Racial prejudice against the African-Americans is among the most dominant form of bias across the United States. Prejudice towards blacks has a long history dating back to the 18th century, where local statutes legalized racial seclusion. However, the civil rights movement led to the abolishment of laws that endorsed racial segregation, thus reducing prejudice towards blacks. The perception of the Whites about the African-Americans liberalized and most of the racial issues considerably reduced across the United States. However, despite the efforts by the civil rights movement, racial prejudice against the Blacks has not entirely diminished. The traditional form of prejudice has been replaced by a more elusive modern form of racial prejudice (Swim et al., 1995).
The old-fashioned racial prejudice involved support of exclusion and discrimination of African-Americans. The social distance between the Whites and the Blacks was legally enhanced under what was known as Jim Crow Laws (Tarman, & Sears, 2005). For instance, in education, Black and White children went to separate schools in several states. In situations where the County Board of Education could not provide separate schools, the children would be taught in separate rooms to ensure the social distance between the races. This form of old-fashioned racial prejudice was eliminated in the wake of the civil rights movement. However, a modern form of racial discrimination has taken over where the Whites show resentment and disapproval about policies and initiatives that favor the African-Americans (Sears, & Henry, 2003). This new form of prejudice is known as symbolic racism (Sears, & Henry, 2003). The resistance limits the political, economic and social progress of the African-Americans (Tarman, & Sears, 2005). For instance, a policy that targets to empower the Black people socially or economically is likely to face resistance from the White people.
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The modern form of racial prejudice is more detrimental to the Black community than the old-fashioned form of racism. The fact that it is more elusive and within the confines of the law means it is disguised and can be perpetrated without raising concern among the civil rights societies (Dovidio, & Gaertner, 2004). The fact that it dominates political, economic and social spheres means that it has a significant impact on the Black community. Research has shown that symbolic racism has a significant influence on election campaigns, size federal government, among other political ideologies (Sears, & Henry, 2003). This means that symbolic racism has the potential to annihilate the civil rights of the Black people through policies that disregard them.
References
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2004). The aversive form of racism. The psychology of prejudice and discrimination: Racism in America , 1 , 119.
Sears, D. O., & Henry, P. J. (2003). The origins of symbolic racism. Journal of personality and social psychology , 85 (2), 259.
Swim, J. K., Aikin, K. J., Hall, W. S., & Hunter, B. A. (1995). Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices. Journal of personality and social psychology , 68 (2), 199.
Tarman, C., & Sears, D. O. (2005). The conceptualization and measurement of symbolic racism. The Journal of Politics , 67 (3), 731-761.
