Introduction
As a matter of fact, Jim Crow, or the Jim Crow system, may be defined as a particular racial caste system that existed in the United States between the 1870s and the middle of the 1960s, predominantly in the country’s border and southern states. It was not just a series of anti-black laws that limited the civil rights of African American citizens – it was a specific way of life. Under this system, Black people were regarded as second-class citizens culturally, morally, and intellectually inferior in comparison to Whites. In general, Jim Crow may be regarded as the era of anti-black racism’s legitimization when politics, science, religion, mass media, and other social institutes supported and reflected the oppression of African Americans.
All regulations created within the Jim Crow system and aimed to segregate socially acceptable and honored Whites and seemingly inferior Blacks were based on violence and hate. Thus, in the present day, when tolerance and equal human rights are highly valued in all developed countries, any type of racial discrimination is supposed to be eliminated. In addition, the total absence of racial segregation was expected after the election of Barack Obama, the country’s first African American president. However, despite all these facts, racial discrimination may still be observed in almost all spheres of human activity. On the basis of peer-reviewed research, this paper aims to examine racial disparities related to the Black population in health care, employment, the criminal justice system, education, and society in general.
Health Care
Regardless of the fact that Jim Crow finished several decades ago with the passage of particular laws, unfair and unequal treatment of Black citizens may still be observed in various spheres of modern society. According to Yearby (2018), neither the first ruling of 1954 nor the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were able to prevent the existence of discrimination and structural racism in multiple areas, including health care. At the same time, limited access to health care facilities and the poor health status of African Americans are strongly connected with disparities in other spheres of life, especially employment, income, net worth, wealth, and homeownership (Yearby, 2018). Thus, the discriminatory practices ignored by the government that aims to deteriorate the economic well-being and housing of Blacks lead to unofficial racial segregation and the creation of predominantly African American neighborhoods. In turn, this segregation has a highly negative impact on people’s access to health care and health status in general.
First of all, the quality of food accessible in different neighborhoods substantially varies. The residents of Black communities “do not have access to healthy food due to a lack of supermarkets and a preponderance of convenience stores and fast-food restaurants as the primary food outlets” (Yearby, 2018, p. 1118). As a result, they become more vulnerable to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. In addition, due to insufficient investments in racially segregated neighborhoods, their residents have to receive low-quality health care in local hospitals or stay without any medical assistance at all. Therefore, according to multiple types of research, there are disproportionately high rates of disabilities, lung cancer mortality, mental health disorders, and other diseases among African Americans in comparison with the White population (Yearby, 2018). The shortage of health care providers and the reduction of hospital beds and other essential services in these communities may be traditionally observed as well.
Employment
In the sphere of employment, racial disparities are frequently covered. For instance, according to some evidence reviews, “wage gaps are smaller or nonexistent for very high-skill workers and employment gaps are somewhat smaller among high-skill than among low-skill workers” (Borowczyk-Martins et al., 2017, p. 106). However, Borowczyk-Martins et al. (2017) state that in the United States, an average Black employee has a lower salary and lower employment rate in comparison with his White counterpart. Moreover, inequities exist regardless of education, even if the percentage of prejudice in both cases varies. Therefore, when workers are without any college degree, almost 60% of potential employers have a prejudice against Black employees, while approximately 30% of employers are prejudiced when candidates have high education (Borowczyk-Martins et al., 2017). At the same time, Black and White employees may have different qualities of their skills, however, this difference is frequently determined by the discrimination of African Americans in education.
Criminal Justice System
Inequities on the basis of race and ethnicity still exist in the country’s criminal justice system as well. Thus, African Americans are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated at highly disproportionate rates in comparison with Whites. According to Tyler and Brockmann (2017), Black citizens are incarcerated at almost seven times White men’s rate. In addition, similar to inequities and limitations in health care, the highest rates of incarceration among African Americans are connected with racial discrimination in other spheres. For instance, “in 2014, median household income for Black families was $35,398, which was 41.3% less than the median white household income” (Tyler & Brockmann. 2017, p. 548). Thus, African Americans more frequently live in poverty compared with White citizens and are more vulnerable to committing a crime due to economic needs.
As a result, Black are overrepresented in the country’s criminal justice system and traditionally face more severe penalties. Tyler and Brockmann (2017) state that 1 in 3 Black men “is likely to spend time in prison in their lifetime, as compared to 1 in 17 white men” (p. 549). According to the researchers’ findings, in twelve states across the country, Blacks constitute more than half of the total incarcerated population (Tyler & Brockmann. 2017). In general, although African Americans are only 13% of the United States’ general population, they constitute up to 40% of the prison population (Tyler & Brockmann. 2017). One more factor that contributes to this situation is deep racial prejudice and stereotypes against Blacks that still exist in modern society. For instance, they are supposed to be involved in the drug industry more than Whites, although there are no facts that may support this information.
Education
Discrimination in the education system is primarily represented by the division of students and the establishment of segregated classrooms on the basis of race rather than knowledge and skills. High-track classes are disproportionately represented by White students, while low-track classes are filled with Black ones (Franklin, 2016). In addition, despite officially common curriculum and standards, the information provided for young people in classes is different. In other words, White and Black people are prepared for different roles in society from school. Moreover, racialization contributes to the association of academic success, goal achievements, and development with whiteness. In addition, according to Franklin (2016), Black students frequently suffer from racial microaggressions in hostile campus racial climates. Nevertheless, such situations and related poor academic achievement of African Americans do not receive attention from university authorities.
Social Life
Previously mentioned microaggressions might be regarded as a highly disturbing issue of the Black population outside education facilities as well. According to the research conducted by Keith et al. (2017), “skin tone and body weight are two phenotypic characteristics that influence the type and frequency of discrimination experienced by African Americans” (p. 233). Thus, Black people with darker skin tones face discrimination, unfair treatment, and microaggressions more frequently in comparison with those with lighter skin tones (Keith et al., 2017). In addition, as obesity is stigmatized in American society as well, the combination of dark skin and excess body weight exposes particular individuals to an unprecedented level of hate. In general, discriminated people have fewer opportunities for socially desirable outcomes and socioeconomic achievements.
Conclusion
As a particular discriminatory caste system that supported anti-black racism, Jim Crow characterized American society in the first half of the 20th century. However, despite all achievements in the sphere of civil rights, tolerance, and human equality, discrimination on the basis of race still exists in almost all spheres of human activity in the United States of America. In general, discrimination in one sphere frequently determines inequities in others. Thus, disparities in education lead to disparities in employment and wages. In turn, lower employment rates and lower salaries for African Americans lead to inequities in homeownership, segregated neighborhoods, limited access to health care, and poverty. Finally, unemployment and poverty in combination with deep racial prejudice lead to Blacks’ massive incarceration. Thus, it is possible to conclude that Jim Crow has currently transformed into the New Jim Crow system.
References
Borowczyk-Martins, D., Bradley, J., & Tarasonis, L. (2017). Racial discrimination in the U.S. labor market: Employment and wage differentials by skill. Labour Economics, 49, 106-127. Web.
Franklin, J. (2016). Racial microaggressions, racial battle fatigue, and racism-related stress in higher education. Journal of Student Affairs at NYU, 44-55.
Keith, V. M., Nguyen, A. W., Taylor, R. J., Mouzon, D. M., & Chatters, L. M. (2017). Microaggressions, discrimination, and phenotype among African Americans: A latent class analysis of the impact of skin tone and BMI. Sociological Inquiry, 87(2), 233–255. Web.
Tyler E. T., & Brockmann, B. (2017). Returning home: Incarceration, reentry, stigma and the perpetuation of racial and socioeconomic health inequity. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 45, 545-557. Web.
Yearby, R. (2018). Racial disparities in health status and access to healthcare: The continuation of inequality in the United States due to structural racism. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 77(3-4), 1113-1152. Web.