The Racism Continues in the US: Essay Sample

Introduction

Racism cases had been on a high in the United States of American in the past but Jefferson's famous phrase "all men are created equal" has been the driving force for the Americans fight for equality. The Americans political institutions have come up with several laws and bodies to fight for racial equality despite the fight getting challenging. Jefferson may face criticism out of what he meant by equality since he was surrounded by the slave when saying the statement. Jefferson's slaves were mostly black or mulatto bringing about the grounds for criticism on racial discrimination (Iwabuchi, 2000). To counter the blame is the fact that Jefferson later fought against slavery claiming that it could affect both the master and the slaves (Gordon, 1996). Jefferson's statement also faces criticism because he had a negative attitude towards black and saw them as inferior to the white and believed no white could mingle with a black; the belief was however later disapproved when he had an affair and bore with one of his black slaves. Despite Jefferson's criticism, there should be a measure to tell the achievement of racial equality in the United States.

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The struggle for racial equality has been on the rise not only in the United States but globally. The battle just like the struggle for independence has cost a lot of time and devotion of the people to prove it that we are all equal with many states setting up guiding laws and regulations to aid the struggle. The Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 was used to help fight racial division within the United States by disagreeing with the building of public schools separating blacks and whites, this case decision aided the enhancement of equality among the citizens and changed the social interactions. The case did not however wholly end the racism since it has it is in the United States still. Martin Luther King Junior's dream fulfillment whereby Obama, an African-American, ruled the United States for two consecutive terms demonstrates the achievement, but that cannot guarantee the end of racism in the States. Another factor that may confuse people to view racism as a thing of the past in the United States is the high rate of intermarriages between people of different races and also the blood transfusion amongst people of different races.

Racial discrimination may have reduced but not ended in the United States because of the small cases of Black and Latino youths facing biases by shopkeepers or in schools or healthcare institutions and other days to day activities (Kathy et al., 2009), but it is not as rampant as it was. The social conflict theory may be used to expound on what has caused racism. The approach highlights that the society has many groups who are unequal resulting to conflicts and change. The theory explains the cause of social war in the United States by the African Americans (Nella& Sarah, 2004); which led to a more significant achievement towards equality though it did not wholly eliminate racism. The election of Donald Trump as the president resulted in anti-immigrant rhetoric which one may not view as racism, but it is. Racism in the United States is currently practiced by individuals who may not even think they are practicing it.

There are several cases of racism in the United States which may not seem like racism, but they are, for example, the wealth gap in the United States has grown wider and wider with the Latino and the Black families holding a tiny percentage of the wealth compared to the white (Oliver&Shapiro, 2006). Another example of racism is the comparison of the unemployment rate between the white and the black with the same qualifications where the black has a higher likelihood of not being unemployed. The schools in the United States may seem not to practice racism, but with a keen look at the matter, we discover that the black students are likely to get suspension or punishments which cannot genuinely be justified and can result to dropping out of school (Robert, 2007). A white can freely walk in the streets of America without being monitored by the police but there is close monitoring of African Americans and at times harassed by the same police officers. Most healthcare practitioners have also continued to practices racism to not only the patients but also their colleagues, this result to the blacks having troubling health outcomes compared to the white in the United States.

Conclusion

Racism has generally continued in the United States despite the strain to curb it from happening. The adults may avoid talking about race differences to their children, but that does not end racism because the children can observe the skin color differences and they will be interested in learning on it even if not through their parents. The only way to end racism in the United States is through beginning campaigns to support the struggle for equality by the creation of awareness that we are all the same and everyone should be created equally with no discrimination since the blood in our veins is of the same color despite our varying skin colors. The eradication of racism in the United States and the world at large will be the joy of everyone I included.

References

Gordon, S. (1996) Thomas Jefferson, Equality, and the Creation of a Civil Society. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol64/iss5/1" http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol64/iss5/1

Iwabuchi, Sachiko. (2000). Thomas and his views on equality.Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers: HUSCAP. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://hdl.handle.net/2115/14983" http://hdl.handle.net/2115/14983

Kathy, S., Beverlyn, S., Doren, W., &Janeese B. (2009). Social inequality and racial discrimination: Risk factors for health disparities in children of color. Washington, DC: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Howard University College of medicine. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-1100E

Nella Van Dyke, Sarah A. Soule. (2004). Structural Social Change and the Mobilizing Effect of Threat: Explaining Levels of Patriot and Militia Organizing in the United States. Social Problems, 49(4). Retrieved from HYPERLINK "https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2002.49.4.497" https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2002.49.4.497

Oliver, M., Shapiro, T. (2006). Black Wealth / White Wealth. New York: Routledge.

Robert, C. (2007). Racism and Psychological and Emotional Injury: Recognizing and assessing Race-Based Traumatic Stress. The counseling Psychologists, 35(1).