Research Paper on Discrimination: Race and Color

Introduction

According to (Brake, 2013, p.55), prejudice and racism have been present in almost every society and civilization throughout history. Most people, when they think about racism, think of the diverse beliefs and attitudes different people hold on distinct racial groups. Sociologists term this understanding of racism as "prejudice." It is still hard to find out the percentage of Americans that hold extreme views on racism since most respondents do not give their opinions and beliefs but rather what they believe is socially desirable responses. Racism has a major significance in the lives of Americans, occurring within organizations, schools, and corporations. Canada however, has managed to ensure less discrimination based on race and color among minority groups, this is majorly the work of government policies that have guaranteed important implications. Racial discrimination has higher priorities in Canada; it is banned in the Canadian human rights law.

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In this paper, I am going to pick the United States and Canada and provide an analysis of how the United States has discriminated individuals based on race and color, and how Canada has managed to protect, implement and fulfill this right. I will also explain how the current situations in the countries can worsen or be improved and provide an overview of the role of the international human rights in these issues. I will also look at the disparities of wealth in both countries.

Slavery in the United States started with the entry of Africans in Virginia, a British colony in Jamestown. Previously, poor European servants were used to provide cheap labor in North America. Africans came and provided cheaper and a more plentiful source of energy (Clapham, 2015, p19). The healthiest and most able men were imported from Africa to America during the 18th century. They worked mainly on rice, indigo and tobacco plantations of the Southern coast, and south of Georgia and Chesapeake colonies of Maryland (Clapham, 2006, p72). Slave owners ensured that their slaves were strictly depended on them and prohibited them from reading and writing, moving and also behaving in certain ways. The American Revolution saw various colonists, where slavery was not necessary such as the North, linking their oppression by the British to the tyranny of the black slaves. This called for an abolition of slavery.

The black progressive movements that were implemented by Martin Luther King have stopped. There are still a large number of racist images and comments till date, with most black people undervalued in the community (Lawrence, 2000, p172). When it comes to social justice, there are little changes, and black people continue being punished for hate crimes. When it comes to Justice for the African American black people, America has regressed. There has always been a mixed race population in America since the beginning of slave history. The United States has a legacy of directing racism at blacks, a disease that does not have a specific cure. Today, fewer people are acting publicly and speaking about racism with most acts of racial discrimination fabricated in cover-up stories. It is even harder to fight the current breed of racism as compared to the one in the past. It allows a degree of the claim of ignorance among its perpetrators and lacks media attention. Most whites look down on blacks without being aware of how they act towards them.

Racism is still a massive burden throughout America as it has become a part of the average college student experience. Jeff Chang emphasizes that neglecting of racism by the administration defines power and that the only way students can band power is if they band together, yet they can still be ignored as has been the trend in years (Chang, 2014, p88). Even with a change in history, students still feel some racial tension and uneasy in their school settings in the way that the school authorities have neglected them. Colored students face stress related to racism in whites institutions. There is a time when the student union of the University of California spoke about this issue, and newspaper's student editor ended up calling them "ungrateful niggers," in his student air show appearance. Robert Jensen mentioned using Hurricane Katrina example that" racial and class disparities on who lived and died were made visible in one of the hurricane's most enduring legacies." He said that to be an American, one has to be white. Events in the history of the United States have led to the desegregations faced by the nation today.

The National NARCC Anti Racism council of Canada is a community organization of the Canadian coalition who collaborated to enable input into the development of the countries contribution against racial discrimination to the United Nations world conference (Lovell and A. L. E. X. A. N. D. E. R, 2008, p56). To show their support to the League of Nations, the movement released a report that they named "the two faces of Canada, a community racism report." Other organizations in Canada that have been implemented to stop racism include; the Chinese Canadian national council, the black coalition of Quebec, the National action committee on the status of women, and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. NARCC recognizes and affiliates the relevance of movements of international human rights instruments, in developing anti-racism and anti-oppression agendas. Canada has been recognized internationally as a humanitarian country, with its government policies adopted by other countries as models for equity promotion.

There has been a measurable gap in incomes between the U.S and Canadian families in the last two decades. In 1998, household income at the United States was ten percent higher than that of Canada. To 2011, revenue at the South of the border had declined. Growth in household income has helped in erasing the gap with the United States and has created an income advantage of nine percent (Atkinson, 2003, p.479). Canada has had a favorable performance as compared to the United States regarding income inequality. There are some trends such as a concentration of wealth and income among the nation's most prosperous, which have been disconcerting. When evaluated regarding regions, some provinces experience inequality more than others, in both of these countries.

The status of racism in the United States has remained alarming and oppressive, with its racial status remaining monolithic and complexion based. Racism in America is worsening since it is a status quo of; criminalization, dehumanization, terror, criminalization, and alienation (Dovidio et al., 2002, p88). Laws that are similar to the ones established during slavery are continuing to oppress the black people. Under the leadership of Donald Trump, there is an indifferent federal government under a racist president, with more whites re-practicing the black codes openly.

In 2018, reports have shown that the racial situation in Canada is getting worse, with people expressing hatred more openly. One person commented that "even if our politicians are no longer racists and the world course-corrects, we are in a different place than we were when growing up and we cannot go back." For Canadian people, it seems like they will never fit in or belong to the society as per the recent trends. The international human rights have played a significant role in curbing racism in Canada, but it seems the issue is still handled domestically in both countries.

References

Atkinson, A. B. (2003). Income inequality in OECD countries: Data and explanations. CESifo Economic Studies, 49(4), 479-513.

Brake, M. (2013). Comparative youth culture: The sociology of youth cultures and youth subcultures in America, Britain, and Canada. Routledge.

Chang, J. (2014). Who we be: A cultural history of race in post-civil rights America. St. Martin's Press.

Clapham, A. (2006). Human rights obligations of non-state actors. OUP Oxford.

Clapham, A. (2015). Human rights: a very short introduction. OUP Oxford.

Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. E., Kawakami, K., & Hodson, G. (2002). Why can't we just get along? Interpersonal biases and interracial distrust. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(2), 88.

Lawrence, D. O. S. J. S. (2000). Racialized politics: The debate about racism in America. University of Chicago Press.

Lovell, A. L. E. X. A. N. D. E. R. (2008). Racism, poverty, and inner city health: current knowledge and practices. A research review for the inner city health strategy. Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre.