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Racial Disparity in America

Introduction:

Since, the Civil Rights Movements of 1963 and the march on Washington, America has been thought of having several years of inclusion and prosperity for all. But the truth is far from it. Since the fifty years till the original movement and its marches were done the long battle for equality still wages on. Increasing racial disparity can be seen in the eyes of the law, unemployment, poverty and education. In all these areas people with a darker skin tone are being marginalized and treated differently to the ones with a lighter skin tone. Hence leaving the country divided and on the brink of collapse.

Disparity in the Eyes of the Law:

The marginalization and treatment of people of color in the eyes of the law is a clear representation of the rising racial disparity in America. The rising number of police brutality cases and misuse of power shines a clear light on the existing and rising occurrences of racial disparity even in the eyes of the law (Chaney, and Robertson,). Anyone who is responsible to provide safety and security to the people around them has a tough job ahead of them. They should be properly trained and evaluated so they do not have any biases that might impede them in performing their duties. But incidents of racial profiling and shootings by the police have skyrocketed and show that the police do have a bias against people of color. For example The Malcolm X grassroots organization published a report showed that between Jan 1 to July 30th 2012, one black person was killed like Rodney King, every 36 hours in extrajudicial killings (Chaney, and Robertson).

This marginalization and unfair treatment of people of color in the eyes of the law is clearly visible in the courtrooms and criminal proceedings against them. The courts are a sacred place, where people come to find justice for the wrongs done to them. It is the responsibility of the Judges to provide judgments that take into account the situation revolving the crime and provide the appropriate sentence. When it comes to people of color, they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for small one time offences (Wright). They are demeaned and made to feel less than normal humans and a burden on the economy of the country. According to the NAACP, rates at which blacks are put in prison are six times higher than whites and this statistic does not involve drug arrests ("NAACP | Criminal Justice Fact Sheet"). Michelle Alexander, a professor at Ohio State University researched that the number of people of color in prisons or on parole is way higher than it was during the time of slavery in 1850 (Alexander).

Creating a Divide in the Country:

The American society has to open its eyes and see that this expanding problem of racial disparity that is dividing the country ideologically. The notion of Black lives matter versus All Lives Matter (Carney), where one propagated awareness for the rising brutalities against people of color. While the other is trying to shine a light on the importance of all lives no matter the color. Hence, reducing the efforts of each other. The rise of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists is also on the up and up, who think they are being taken over and that their race is in jeopardy of staying pure (Kimmel, and Ferber) and in response the reformation of Black Panthers happened, a militant black organization. All these organizations are fighting to protect their own interests and people and are breaking the social culture of the country that their forefathers fought so hard to make and protect. According to a survey by Atlantic/ Aspen/ Institute of American Values, sixty percent of the people agree that the American nation compared to ten years ago is more divided now than ever before (The American Values Survey).

Racial disparity is causing a divide within the American society in limiting the access of people of color to basic rights in their own country. These include basic education, health and voting right. The schools are more segregated than ever before. Ninety percent of segregated schools for people of colour (including African- Americans and Latinos) suffer poverty (The Civil Rights Project). This effect is taken over to the colleges as well, where only forty five percent of Black women and thirty three percent of black men get to graduate (US Department of Education). The divide due to racial disparity does not stop there as apparently there are also health disparities between whites and people of colour. These disparities range from life expectancy and death rates to lack of health insurance. Even there is a divide in how patients are treated because of the racial disparity present in the medical circles. Also, the right to vote and have a say in choosing the person who represents them was something people of color fought long and hard to achieve. But due to unlawful arrests leading to exorbitant sentencing, this right is also taken away. Because voting rights are taken away from someone with a criminal record. thirteen percent of people of color (male) in the whole country have lost the right to vote ("Restoring Voting Rights").

Some individuals have also suggested that racial disparity is not as high in USA as it is shown out to be. They base their argument on how that today about ten percent of all colored households in the colored middle class has grown. There are colored communities with median incomes higher than the national average. Cities such as Waldorf, Maryland with a high population of people of color has the highest median income of $ 81592 and the lowest belongs to Highland Beach, Maryland of about $158,750 (Perry). They also believe that this rise in racist slurs and crimes are hoaxes and are purported by people who are just looking to garner sympathy. The case of Jussie Smollett, who allegedly staged a hate crime against himself and reported it to the police (Russell-Brown). This is looked as one of those type of cases, which are then used to garner sympathy and stigmatise conservative views. .

But the sad part is that individuals like these have their eyes shut to the reality of their surroundings and are living in a dream. Yes, there has been an increase of colored households in colored middle class but the unemployment rate for people of color (thirteen percent) is still double to that of white people (seven percent). According to a report from Harvard researchers, there is a twenty five to thirty percent wage difference between people of color and white people (Fryer et al.). Coupling the unemployment and wage gap, it is revealed that overall that colored people and communities suffer more from poverty than white people and communities. According to survey conducted by the National Poverty Centre in 2010, around twenty seven of colored people came under the poverty threshold whereas only ten percent came under it ("Poverty Facts | Poverty Solutions").

Conclusion:

It is clearly visible over the course of this paper that racial disparity is a huge phenomenon in American society. It is present in the American Law enforcement and Judicial entities and decides how a person based on their color is treated. It is a major force behind creating a divide within the country on the basis of ideology and access to basic rights. Where some believe that it is not that a big issue and is only highlighted to serve someones agenda are clueless to the reality of discrimination and problems people of color face.

Work Cited:

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness. New York Press, 2012.

Carney, Nikita. "All Lives Matter, But So Does Race". Humanity & Society, vol 40, no. 2, 2016, pp. 180-199. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/0160597616643868.

Chaney, Cassandra, and Ray V Robertson. "Armed And Dangerous? An Examination Of Fatal Shootings Of Unarmed Black People By Police.". Journal Of Pan African Studies, vol 8, no. 4, 2015, https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/38947351/Armed_and_Dangerous.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1556008614&Signature=AvWWrre1UZm8oAISXK9Iuc56FbE%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DArmed_and_Dangerous_An_Examination_of_Fa.pdf. Accessed 23 Apr 2019.

Chaney, Cassandra, and Ray V. Robertson. "Racism And Police Brutality In America". Journal Of African American Studies, vol 17, no. 4, 2013, pp. 480-505. Springer Nature, doi:10.1007/s12111-013-9246-5.

The. "American Values Survey, 2013". The Atlantic, 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/american-values-survey-2013/277301/.

Fryer, Roland G. et al. "Racial Disparities In Job Finding And Offered Wages". SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011. Elsevier BV, doi:10.2139/ssrn.1934590.

Kimmel, Michael, and Abby L. Ferber. "“White Men Are This Nation:” Right-Wing Militias And The Restoration Of Rural American Masculinity*". Rural Sociology, vol 65, no. 4, 2009, pp. 582-604. Wiley, doi:10.1111/j.1549-0831.2000.tb00045.x.

"NAACP | Criminal Justice Fact Sheet". NAACP, 2019, http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/.

Perry, Andre. "Black Incomes Outpace The National Average In 124 Majority-Black Cities: So Where’S The Investment?". Brookings, 2019, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2017/11/15/black-incomes-outpace-the-national-average-in-124-majority-black-cities-so-wheres-the-investment/.

"Poverty Facts | Poverty Solutions". Poverty.Umich.Edu, 2019, https://poverty.umich.edu/about/poverty-facts/.

"Restoring Voting Rights". Brennancenter.Org, 2019, http://www.brennancenter.org/issues/restoring-voting-rights.

Russell-Brown, ​​​​​​​Katheryn. "As Racial Hoaxes Go, Jussie Smollett’S Case Is A Strange One". The Atlantic, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/jussie-smollett-and-long-history-racial-hoaxes/583498/.

The Civil Rights Project. E PLURIBUS… SEPARATION DEEPENING DOUBLE SEGREGATION FOR MORE STUDENTS. 2012, https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/mlk-national/e-pluribus...separation-deepening-double-segregation-for-more-students/orfield_epluribus_revised_omplete_2012.pdf. Accessed 23 Apr 2019.

US Department of Education. 120 Years Of American Education: A Statistical Portrait. Office Of Educational Research And Improvement, 2019, https://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf. Accessed 23 Apr 2019.

Wright, J. Skelly. "Poverty, Minorities, And Respect For Law". Duke Law Journal, vol 1970, no. 3, 1970, p. 425. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/1371848.