America and racism

As recently shown in Charlottesville, bigotry seems to have exploded into a horrific social scourge in the United States. Indeed, racism can quickly turn murderous, if not deadly, as shown by the events of the white nationalist, implying that racism is openly harbored in contemporary American society (Alexander and Cornel 25). And if nearly every country has a dark side of its past, the United States has more race-related injustices than religious and legal disparities, provided that the slave trade and segregation of black Americans speak more to the country’s history of racial inequality (Wallis 199). Many scholars have argued that though slavery ended officially in 1865, the menace of racism was never abolished (Wallis 201). Following the times of Jim Crow legislation, racism has been institutionalized, made a fundamental ingredient of the structural systems, and even manifested in the American inequalities explicitly in the present world. The people of color, who happen to be the minorities in the US, including the African Americans, the Hispanics and the Asian Americans usually are victims of both unofficial and official discrimination based on their races. Other than discussing in what ways racism manifests itself in America today, it is critical to outline how racism in America can be addressed since it is no longer a social problem of the past as many would think.

Ways in Which Racism Manifests Itself in America Today

The structural disadvantages of the people of color in America are what contribute to racism significantly in the US apparently, especially in the criminal justice systems. Racism would typically get justified by the results and not necessarily the means that lead to such conclusions. For instance, a society deprived of basic needs like food, medication, social security, housing, and decent amenities would always fall prey to breeding nonlaw abiding young generations (Wallis 200). The result would be violence, drug abuse, criminal activities, homicides, murder, suicide and increased imprisonment rates, which are all evidenced among the racially segregated people of color in the US in this twenty-first century. Indeed, possibly one of the most vital challenges the American criminal justice system faces is that based on racial profiling, black Americans begin to experience problems with the security organs and risk imprisonment even before they come into contact with the criminal justice establishments. Elements like lack of employment, family differences, diversity in culture, housing as well as poverty predispose the black race to more disproportionate occurrences of imprisonment than it should be typical (Alexander and Cornel 19).

On the contrary, other elements apart from race influence people of color to higher chances of falling in controversy with the law and hence falling victims of mass incarcerations. For instance, most poverty-stricken American neighborhoods are inhabited by African Americans, a social disadvantage that compromises their personality and mostly results to criminal offenses, for example, robbery and violence, to profit the daily bread (Alexander and Cornel 132). Moreover, it is approximated that 62 percent of African Americans reside in inner urban setups and highly segregated places, which are characterized by phenomenal and habitual violence crimes, as opposed to the whites, who mostly stay in areas with less violent crimes, hence the latter`s advantage over the former (Murakawa 223). Indeed, the disadvantages and the misconceptions done by such poverty-stricken region do a lot of harm and injustices to the black Americans, elements which spill over to the whole American society, hence compromising not only the legal framework but also encouraging ethnicity and racism in the country, including the escalation of criminal offenses. Based on the upbringing environment as well as the compromised social structures, one category children of colored grow up to become easily undermined by feloniouscrimes, while their white counterparts grow up advancing away from illegal activities (Stevenson 379).

On the other hand, other forms of disparity like income and social status play a critical role when it comes to the racial and ethnicalinequalities in the US discrimination framework. For instance, the possession of material wealth and social classes. For example, the issues of pretrial detention are very prevalent among the people of color because of the poverty levels (Alexander and Cornel 28). Primarily, ethnicity and race are central determinants of criminal justice system decision making, and the black and Hispanic teens are more likely to be incarcerated compared to their white counterparts (Alexander and Cornel 76). On the other hand, punitive treatment could escalate and get out of proportion for the blacks if they are convicted of drug offenses, have prior criminal offenses, have been reported to victimize whites, refuse to plead guilty when suspected, as well as those who fail to secure pretrial release, hence fueling racism in the American society (Wallis 198).

How Can Racism in America be addressed

Both civic and religious leaders alike should condemn racism in the American society. Tolerance should be exercised over diverse racial, religious, and political social realities that are inevitable in a country termed the boiling pot of the world, and hence the center of global civilization as a superpower. Groups that foster racial stereotypes should be sanctioned, and those in influential positions should lead by example to avoid inciting the people against the minority communities of color. In fact, across the many religious affiliations that are to be found in America, none advocates for or is founded on the spiritual background that champions racism in the society (Alexander and Cornel 76). Despite the fact that in the contemporary America the available room reformation is modest, it remains clear that the racial disparities established on both the ethnical and racial profiling are at an encouraging pace. A good example is the state of New Jersey, whereby despite being ranked as one of the most affected with racial profiling, many statutes have been put in place to discourage and militate against every effort that foster mass incarceration without precedence of the rule of law. Just like any other American state, the mass incarceration peaked in the 1970s in New Jersey and leveled at a new high in the 1990s, however, beginning the year 2000, it was confirmed that the prison population of the African Americans had gone down by 28 percent following the changes made in policies and practices in the criminal justice department (Alexander and Cornel 33). On average, following the reforms in New Jersey, the percentage of prisoners to date has reduced by 30, 35 and 16 percent for the Africans, Hispanics, and whites respectfully (Murakawa 224). However, if a more efficient impact is to be witnessed across the whole country, then there are necessary parameters and strategic mechanisms that should be engaged to make the rule of law prevail rather than the disparities. If disparities in poverty, unemployment, and racial profiling could be addressed more directly, the situation can be managedmore reliably. Hence mass incarceration destabilizes the society more than it helps. Indeed, training people on the impact of specific criminal offenses and the need to be law-abiding citizens as well as the adoption of racial impact legislations could help contain the dire situation in the American social systems.

Works Cited

Alexander, Michelle, and Cornel West. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2011.

Murakawa, Naomi. The First Civil Right:How Liberals Built Prison America. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy:A Story of Justice and Redemption. Spiegel & Grau, 2014.

Wallis, Jim. “America’s Original Sin The Legacy Of White Racism.” Cross Currents, 57, no. 2, 2007, pp. 197–202.