In recent decades, there have been many improvements in the situation of discriminated and marginalized communities, but there are still many issues that have not been solved and many barriers that have not been destroyed. Race relations is a vivid example, with the Black Lives Matter movement drawing attention to bias and injustice still widespread in our society. These problems can become particularly noticeable during the times of uncertainty and agitation, such as recent elections or the COVID-19 crisis – this is why they should be widely discussed.
Race relationship saw dramatic changes compared to the times of racial segregation, with the greatest steps towards equality having been made in the second half of the 20th century. The law forbids any kind of discrimination based on an individual’s race and ethnicity, meaning equal opportunities in education, employment, healthcare, and all other aspects of social life. However, the problem in race relationship lies not in the legal domain – but in biases and prejudices still strong in many people maintaining institutionalized racism.
It is the main problem that contributes to the fact that despite the law being on the side of Black people, they are still the ones who are arrested on the streets more often and who are more frequently found guilty. It is precisely why while maternity deaths in America are decreasing, the greatest number of victims are still Black mothers (Chuck, 2020). It is because of these biases people act suspicious, hostile, or negligent towards African-American, Hispanic, or Asian people. In fact, according to the 2019 statistics, large proportions of people in the USA believe that race relations are actually getting worse, with many connecting the trend to the policies of Trump’s administration (Horowitz et al., 2019). Majorities of whites and blacks admit that blacks “are treated less fairly when dealing with the police or the criminal justice system” (Horowitz et al., 2019). These are among many other problems that still make difficult lives of African-American people.
To conclude, while it is hard to firmly claim that race relations in America have gotten worse because there are different historical points the current situation can be compared with, one can definitely say that there are many areas that should be improved. The Black Lives Matter movement’s most important goal is to attract attention to the problems experienced by the African-American community and raise awareness. It is highly important to fight biases that lead to discrimination.
References
Chuck, E. (2020). The U.S. finally has better maternal mortality data. Black mothers still fare the worst. NBC News. Web.
Horowitz, J. M., Brown, A., & Cox, K. (2019). Race in America 2019. Pew Research Center. Web.