Racial Discrimination in the United States Essay Example

Did you know that Unbeknownst to most, african american slaves were extorted for an estimate of more than 14$ Trillion worth of labor in today’s money until the abolishment of slavery in the year 1863? The effects of such treatment of those of color has since had some negative effects on the african american population in the modern day. Some of the issues still facing people of color today are individuals choosing not to do business with, socialize with or even share resources with people of african american descent. Racial discrimination is any type of discrimination against an individual because of their skin color, racial or ethnic origin. Racial discrimination in the United States is nothing new nor is it just African Americans or people of color effected by it either, it affects all types of individuals Including those of Hispanic/Latino Heritage and people of Native American/Indigenous origins aswell. 

For quite a while the citizens of the United States have been long divided on the issues of race, some of these issues include questions of whether racial discrimination even exists and what actions if any at all should be undertaken to address racial discriminatory issues. In the eyes of some americans “discrimination is a prominent and critically important matter in American life, with significant and harmful effects on health and well being”. Whilst other Americans do not see the issue as a cause of emergency. Although the American people have these stances on racial discrimination in the United States, history and statistics do provide some context as to why people would agree that racial discrimination needs to be treated as an serious modern day issue. By diving into historical and statistical information we can see the events leading up to some of the problems we face in the modern day when it comes to racial discrmination.

By looking back into statistics and history we can see how African Americans are affected by racial discrimination and how this carries into the modern day. African Americans have through the years had to deal with many hardships against their people, some such hardships include laws created specifically against their population to prevent economic, social, and political growth. One such type of law passed to prevent people of color from their freedoms were the Jim Crow laws (Which were named after a derogatory name for blacks). As well as some laws that explicitly state their own discrimination like the laws of segregation which would include segregation in areas of their lives notwithstanding “schools, bathrooms, public parks, pools, theaters, jails, cemeteries, asylums and more.” For centuries people of color were also enslaved and made to work in brutal conditions against their own will for the profit of the American people before them working in agricultural and domestic positions on plantations in the United States. Slavery was eventually abolished in 1863, but this did not stop all forms of racial discrimination, after the abolishment of slavery in 1863 former slaves were encouraged by federal officials within the Freedmen’s Bureau-created by the federal government to go back to working in the same conditions they did for less than adequate pay. States like South Carolina eventually established “Black codes'' laws that would fine African Americans for working in industries other than farming or domestic servitude. Due to these problems African Americans faced today we see a trend of discrimination in other ways which are less obvious than laws enacted by the federal government, now some of the issues faced by African Americans in modern day America include Police violence, wrongful media representation, the racial wealth gap, and the mental health of African Americans today as a whole. The racial wealth gap when it comes to African Americans and Caucasians is among one of the biggest issues facing African Americans, according to a study done by the Survey of Consumer Finances ranging from 1989-2016 the median net worth for white households far exceeds that of Black households though recessions and booms over the last thirty years. During the most recent economic downturn, median net worth declined quite a bit more for Black families at 44.3 percent in comparison to white households at only a 26.1 percent decline. In fact, the ratio of black family wealth to white family wealth is lower today than at the start of the century. 

Although african americans faced many hardships of racial discrimination which they still face today they are not the only ethnic group affected by racial issues. Native Americans are another group of individuals affected by racial discrimination today. Despite the significant progress made toward Native American’s in the recent decades including the official acknowledgement of native american lands and tribes. Native American people still face significant levels of exclusion and discrimination, “26.2% of indigenous people were living below the poverty line in 2016 compared to a national average of 14%, with education, health and employement outcomes well below the national average.”Along with economic issues facing indigenous peoples there are also social and health care issues they face aswell, in a recent finding from an telephone survey including 342 Native American and 902 white US adults, conducted January-April 2017, “more than one in five Native Americans (23 percent) reported experiencing discrimination in clinical encounters, while 15 percent avoided seeking health care for themselves or family members due to anticipated discrimination.” Along with these findings it was also reported that of all the Native Americans reporting 38 Percent of those surveyed reported to have experienced violence and 34 percent reported they had been threatened or harassed due to race.

While people of color and Native Americans experience racial discrimination people of Hispanic descent also face discriminatory issues. “One of the most recognizable political faces in the United States is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.,” but latinos still face “...overt and subtle racism and discrimination”. Hate crimes against latinos are rising with a report from the FBI in 2017 comparing crime rates in 2016 and 2017 and the finding were that the anti-Hispanic and Latino Crime rate rose by more than 24 percent. Along with these findings in another study, from the pew research center it was found that in the years between 2017 through 2018 that overall, four-in-ten Latinos said that they had experienced discrimination in the past year.

It seems Discrimination and harrassment of all minorities is highly reported among all minorities between different parts of their lives including economical and social issues. Latino, African and Native Americans all have expressed that they have seen major disparities compared to whites in fair treatment in institutions, including healthcare, the police, and courts. The Results show that forms of discrimination and harrassement against people of all minorities not just including Native Americans,African Americans and Latino Americans are systematic and unsolved problems which still plague the citizens of the united states today.

Sources: 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31657013/

https://www.un.org/WCAR/e-kit/indigenous.htm

https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/Discrimination/Pages/discrimination_indigenous.aspx

https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2018/10/25/latinos-and-discrimination/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/racism-not-lack-assimilation-real-problem-facing-latinos-america-n974021

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/13/18091646/fbi-hate-crimes-2017

https://minorityrights.org/minorities/native-americans/

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/12/05/478150/african-americans-face-systematic-obstacles-getting-good-jobs/

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472910/systematic-inequality-economic-opportunity/