Research shows that Americas are not yet living in a post-racial America. This is even after president Obama being elected five years ago. Most people and even researchers thought that this would facilitate elimination of racial prejudice in the United States but, it has not been the case.
In fact, Obama’s administration is still finding it difficult to deal with issues that are based on race, color and ethnicity. The whites feel that the minority groups are being given more attention than the natives. Moreover, the minority feel that little is being done about issues that affect them. Therefore, there are conflicts regarding issues that affect the minority groups. This write up highlights details that depict that the citizens of the United States practice racism.
Recently, the federal government made tremendous efforts to ensure that there is job equity in the United States. For instance, the government is fighting the tradition that some jobs are not meant for the African Americans. In fact, there are jobs that cannot be taken by the blacks because of racism and prejudice associated with the minority (Miller & Garran, 2008).
While the blacks embrace efforts of the government in ensuring job security, most of the whites have not been supportive of the government’s interventions. In fact, the white majority claim that the government is giving too much support to the minority groups.
Furthermore, most of the white people are employed in the United States. In addition, they have better working conditions and pay than the minority groups. Research shows that the whites have the highest rates of employment and best terms of employment. On the other hand, the minority groups such as the blacks have the lowest rate of employment. In fact, even the few that are employed are not well remunerated. Most of these people work in white owned companies and organizations and are subjected to poor, working conditions.
Besides, discrimination based on race was evident during the recession period. At that period, there were high rates of retrenchment amongst the minority groups at the expense of the white people. Above and beyond, there was salary cut down to ensure that the natives did not make massive losses. Additionally, statistics show that the recession was highly felt amongst the minority groups as compared to the whites in the United States.
Racial disparity can also evident in the education sector. Schools for whites and those for the minority groups are still in existence. People thought that, with the election of Obama, things would change.
I am afraid they were terribly wrong. Nothing has changed up to now, and discrimination still exists in the sector. Schools for the whites are well equipped and better than those for the minority groups such as the African Americans and Latinos (Donaldson, 1996). For instance, Obama’s administration has been on the forefront in fighting this but, there still much to be done.
Most whites do not support this aspect, and they believe that it is not the government’s responsibility to assist or address challenges affecting the minority groups. In fact, most whites feel that large sums of funds are being used to address this, and are for the idea that such resources would be utilized in doing other things, for example, development of infrastructure.
On the other hand, minority groups have begun appreciating this aspect and feel that there is much to be done. Unlike the whites, they feel that there is not much that is being done to address injustices seen in the education sector. In fact, they are for the idea that the government ought to increases resources towards the same issue.
This conflict of ideas and perception among the whites and the minority groups shows that, still, there is racism in the United States. Therefore, people should not assume that everyone is living in a post racial era within the United States.
Furthermore, inequality is seen in healthcare policies. Recently, President Obama made efforts in ensuring that healthcare was affordable to all. A large number of Native Americans were against the Obamacare policies. Besides, most of the citizens that hail from the minority groups do not have medical covers.
Even for those that have medical covers, it has been extremely expensive in terms of maintenance. However, the whites are able to afford the same and have little problems in maintaining the same. What is more, they believe that it is not the government’s responsibility to provide or subsidize healthcare covers among the minority groups.
Also, most of the minority groups are being associated with criminal behaviors at the expense of the whites. In fact, Latinos and African American have been falsely accused of committing crimes because of their race and status (Jordan, 1974). Moreover, most whites are hopeful more than the minority groups about their lives. Stereotypes are also vital occurrences within the United States, and they encompass the minority groups.
In summary, it is evident that Americans are still living in the racial era. Although efforts are being made to solve this, they still languish in racial prejudice and segregation based on race, color and origin. Therefore, there is much to be done to solve this issue.
References
Donaldson, K. B. M. L. (1996). Through students’ eyes: Combating racism in United States schools. Westport, Conn: Praeger.
Jordan, W. D. (1974). The white man’s burden: Historical origins of racism in the United States. London: Oxford Univ. Press.
Miller, J., & Garran, A. M. (2008). Racism in the United States: Implications for the helping professions. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.