Racial discrimination in the United States began way back during the colonial era. During the period, white Americans were legally and socially given authorized privileges and rights, which were deprived of other ethnics and minorities in the country. The minorities in the United States face bias in almost all sectors of life, ranging from political to economic where they are not allowed to work in particular places, socially, and even service wise. For a long time, black Americans and other minorities in the United States have received substandard services as compared to whites.
A majority of black adults confirm to have been discriminated against while in educational institutions. 86% of these discriminations were in college, 69% in high school, while lower education was 9%. During Obama's reign between 2009 and 2016, the president tried to reduce institutional discrimination against ethnic minorities through the establishment of several anti-discriminatory policies ( Bleich et al., 2019) . Among the areas considered included college admission, fair lending, healthcare, and housing. However, these attempts have since declined within Trump’s administration. There is a high level of uncertainty covered by these to reducing racial bias through federal policies. Based on the recent survey on the matter, the gap between whites and blacks continues to enlarge with little or even no attention being paid to people who have experienced the disparity. America is slowly rolling back to the discrimination that Obama had worked hard to eliminate.
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Literature Review
Racial discrimination refers to the differentiated treatment of people on the base of the race that makes a particular ethnic group disadvantaged. It is the treatment of the basis of inadequately defensible factors that shortcoming an ethnic group and is connected to his racial disparity in health outcomes. Racism can be categorized into several types, including individual, interpersonal, institutional, cultural, and structural.
Individual/Personal Racism
Personal racism is the kind of racism that the majority of people have in mind when they are talking about racism. Personal racism takes place when the beliefs, attitude, and actions of an individual are all based on the stereotype, biases, or prejudice against a particular race. For instance, the idea that white people are superior to other races.
Interpersonal Racism
This is a racial bias between individuals. It is typically when a white person in the United States actively or passively employs individual racism against a black person. During the colonial period, interpersonal; racism was more overt in America. Before the establishment of the Civil Rights Movement. White people always used racial insults and involved in physical violence against black people. Despite the actions being unacceptable, they are still prevalent among Americans. Interpersonal racism can take the form of name-calling and physical threats. An example of interpersonal racism is when a white calls police for seeing a black person in their neighborhood.
Institutional Racism
Institutional racism is one of the most essential and prevalent biases in the United States. It refers to making decisions that tend to intentionally singe out or harm people of color ( Tanner, 2019) . The Jim Crow segregation law is an excellent example of institutional racism.
Cultural Racism
In the United States, the principles of beauty, art, and other types of culture have traditionally been decided by straight, Christin men and whites. The dominating culture of American culture always reflects the needs of the groups while leaving out and not valuing\ the contributions of people of color ( Tanner, 2019) . For that reason, in America, holidays, statutes in the parks, stories published in the books, as well as other cultural indicators tend to respect white men and to exclude other groups. This form of racism uses culture as a description of the policies developed by white supremacy and racism.
In the past, there was a time racial difference was biologically defined, one the size of the brain and religion. Black people were considered to be cursed by God hence being enslaved. Cultural racists assert that African Americans are not wealthy because their culture does not value thrift, marriage, education, and hard work ( Tanner, 2019) . The explanation does not consider the fact that African Americans spent several years enduring being enslaved, segregation, and being denied the right to vote until 1965.
Structural Racism
Structural racism is also called systematic racism. It is considered one of the most harmful but least discussed types of racism. Usually, it codifies culture, individuals, and other forms of racism in Perpetua’s systems ( Gee & Ford, 2011) . It focuses on organizations rather than people, and it always neutral in its face, thus being difficult to measure, establish, and end. One of the theories that explain racist is the ecological theory of racial socialization. The theory is based on the Mana-Taylor and Fines model of adolescent ethnic identity development. The author uses the ecological framework to explore how ethnic identity develops in Mexican American adolescents. According to the theory, the racial composition of youths in high school is created to the familial reports of ethnic socialization, which in return influences social identity development (Hughes et al., 2016) . Familial, ethnic socialization relates to ethnic identity achievement.
History
Racial discrimination against blacks in the United States has been there for a long time. Racial bias is among the reasons African Americans have more challenged than whites ( Salter et al., 2018) . Like in the decades ago, blacks continue to be disproportionally convicted in the court and get judges to assign a longer sentence as compared to whites. The stereotype of whites being superior to blacks has led to their over-representation among the prison population. The number of incarcerated black Americans in the Americans prisons is five times more than the whites ( De Lima et al., 2019) . Another significant factor that influences incarceration is the level of poverty.
In America, poor people have a higher number in prisons as compared to people in the more senior classes in society. However, more poor black people are incarcerated in American prisons. This is because they cannot afford good lawyers, thus resulting in spending a long time in prisons. Even though there are also white people in all social classes, there is a high correlation between being black and being miserable ( Bleich et al., 2019) . The prevalence of poverty is among the factors that lead minorities to engage in criminal activities. They are over speculated and stereotyped, where all crimes are associated with black Americans, thus leading to their unfair treatment through arrest and killings. Black Americans always have a longer time in the prisons as compared to whites, irrespective of the normalcy of crimes.
The domination of white people in America during the past decades led African Americans to be segregated in terms of schools, social gatherings like restaurants, houses, and neighborhoods, jobs, as well as positions in the transport system. The intensity of the discrimination pushed black people to the extent of developing movements that aimed at advocating for their rights as part of the American citizens.
For instance, the establishment of the Civil Rights Movement by the people of color-led to their right of voting. Previously, black people were not allowed to participate in the election process, thus denying them their chance to participate in decision making. In 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement was created after decades of frustrations among blacks due to the increased number of lived lists in the hands of whites ( Clare, 2016) . This was a response to the unfair legal system that killed innocent black people without caring. African Americans, who found themselves in America as slaves, have never had the same right as fellow Americans. Whites continue portraying the essence of dominance over them, assuming that they are still slaves despite their past lives. During the earlier and mid-century DuBois developed the movement to educate teachers’ curriculum, and facilitate a meaningful conversation to ease civil, ethnic divisions, and racial tensions ( Clare, 2016) . Mostly, the establishment of these moves was to combat discrimination and ensure fair treatment among blacks and whites.
Besides the blacks, other ethnic groups that are vulnerable to racism in America include Asian American, Latino, as well as Lesbians, gay bi-sexual transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). To date, these four groups are discriminated in various sectors, including employment. The majority of the minorities are low-income earners as compared to whites in the same position ( Ramamurthy, 2016) . This has significantly contributed to the miserable lives they live in. With low income, minorities are forced to live in inadequate housing, with poor conditions that expose them to various health hazards. According to Tanner (2019), children in these families are forced to learn in low-level education with insufficient facilities and teachers as compared to high-class white children taken in well-equipped education facilities.
During his era, Obama tried to eliminate institutional discrimination whereby the minorities are denied entry to particular institutions, proper housing, quality healthcare, and fair lending. Policies developed policies to discourage bias against other people based on their races and ethnicity. Nevertheless, Trump's government reversed the ant discriminatory policies, thus resulting in uncertainty in the future and the role of the federal government in combating racism. For instance, President Trump revoked the affordable Care Act, which was supposed to help in providing health services to a broader number of unregistered patients, thus making it difficult for the poor black Americans to afford quality care. The rate of racial discrimination among health facilities discourages minorities from seeking medical assistance ( Ramamurthy, 2016) . Black Americans are always ready to fight for their rights. To date, several organizations and movements are actively condemning racial segregation and discrimination of all forms.
Global Perspective
Worldwide, racism is considered a widespread social phenomenon characterized by variation in historical as well as the geographical context. Worldwide, the modalities of racism are associated with the enslavement of the African people and colonialism in the context of capitalist development as well as European modernization ( Salter et al., 2018) . It is defined as a social system that causes the unfair but avoidable inequalities in resources, power, capabilities, and even opportunities across specific races or ethnic groups. Worldwide, these unfair treatments are manifested in the form of stereotyping, discriminations, prejudice, or even beliefs. It can also be internalized through the interaction of personal and systematic opinions.
Globally, racism is said to be vividly portrayed through the health system. According to a survey, it shows that a high level of mortality, comorbidity increased severity of diseases, and early onset of diseases is associated with the stigmatized and disenfranchised ethnic groups worldwide. They are always people with difficulties to access and afford healthcare facilities. In the United Kingdom, black and minorities make the highest number of people with heavy healthcare burdens, and experience more premature deaths, suffer from long-term chronic diseases as compared to whites. On the other hand, refugees and people that seek asylum make the highest percentage of people with mental illness.
A research conducted in Canada shows that diseases like certain types of cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and Cardiovascular are such that they are highly linked to the disadvantaged racial groups in the country. In another country like Sweden, individuals who are not nationally Swedish are said to give a chance of suffering from physical and poor mental health. Also, immigrants from non-white nations are more likely to suffer from poverty and, in some cases, even feeble health. Narrowing this even further, non-Swedish women in the country and particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa, have higher chances of perinatal mortality due to poor health services than the natives.
Technically, the phenomenon of racism is intertwined with the European history of modernization. Worldwide, it is argued that racism can be traced back to the renaissance era. The presence of black slaves among the white masters was a sign of social prestige and distinction between them ( Salter et al., 2018) . The presence of slaves in the European nations played a critical role in the contraction of the European whiteness and civilization. Nevertheless, being that racisms were in existence at different times in history, racism assumes various forms in society, including the biblical, cultural, and biological arguments.
The occurrences of activities during the colonization era manifested racism in the most conspicuous and violent form. The capitalism of the European nations characterized the period. Africans were shipped into western countries who work as slave laborers in the sugar, tobacco, mines, and cotton plantations in America. During the period, slaves were publicly lynched by the owner, thus illustrating power and domination among the whites. Another factor that enhances and promoted racism is direct colonialization, such as the scramble for Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1884 ( Salter et al., 2018) . Also, the exploitation, exclusion of people, and groups, as well as segregation together with forcibly moving the native people from their lands, shows how Europeans considered Africans uncivilized and inferior. Therefore, they had to follow anything said to them by a white person.
The fact that European people perceived Africans as slaves and people with less worth as compare to white was the reason for discrimination as well as its prevalence to date. To Whites, African Americans should always come last and should at no time try to compete with them. Sometimes, they consider them dumb and stupid, thus always being on the verge to beg. It is in the same spirit of racism where western nations tend to consider African countries still I need for their assistance and as they are weak. They do not believe in anything good coming from Africans.
Implications
Racial discrimination is said to have adverse effects on the discriminated ethnic groups. Usually, these effects can be economically, socially, politically, psychologically as well as physically. In America, racial discrimination has been extensive and recurrent since the colonial period. The extended racial discrimination activities tend to instill some sense of fear, anxiety, and low self-esteem, especially among the children of the minority races ( Blendon & Casey, 2019) . Usually, discrimination may involve being denied a chance to participate in an activity or even using a specific resource. With racism, cases of criminal activities among blacks may continue rising because of the prevailing poverty rate. Additionally, based on the whites’ perception that all blacks are criminals, they might as well be willing to live as per the accusations to ensure that whenever they are detained or even murdered, they are guilty of their acts.
Racism is one of the major factors promoting poverty among minority races. Denying black people a chance to work in a good position as well as earning a good income denies them an opportunity to live a good life. Usually, low-income families lack enough finances to finance their needs, among them including lack of adequate healthcare services due to the lack of sufficient money to pay their bills. With continued racism, it is likely the number of black people who die from chronic disease. Besides the lack of adequate and access to healthcare services, lack of early intervention among the lives of black people may result in severe illnesses and eventually resulting in death. Lastly, continued racism means that African Americans will continue living in poverty, thus making it impossible for them to meet their daily needs.
Conclusion
Racism is a prevalent problem that has been in the United States since the colonial period. The white dominance and authority of whites over blacks have always been the basis for the discrimination. Whites tend to feel entitled to being ahead and having access to all the right things before the blacks. For the minorities, they are denied access to necessary resources and privileges that are available to the majority ethnicity. Worldwide, racism is said to have adverse effects, especially to people of the minority groups, through denying them access to adequate services as well as resources. Low-income employment causes them to lead poor life without proper access to healthcare and other needs in society. The government of Trump tends to reverse all the efforts that Obama put in place to eliminate discrimination and mainly institutional racism. For America to have an integration between blacks and whites, the former need to change their perception towards the blacks. Eliminating racial discrimination is one of the significant ways to ensure a fair and just society irrespective of race.
References
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