Racial Discrimination - A OPINION
In recent times, the Black Lives Matter Movement has gained significant momentum after the sad death of George Flyyod. The whole nation is mourning him and for good reason. The atmosphere surrounding this incident reminded me of an essay I had written on this topic for my college. I thought of sharing it with all of you.
(Please note that this is just an individual opinion. I do not intend to hurt or infringe any rights, feelings, emotions of any race, ethnicity or background. This is simply a personal opinion.)
Discrimination can occur in multiple forms. One
type of discrimination is individual discrimination, which is the “denial of
opportunities and equal rights to individuals because of prejudice or other
arbitrary reasons”. (Schaefer, 2020:232). This means that a person is deprived
of certain abilities or privileges on account of biases towards his/her ethnic
or racial minority. Such a person may not be entitled to the same benefits as
another, primarily due to a difference of race or ethnicity. This kind of
discrimination is largely individualistic and may also arise out of personal
prejudice. Prejudice refers to a “negative attitude towards an entire category
of people, often due to their ethnic or racial minority”. (Schaefer, 2020:230).
In other words, it is an inappropriate predisposition towards an individual
based on their ethnicity or race. It advocates incorrect notions about a person
by referring to generalized views based on the group an individual may belong
to, without identifying the individual’s unique differences. Such “unreliable
generalizations about all the members of a group that do not recognize
individual differences” are called stereotypes. (Schaefer, 2020:230)
Individual discrimination occurs on micro-levels.
Some examples include a landlord refusing to rent an apartment to a Latino, a
manager not permitting an African American to eat at his/her restaurant, a
group of White teenagers bullying a Chinese child in a White-dominated school,
or an entrepreneurial start-up recruiting only native English speakers for a
job. These situations represent individual bias towards a certain person or
group, which is justified solely by the race or ethnicity a person belongs to.
I have personally had very little experience with
racial discrimination, having grown up in India. Although India demonstrates
significant discrimination in terms of religions and caste systems, a majority
of the people belong to the same race and ethnicity. As a result, I have never
experienced or observed any form of apparent racial discrimination. My closest
experience with racial discrimination was an incident narrated by my Indian
friend who was travelling back from a college party with two other comrades.
One of the friends was African American and the other was White. On their way
back, the trio was stopped by the police and asked to do a breath test. They
were also frisked. Interestingly, the police did not frisk the White guy but
frisked the Indian and the African American. I believe this is a perfect
example of how prejudices towards a certain race and ethnicity, affect behavior
and attitude of people toward the people of that race. The policeman executed
extra care in examining the two guys belonging to racial minorities, as
compared to the guy belonging to a majority and this incident is a depiction of
individualized discrimination, prevalent in society.
Conversely, institutional discrimination is the
“denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that result
from normal operations of society” (Schaefer, 2020:235).This means that certain
individuals or groups of people may be disadvantaged as a part of the standard
customs of society. Such discrimination may exist through state laws, company
policies or other such regulations perpetuated by social institutions like
governments, multinational companies or educational organizations. These rules
have the authority to determine what liberties different races and/or ethnic
groups may be eligible for and its effects are impartially distributed between
different groups, such that certain groups benefit more than others.
Institutionalized discrimination has dominated a
significant part of American history, in the form of slavery. Establishing
human servitude as a law governing a nation is a form of discrimination against
an ethnicity by a social institution. An example more relevant to life today is
the higher percentage of African Americans being denied loans and mortgages as
compared to White candidates. Institutional discrimination is also commonly
seen in the workforce. Policies developed by companies that do not allow native
Spanish speakers from being employed or give a preference to English speakers
is just one example of institutional discrimination being perpetuated in the
country.
In my experience, I have seen that governmental
laws and proposals often reinforce racism. One example that I prominently
observed in the news, was President Trump’s proposal to build a wall between
United States of America and Mexico to reduce illegal immigrants. A majority of
this immigrant population is mainly Latinos, which also form the largest
minority in the country. (Schaefer, 2020:247). In order to conform to laws and
immigration policies of the country, the government suggested the building of
this barrier. People who consider the consequences of increasing immigrant
population as detrimental, also believe that such policies if put in place will
contribute to the nation’s economy. However, they fail to recognize the
repercussions of such a decision, faced by the minorities. In an attempt to
reduce illegal immigration, society has normalized laws favoring the same. The
significant impact on the immigrant population is being overlooked and the
consequent discrimination has almost become invisible. Such a restriction is
disadvantaging populations who are coming to the country with prospects to have
more enriching and economically fulfilling lives. Building a wall is not only
excluding them but also marginalizing them. In addition, seizing family land
owned by the minority to build the wall is also a form of racial oppression of
the minority. Thus, this is also an example of widespread institutional
discrimination that has dominated society and led to inequalities.
Dominating one sect of society also accentuates benefits for another sect.
Racial discrimination of the minorities has also conferred certain privileges
on the majority. The most popular form of such a privilege has been labelled
“White privilege” which refers to “the rights or immunities granted to people
as a particular benefit or favor simply because they are White”. (Schaefer,
2020:233). This means that there are certain opportunities and exceptions
conferred to White simply because of their race. When we talk about White
privilege, we are referring to the other side of the coin of racial
discrimination. On one hand are certain rights that people are deprived of
because of their racial minority and on the other hand are certain rights that
are provided to people, particularly the White, which form the majority.
Some of the instances that I have seen of
individual racial and ethnic privilege are primarily White. I feel that there
are certain inherent advantages that come with belonging to this race,
especially in the United States. A classic example that I have observed
of White privilege is the advocacy of fairness as a standard of beauty. A
number of cosmetic products promote paler skin to be an indication of beauty
while also degrading darker skin tones. Another example is the easy
availability of products used in White kitchens as compared to products used in
Indian or Mexican cuisines. Fast food restaurants also orient their menu items
to suit the White taste. Thus, White privilege may seem invisible because it is
intricately woven in society, but its existence cannot be denied.
I am an Indian and a minority in the country. In
order to examine whether my race is subject to oppression, I completed the
Privilege Points Questionnaire. I received a score of 20. According to the
interpretation of my score, I will supposedly face certain obstacles to live a
socially described good life, because of my race. While I understand that
Indian Americans are a significant minority in United States, as compared to
other races, I never thought that my race was also a subject of so much
discrimination or that my race would not have guaranteed access to resources
that perhaps other races may easily have access to. I found it surprising that
the US society is inherently conferring restrictions even on my race—
limitations that I was consciously unaware of.
Ultimately, I have come to realize that
discrimination, whether at individual or institutional levels, is definitely
affecting a large population in the United States. The history of
discrimination has been long and deeply saddening, and the only hope now is
that someday every ethnicity and race that has ever lived on this land, will be
able to respect each other for who they really are – an immigrant on foreign
soil – an American.
Works Cited:
Schaefer, Richard T. 2020. Sociology in Modules. 5th ed. New York, NY:
McGraw Hill Education.
What did you think about this? Let me know in the comments below.
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