What is Racism and its History in USA

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Wei

Alice Wei

491200485

Literary Criticism: Identity, Trauma and Globalization

Dr. Kate Liu

Group Report Paper

19th Nov. 2004

What is Racism and its History in USA

When the word “racism” comes to peoples’ minds, first idea that hops into their minds is probably something relevant to skin color, particularly those who are Blacks. Such idea, as a matter of fact, originates from the idea of “bigotry,” which designates an obstinate or blind attachment to a particular belief, unreasonable enthusiasm in favor of a party, sect or opinion; excessive prejudice or intolerance (Newman 9). What is more, the idea of racism usually comes with the stereotyped representations upon that particular race, whether or not they may be positive, or negative images. In America, for instance, the positive stereotyped representations of the Blacks exists in films as well as television programs include images associated with sports, rapping and tap dancing, which such trait has been more and more expressed in movies, magazines as well as other types of media (Barker 212). Nevertheless, with such positive images of the Blacks, this certainly does not designate that the white Americans do not impose any prejudicial views against the Blacks. In contrast, in America, what has been revealed in the societies within the nation was quite different than the general positive publicized images, because even today in the 21st century, racism and prejudice against the Blacks still is practiced, from offices, schools, hospitals, to governmental institutions, significantly.

History of racism in America had actually started all the way back to the colonial period, the time when the nation welcomed immigrants, either forced or voluntary, in forms of slavery or foreign labor. Simultaneously, those European immigrants, in order to protect their own interests, forced the exclusion of the Blacks to the most disadvantaged sections of the society, along with serious segregation policies in the 1960s, even though both the Civil Rights Movement, which created in 1964 with its purpose to stop discrimination in employment based on race, religion, gender or national origin, and Black Nationalism was established in 1964, still could not prevent the African Americans, or the Blacks, from not getting equal opportunities in work force and education with the whites. Instead, the Blacks remained at the bottom of societies, not to mention how they are stereotyped as those in images of poverty, educational failure, unemployment, teenage childbirth and crime.

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Entering the period of the 1980s, the situation of the Blacks in American did improve, as they made more money, even with the occurrences of economic fortunes gone to extremes, but still can’t be compared with the whites at all. As Stephen Small indicated, even at the time of the year 1988 in the late 20th century, merely four percent of the Blacks make more than $50,000 or more per year. Concurrently, this number only designated sixty percent of what the Whites make during that time, not to mention that the median net worth of black households was only one tenth ...

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In America, it is not complicated to find evidences of how the Blacks are discriminated and treated unequally within work force, even though the constitution in America had stated that all men are created equal (Small 8). For instance, in the 1980s, the unemployment rate for Black men was relatively high compared to the whites, which was 11.8 to 4.8 percent. In addition, it was also suggested that those in work force, over the age of sixteen, were represented by merely 70% of the Black men, compared with 77% of the white. Moreover, not to mention how the occupation ranks within the Blacks remained in a much lower class compared with the whites. For example, while there are 30% of the white men and 26% of the women working in professional specialties in the 1980s, the results made up by the Blacks only indicates 15 and 19%, which was comparatively much lower compared with the whites. Likewise, in terms of climbing up the ladder to higher ranks in work forces, Small points out that it usually takes more time for the Blacks to ascend to a higher rank, even in scholarly fields within colleges. For one thing, while there are many white professors in American universities, the Blacks usually only get to be lecturers or the best, associate professors, and not professors (Small 53).

Nevertheless, despite the fact that racism was seriously revealed in work fields, this does not mean that it had completely escaped from the fields of education, where is considered as a place that students could be equally treated. Surprisingly, in schools of America, principally in schools where there are more Black children attendees, particularly in cities such as Washington D.C., Detroit and New York, it has revealed that occurrences of segregation, inferior faculties & limited resources was evident. For one thing, according to some statistics, it was illustrated that, in 1986, there were 27.5% of black school children and 30% Hispanic school children enrolling in 25 of the largest central city school districts, such as Washington D.C or New York. However, there were merely 3.3% of the whites that attend these schools (Small, 54). Nevertheless, even though such a result shows that there are still white children, who study in these schools, it must bewared that occurrences of problems between the whites and the Blacks within these schools, particularly the performance of Blacks academically, is fairly problematic. For instance, there would be incidents of the Blacks unable to follow the lectures in classes, or even the teachers reluctant to put their time and effort toward these students, leading to the Blacks walking towards the direction of gangster, teenager childbirth, lack of education as well as low status within the society.

As the people today proceed on into the 21st century, certainly, racism still exists in America, even within the two fields I mentioned above, as well as an additional field, in hospital institutions. For one thing, it has been implied in those two studies in America that health treatment varies with the race of patients, and not the insurance coverage of patients (Newman and Eleanor Newman Layfield, 76). One of the example, especially, is suggested in a quote by Dr. Katherine L. Kahn, which she claimed that no matter which kind of hospital a person would enter into, those patients who were black or from poor neighborhoods got less care (Newman and Eleanor Newman Layfield, 76). The other, designated by a cardiologist by the name of Dr. Eric Peterson, who helped to conduct the studies, advocates that evidence appears that the disparity in treatment points to racism as a factor when patients have the same health coverage and socioeconomic backgrounds (Newman and E. Newman Layfield, 76). Furthermore, this cardiologist has provided an illustration to his point, which he evokes that when there are two people, one Black and one white, entering the hospital, both need heart surgeries, with equal insurance coverage and social economic background, the doctors at the hospital would unhesitatingly treat the white patient first, and not the Black ((Newman and E. Newman Layfield, 77).

Additionally, racism in America today also revealed in education once more, particularly regarding the issue of the re-segregation on college campus. Instead, it appears that even the Blacks and whites no longer go to different schools and attend different classes together, now it still seems that the two races do not mingle together as expected; instead, both the whites and the Blacks scattered in different groups around campus. Moreover, results also reveal that the new re-segregation policy has come to existence within public schools in America, with those integrated schools under attack.

Undoubtedly, racism is still a problem today in America, even though the Blacks in England assume that those Blacks in America do live a better life (Small 6). In reverse, results and statistics do reveal that they evidently do not, currently, not to mention all the racial issue problems still exist in America today, with people still perceive these Blacks as products, gluing them with certain types of stereotypes, whether or not it is good or bad, by group, and not choose to look at each one of the Blacks individually.

Works Cited

Barker, Christopher. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Sage, 2000

Newman, Gerald and Eleanor Newman Layfield. Racism: Divided by Color. Springfield: Enslow, 1995.

Small, Stephen. Racialised Barriers. London: Routledge, 1994.

The above discussion was taken from Small 40-50.

The above discussion was taken from Small 40-53.

Quoted from Newman and E. Newman Layfield, 80-82

See Newman and Eleanor Newman Layfield, 82