Discrimination has become a prominent and important matter in American life and has come along with significant harmful effects on the health and wellbeing of groups of individuals. A large percentage of people living in America have to have been victims of discrimination, be it on bases of race, gender or social class (Lauren 2018). The issue surrounds a range of areas in day to day life including; when interacting with police, in payments and consideration for promotions, when trying to buy a house or rent a room in an apartment, when applying for a job, when visiting a doctor or health clinic, and many other areas. According to the United States Human Rights Network, discrimination permeates almost every aspect of life and has extended to all communities of color. Discrimination especially racial discrimination has brought about various harmful social issues in American society today.
Racism has been evident since the time of colonization. A lot of privileges and rights, socially and legally sanctioned were denied to the other races and given to the Whites. Racial politics is still a common phenomenon in America. Racism is reflected in both social and economic inequalities where the privileged have been able to strive both socially and economically living the other unprivileged races striving in some levels of poverty and low social status (Bolin, 2018). Racism has brought about social conflicts and antagonism in American society especially between the black people and the white men. In almost every day, there is news of black men suffering under the white police officer, black men being killed brutally shot by the police and so forth. The blacks are seen to be with criminals.
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The latest case occurred published by CNN occurred on Mach 1, 2019 in which a video shows an encounter of a black man with a group of some police officer in Boulder, Colorado. In a statement by the police, they claim that one of their officers observed a man sitting in a partially enclosed area just behind a private property and decided to investigate if the man was allowed in the property. In the video, the police had his handgun out and pointed to the ground. This event shows the encounters that black people experience in the hands of police officers. The black man had all documents proving that he had the legal right to be on this property but the officer detains him. The article also states in recent months, there have been increased cases of police officers confronting black citizens, and the issue has attracted national attention. The inequalities trigger social issues and crimes.
Wealth in the United States is distributed unequally by race and specifically between black and white households. African American families are left more economically insecure as they have few opportunities to enhance their economic mobility compared to white households (Lauren, 2018). Several factors exacerbate this cycle of inequality of wealth. For instance, black households have limited access to tax-advantaged forms of savings. The imbalance is due to a long history of employment discrimination in America. The wealth inequality has left the majority of Africans insecure and living in absolute poverty, and this may force them to engage in social evils and crime. Research has shown that a large number of arrests in America comprises of the blacks. However, it should be noted that the blacks are criminals; thus there are no bases for intimidating the black people. Marx’s conflict theory tries to depict the conflict between two classes of individuals. In this case, it can relate to a class of the blacks and the whites.
According to Marx’s theory of social conflicts, there are two classes who are in conflict with them. The two groups are bound by mutual interest and a level of ownership of property and are often state-supported. In his theory, one group which is wealthy uses their influence to oppress the poor and the working class. The elite group the other portion of the society and they set up traditions, laws and societal structures that support their dominance and prevents the others from getting to their ranks (Clarke, 2016). Marx believes that a collective consciousness among the poor and the working class would bring the issue of inequality to light and probably lead to revolt. Theorists assume that the outcome of these conflicts is a revolution and this will bring about differences in the power between the two conflicting groups.
Marx’s theory is a good illustration of the situation in the United States. Most of the power and privileges lies in the hands of certain groups of individuals assumed to be the whites. The poor and the working class are believed to be the majority of the blacks. Those in power dictates upon the poor and the people in the low class by coming up with policies that ensure that they remain poor. These people have no other option than to revolt (Clarke, 2016). That is the reason for the continued protests in different states over discrimination. Marx’s theory of theory could also reflect on the inequalities in terms of gender. Although gender issues have been well addressed in recent years, there are still issues where the female gender is treated unequally to the male and they try to dictate the females. Issues of racism have brought about social conflicts in the United States.
In conclusion, a lot of work needs to be done to deals with social issues related to race in the United States. The government and Human Rights groups in dealing with racial discrimination have input significant efforts. However, they should improve their efforts. Racial stratification has continued to occur in the government, lending, and housing and education. Racism will be reduced by encouraging cohesiveness and embracing togetherness among different races. Interracial marriages should be encouraged, and leaders should be on the front line in condemning racial discrimination for the greater good of America.
References
Bolin, B., & Kurtz, L. C. (2018). Race, class, ethnicity, and disaster vulnerability. In Handbook of disaster research (pp. 181-203). Springer, Cham.
Clarke, S. (2016). Marx's Theory of Crisis . Springer.
Due, C. (2011). “Aussie humor" or racism? Hey It's Saturday and the denial of racism in online responses to news media articles.
Lauren, P. G. (2018). Power and prejudice: The politics and diplomacy of racial discrimination . Rutledge.
