According to Jackson (2010), racism refers to a term used to describe the actions and views of a particular group of people to another based on the idea that race distinguishes these two groups and that the group with racists opinions believes to have superiority over the other. This superiority believes is usually accompanied by the other group exclusion from many or some of the social aspects in which the race which views itself superior either has the political and economic power or is in the majority. In this regard, four forms of racism exist; it can either be institutional, individual, implied or overt (Jackson, 2010). Racism affects diversity because it limits the happening of diversity itself. Racist people are discriminative of other races; thus, they do not want to work or live with other people they believe are inferior to them. With this kind of mindset, diversity cannot survive.
Throughout the history of the U.S. and in many locations, Whites have been the dominant or majority racial group (O’Connor, Lubin, & Spector, 2013). Although they have varied ethnicity, the Whites have been in the majority race since the early history of America, with German being the most common white ancestral background. Germans came to America during the 19th century when they were facing high rates of unemployment and civil unrest at home (O’Connor, Lubin, & Spector, 2013). During the early history of the U.S., there were a lot of ethnic groups present but with time, especially as the number of minority races increased, European immigrants, distanced themselves from groups that were oppressed and came to be regarded as white instead of a part of a specific culture and as such, they assimilated into one White racial group of Americas.
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Some of the U.S. larger groups of racial minorities in history include Blacks (African Americans), Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics (Pollard & O’Hare, 1999). African American are majorly of African ancestry, who are the former slaves who came to the US from Africa and just a few immigrated to America in history later. However, some have nonblack ancestors as well. Asians have the Chinese ancestry followed by Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese. The Native Americans are multiracial with many of them consisting of the American Indians ancestry, and Hispanics are people from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico or other people of Spanish Origin (Pollard & O’Hare, 1999). The Blacks minority groups became notable during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Native Americans were North America’s original inhabitants, but only became significant when they participated in and benefited from the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Asians became notable when Chinese segregation of those already living in America took place in 1882 to end Chinese immigration into America, and Hispanics became notable when their population exceeded that of Blacks in the late 20th century to become the largest minority group in America.
One of the laws that have been used to enforce discrimination is the strict photo voter identification laws” (Newkirk II, 2017). These laws have disproportionately had a negative impact on the turn out of the minorities such as Blacks, Hispanics, and Americans of the mixed race in the general and primary elections. These laws lead to suppression of minority voters and tend to favor Republicans according to a research (Newkirk II, 2017). Another way in which laws have been used to enforce discrimination is the policy of “separate but equal,” which was applied to keep races separate (Murphy, 2008). This policy denied African Americans the right to enter into a contract and right to vote. Besides, the policy also denied the Blacks the right or freedoms to enjoy what the Whites enjoyed.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1664 is one of the laws that have been enforced to reduce discriminatory practices. The laws forbid employers from discriminating against employees and applicants on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, and national origin (Beller, 2003). It also proscribes employers from retaliating against an employee or applicant who exercises his or her rights under the law (Beller, 2003). This law, in turn, reduced the discriminatory practices at work especially for the minority groups like Blacks and also opened doors for women to enter into occupations that were nontraditional. Additionally, the law reduced occupational segregation as well.
One of the existing inequalities based on ethnicity and race is the ongoing disparity in ownership of a home in the U.S., and it affects mostly Hispanic and Black families (Martinovich, 2017). As of 2014, less than half Hispanic families (45%) and Black families (41%) live in housing that is owner-occupied. This home-ownership inequality affects these minority groups as they are forced to spend a substantial amount of their savings on rent, thus reducing their wealth accumulation. Martinovich (2017) asserts that according to the report of “State of the Union” from Stanford University’s Center on Inequality and Poverty, this effect, in turn, makes it difficult for them to exit poverty as it leaves them with diminutive resources to devote to health care, education of their children, and other needs that are basic.
References
Beller, A. H. (2003). The Effects of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Women's Entry into Nontraditional Occupations: An Economic Analysis. Law & Ineq., 1, 73.
Jackson, T. (2010). What is Racism? Injustice, and the Death Penalty (Marlowe 1996) p , 100 .
Martinovich, M. (2017, June 25). 3 areas that show America’s racial inequality. Futurity . Retrieved October 6, 2018, from https://www.futurity.org/racial-ethnic-inequalities-united-states-1467732-2/
Murphy, C. E. (2008). Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. NC Cent. LJ, 17, 171.
Newkirk II, V. (2017, Feb 18). How Voter ID Laws Discriminate. The Atlantic . Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/how-voter-id-laws-discriminate-study/517218/
Pollard, K., & O’Hare, W. (1999, September 1). America’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities. PRB . Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://www.prb.org/americasracialandethnicminorities/
O’Connor, L., Lubin, G., & Spector, D. (2013, August 13). The Largest Ancestry Groups in The United States. Business Insider . Retrieved October 6, 2018, from https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-ethnic-groups-in-america-2013-8?IR=T
