33,000 dollars. As in other financial crises, Black Americans find themselves faced with increasing unemployment due to COVID-19 due to "racism and economic inequality." Thus, economic and employment inequalities have subsided only in a limited manner for Black Americans, with each crisis presenting a new challenge.

The issue of housing remains an important measure of socioeconomic progress. Black people have maintained lower rates of homeownership than white people. Charles and Hurst note that the disparities do not just have a basis on relatively lower income levels than white people, racism plays a significant part in Black people twice as likely to have their mortgage requests refused. Gentrification has also increased with the number of Black people displaced from their historical neighborhoods since the mid-1990s. Since the mid-1990s, homeownership has decreased from 49% in 2004 to 42% in 2020. Meanwhile, the rate of white family homeownership is almost twice of Black Americans at 73%. The fact that homes in Black majority neighborhoods have less valuation than those in white ones and Blacks pay higher interest rates than white people has led to a lack of homeownership growth. These factors have brought a permanent correlation between race and social class in America.Thus, Blacks trail their white peers in homeownership due to low incomes and racism within the housing market.

• Conclusion

While the conditions of Black Americans have improved since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, they have failed to match those of whites consistently due to a myriad of factors, perpetuating socioeconomic inequality in the current era. The period between the end of the Second World War and the 1960s marked the last period before Congress passed laws that outlawed discrimination in a variety of fields, from voting, education, employment to housing. With the disallowing of these are issues, the expectation was that Black American conditions of life would improve to a point where racism would cease being a factor. While there has been considerable improvement, the progress has not been enough.

There are various recommendations to cure the problems that can alleviate the problems Black Americans continue to face daily.

• First, a new Civil Rights legislation protects the rights of African Americans and other minorities to vote by illegalizing gerrymandering. If the law could treat racial gerrymandering as a civil rights issue, instances of racial gerrymandering would reduce.
• Congress should further pass a law that imposes a duty on both public entities and private companies to report their diversity statistics. The divulsion of such statistics would lead to more companies hiring black people.
• Congress should disallow the policy of banks charging more for mortgages for black people than whites for a similar property.
• The incentivization of Companies that have policies that encourage minority participation would give a commercial inducement for companies to employ, give better terms for mortgages, and among other issues that would improve the economic plight of African Americans.