Introduction
Racial inequality remains one of the most discussed and essential topics in people’s daily lives. Since the twentieth century, debates regarding race have become more popularized because of the various studies that provided insight into the reasons for inequalities. Issues such as racial inequality were most prevalent in the United States since many groups of different races constitute its main population. Transition to the era of global communications allowed people to become increasingly knowledgeable of the prevalent issues in other parts of the world. In addition, people started to share their ideas freely and get influenced by others. Modern communications established informational routes that can aggravate or alleviate social issues. As a result, some parts of the society support views that redouble the efforts of destabilization of racial equality. The established racial inequality results from a systematic assumption that one race is greater than others, and stems from various institutional and political processes.
Racial Inequality
A recent terrorist attack provided an example of the assumption of racial supremacy. On Saturday afternoon, a young white shooter opened fire across a store in Buffalo’s predominately Black neighborhood, killing ten people and injuring three (Danner, 2022). The terrorist planned the attack and posted an extensive document that described his plans and ideas (Danner, 2022). According to the published text, the killer supported racist anti-immigrant views (Danner, 2022). This incident demonstrated that one of the causes of racial injustice might be the beliefs in the superiority of a certain race over another.
People experience the earliest influence of racism in their childhood years. During the preschool period, children often accept information that contradicts modern scientific studies and lead them to incorrect conclusions (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). Young people receive education in areas of limited connection to other communities and are unable to have interactions with different families (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). According to various surveys, humans often experience social segregation and rarely interact with people of different races during their childhood years (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). In addition, most of the information regarding races is collected from other people and therefore subjected to distortion and incompleteness (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). A study regarding children’s perception of different races provided an example of incorrect views. Participants of the study were children from a daycare center (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). First, researchers asked them to illustrate an image of a typical Native American (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). Children could not provide any materials due to a lack of knowledge, so instead, researchers requested an image of an Indian (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). Children included many types of weapons, such as knives and tomahawks (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). In addition, the people in the images were portrayed as aggressors with hostile intentions (Rothenberg & Accomando, 2019). This local study produced a meaningful input to the understanding of erroneous information. During the childhood years, people gain first knowledge of other groups and ethnicities and develop opinions. Thus, the idea that one race exceeds others may originate from childhood misconceptions.
The different concepts of races can provide insight into how views of racial supremacy emerge in society. During the transformations of society and established norms, some ideas of race may contain information that has less credibility (Omi & Winant, 2015). Some individuals and groups aspire to reinvent the current systems of categorization of races (Omi & Winant, 2015). Such systems result from state-imposed classifications and are often based on scientific research (Omi & Winant, 2015). However, current scientific data that indicate races, such as physical anthropology and genomic studies, may lead to further debates regarding the accurateness of societal definitions (Omi & Winant, 2015). In an attempt to describe a racial formation, Omi & Winant stated (2015), “race is a concept, a representation or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporeal and phenotypic markers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences” (p. 111). Thus, views that support racial inequality may emerge from different understandings of racial definitions and formations.
Another contributing factor to the assumption of inequality may be the racial ideology. The paradigm of racial ideology emerged from the theories of C. Marx (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). Marx supposed that inequalities in society originate from class differentiation (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). The dominant class considers its views universal and imposes them on everyone (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). Certain racial ideologies stem not only from political propaganda but also from information that includes various social works (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). Ideology results from various social processes that occur in daily people’s daily lives. The sources of mass media communications influence humans’ opinions that result in the misconception of races. As a result, racial ideology combines information from various sources and broadcasts it further by means of mass media and political speeches.
Racial politics may describe another aspect of the belief in the superiority of a certain race. The politics are more significant than the state they represent and often involve other parts of society (Omi & Winant, 2015). They can constitute various parts of communities, such as the formation of racial identity and race awareness (Omi & Winant, 2019). People often visualize an image of a race under the pressure of the state. When people have uncertain or undetermined views on society, they usually accept the dominant opinions (Omi & Winant, 2015). As a result, the government and the ruling parties establish an environment in which one belief is valued higher than others (Omi & Winant, 2015). Such beliefs may be the outcome of the politics of the individuals in positions of authority (Omi & Winant, 2015). When a particular assumption of a race assists the continuation of dominancy, it is often supported and integrated further (Ayvazian, 2019). Racial politics become an instrument of control and indoctrination and further increase inequality and misunderstanding. In conclusion, the state and individuals in control often expand the disparities through the use of racial politics and thus contributing to the increase of racial disagreements.
Conclusion
In conclusion, racial inequality is often observed as a result of an assumption that one race surpasses others. People experience their first notions of such ideas in early childhood. Erroneous information leads to misconceptions about the races. Various studies of racial discrimination suggest that misleading or inaccurate concepts of race often emerge from a different perception of information. In addition, the contributing factors to such beliefs may be racial politics and racial ideology. Politicians and the government may impose such assumptions on others to enhance their dominance, while racial ideology constructs a system in which information regarding one race can be distorted. Thus, the belief that one race is superior often causes inequality through ideologic and political information.
References
Ayvazian A. (2019). Interrupting the cycle of oppression. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (pp. 629-630). Worth Publishers.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2019). Color-blind racism. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (pp. 113-119). Worth Publishers.
Danner, C. (2022). What we know about the racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket. New York Magazine. Web.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2015). Racial formation in the United States. Routledge.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2019). In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (pp. 11-17). Worth Publishers.
Rothenberg, P. S., & Accomando, C.H. (2019). Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study. Worth Publishers.