Introduction
My paper is going to address the topic of racism, its origin, and development and how it affected the residents of America by separating them. Racism is the feelings of discrimination or prejudice against people of different races in which one believes that their race is more important or superior than the other race. Racism has permanently damaged our society and continues to cause pain through mental and physical harm, keeping America far from being united.
My first paragraph is going to focus on the origin of racism. According to Brook's article (2017), racism is connected to have originated from the evolutionary developments in the brain of human beings and associated with neuroscience. Studies have been conducted to determine the brain parts that elicit the racism thoughts towards other people. Most people will easily remember the faces of people with whom they share race. The brain controls these face recognition activities. Therefore, racism has originated from the innate nature of human beings, and some people think that it has been wired into the brain of human beings.
In this paragraph, I will focus on the evolution and history of racism in America. The history of racism dates in the 17th and 18th century during southern slavery. It also dates during the colonial era whereby the whites discriminated against the blacks in terms of the privileges and rights that were to be enjoyed by the whites antagonistic to the blacks. The whites had the freedom to enjoy opportunities such as immigration rights, citizenship, education matters and also the acquisition of land. However, racial discrimination was banned in the 20th century, but this did not see an end to racism. People are still discriminated against during employment opportunities, immigration and also housing.
In this paragraph, my focus points are on the reasons for racism among different races. In an article by the Australian Human Rights Commission (2014), suggest that there are a couple of reasons why people have different attitudes towards others despite all of us having similar biological makeups, and we all are identical with no race being superior. One of the reasons could be that some people like being around people "like them" that is people whom one shares with culture, race, religion, and background. Another reason is blaming others for our frustrations and, and in such case, people who do not belong to one's race could quickly become a target and get accused. Most people are also quick in judging others, and this can be another reason for racism, and in such cases, stereotypes often associate some races with specific characteristics and features such as laziness or uneducated. Lastly, the idea of people believing the views of people around their opinion towards other people could cause racism. Most people tend to think about their relatives and family views, and if they have negative views towards other races, they will also believe them and adopt their beliefs.
My other paragraph will explain the impacts of racism on the citizens of America and how it has continued to affect their lives. In Joseph's article (2018), he argues that racism led to the division of America into two groups according to their racial lines. The cause of this division is attributed to negative attitudes the whites developed towards the black people. Racial discrimination has affected the future of the citizens as they cannot associate with each other due to the beliefs and feelings of superiority by the whites. There has also been employment inequalities, education, and income and wealth disparities among the citizens. Bias has been the main effect of racism since it deters the black's race from acquiring equal justice systems in the country.
Divisions in the economic sector in America is another effect whose gap is increasing. This mainly affects the African-Americans who have not attained college-level education. This, therefore, made the US financial sector target the blacks and they became subject to exploitation by the whites. As a result of this, most people were rendered homeless, and the differences in the amount of wealth by each group became more. The African-Americans, therefore, had less wealth than the whites.
Most of the African-Americans have become subject to high-interest charges by banks such as Fargo Wells and despite this nobody cared about the extra expenses that they went through. However, the legislation and enactment of laws against discrimination and racism still have made the African-Americans a target by the labor market which disadvantages their existence. This is a strategy that aims at abusing the African-Americans in America and makes them seem like they do not belong in the country. As a result of the competitive nature of the labor market, the opportunities for exploitation and discrimination will always exist. These are some of the imperfections facing the market, and they have a direct impact on black citizens.
Due to racism, the US has had an increase in the charges it is paying for the racial inequalities. Any country that has such separations has an impact on the economy of the state in which the economic growth becomes slow. The superiority of the US is not only determined by its powers in the military field but also from its soft, and racism significantly affects its superiority. This will cause loss to the citizens and everyone in the country if the issue is not quickly addressed.
According to Soares (2018), overrepresentation of the white culture in American society has led to beliefs that the white culture is the most dominant in the nation. This has led to feelings of inferiority among the blacks in the country. Most of the famous people and politicians have adopted these believes and therefore ended up supporting racial discrimination among the citizens. As a result of the politicians supporting racism, most of the blacks have been associated with evil and criminal activities in instances where crimes were committed the blacks become the first suspects of the case. The minorities have also experienced blames on the low-economic growth of the country by the politicians who associate them to failure. The political system has also hindered the freedom and expression of the blacks in contributing to the development of the economy due to white and black hierarchies.
Racism has an impact on the health and growth of the people subjected to it. People who have been through racial discrimination could experience problems such as depression, stress which is as a result of stigmatization from the general public of the whites. Such people may also experience health problems mentally whereby they will find it hard associating with other people, feelings of insecurities that other people may attack them, feelings of anger towards other people and sometimes they may have feelings of sadness. Due to such effects, this may reduce the productivity of people in the labor market hence decreasing their effectiveness in their workplaces and ability to attain their life goals. The results of racism could also affect the wellbeing of people when their rights are denied.
When racism exists in a country, it leads to the development of mistrust among people in society. This could lead to disrespect among the people and also such cases could result in criminal activities in the society. Other people could use the development of racial tension as opportunities to commits crimes and blame the other race. These instances could lead to hatred among people and eventually disrespect. If racism is allowed to continue, it makes human nature of human beings less. When racism is encouraged, even good people turn into bad people who use abusive languages to mock other races. In such instances, the results of the scenarios are ethnic and racial violence's. Therefore racism has encouraged people into doing awful and crazy actions that have adverse consequences.
Racism also affects how one responds to the problems that they face by clouding their judgments and decision-making strategies. Such scenarios change how one sees themselves for example as failures or not physically fit towards a specific task. Constant talks from other races about the blacks are also subject to negatively affect one's life. In some cases, black people tend to hide their identities due to racism. , where people hide their identity, is when they are born of different races parents. This affects the self-esteem of such people in that they cannot accept themselves as they are.
The mortality rate of blacks has had an increase in the recent past according to the research that was conducted on the African-Americans. The study showed that the blacks died on an average of six years less than the whites due to the medical problems associated with racism. Scientists have found that racism is a great contributor to the health problems of most people. Most people tend to experience a rise in their blood pressure and also the rate of the heartbeat when associated with racist people. This kind of stress could also lead to heart attack and eventually death of the individuals.
Racism has permanently affected people in many ways in America. Most of the African-Americans have suffered under the hands of the whites. In some cases, innocent blacks have been killed by the whites who think that the population of blacks may increase and suddenly outnumber them. These whites are against the idea of the blacks coming to replace them in their country which is not the case for the blacks since they are the reason why blacks are in the country as a result of slavery. Despite all these brutalities on the blacks, the whites tend to get away with the murders, and when the blacks protest against it, they still get killed.
Black people are still suffering from the issues of unemployment in the country. The rate at which the blacks are unemployed is double to that of the white unemployment rate in the country. Despite such cases, the whites are continually complaining that blacks are robbing them of their educational and job opportunities. However, this has not been the case that has been happening in America, but instead, that is how things have always been due to the racism which has ever existed in the country.
Issues of racism have had long term effects on the health of most of the people. Diseases such as diabetes type two affect mostly African-American than the whites and are associated with the discrimination that they experience. Denial of opportunities such as discrimination has been associated with the development of the disease among people. Blacks also get discriminated against in accessing health care while some doctors do not prefer to use the opinions of the blacks in making medical decisions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the emergence and evolution of racism have had significant impacts on African-Americans in the US. These impacts have been mostly negative and have disadvantaged the existence of black people in America. Martin Luther in his article argues that the new phase that is developing will advocate for equality of people at all levels and not legal segregation. Racism should be entirely abolished as no race is higher than the other, but all of us are the same. Subjecting other human beings to discrimination and racism and leaving them with long term impacts is not an act of humanity.
Works Cited
Soares, Michael. The Evolution of White Racism and Its Impacts on Black Society in America Today. MS thesis. University of Waterloo, 2018.
Brooks, Rob. "The Origins of Racism." The Conversation, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2017, https://theconversation.com/the-origins-of-racism-8321
Stiglitz, Joseph E. "America Still Divided by Racism into Two Separate, Unequal Societies." Market Watch, Market Watch, 12 Mar. 2018, www.marketwatch.com/story/america-still-divided-by-racism-i...
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