Racialization Essay

Not only now, but throughout the history of the United States, one of the biggest issues that our country has faced is the issue of Racial inequality and racial tensions primarily between African Americans and Caucasians. Most recently these issues have had impacts on everybody, and some may even argue have caused a bit of a social divide in America. This divide was manifested very clearly in the 2016 presidential election and since, society has created these ideas and perceptions that we have seen many references to the Ku Klux Klan, and even Nazi Germany. These ideas that have been expressed are all very common themes that the world has seen specifically when racial tensions are present. 50 years ago, the Civil Rights Movement was very much alive through parts of the deep south. The advances that the Civil Rights Movement brought about were indeed incredible however in modern society a new group has taken over where the civil rights movement left off. If these issues were indeed resolved in the 1950s and 1970s there would be no need for groups such as Black Lives Matter. Racism and social injustices is one of the biggest issues today that affect politics as well as our perception of history.

From the reading “Racial Formation in the United States” Racial formation is the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed and destroyed. Micro-racial formation: To see micro-racial projects operating at the levels of everyday life, we have only to examine the ways in which, often unconsciously we “notice” race. One of the first things we notice about people when we meet them (along with their sex) is their race. Our ability to interpret racial meanings depends on preconceived of a racialized social structure e.g. Afro patois, the unending faux pas committed

Race is a social-constructed terminology where it categorizes people into groups that share certain distinctive physical characteristics such as skin color. However, race and racial identity is unstable, unfixed and constantly shifting, as race, typically, is a signifier of prevalent social conflict and interest. Although, many, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, argue in the aforementioned point of view, some – mainly white population -- believe that racial characteristics are biologically inherited.

While the ACA has been successful in reducing the rate of uninsured, it has failed in a number of other areas. Data organized by age reveals significant problems when it comes to groups who are uninsured, we can see a stark contrast between age groups. Among the 15.7% of Americans that are uninsured, approximately 55.2% of those are comprised of Americans aged 19 to 34 years of age. This is relatively unsurprising as young people have always been less likely to purchase health insurance as the result of what many have described as some sort of invincibility complex. The data on uninsured Americans becomes truly interesting when analyzing the data as it relates to race and ethnicity. Whites compromise 64.3%

The three biggest disparities mentioned in our book are health, education and incarceration. Delving deeper into these issues, reveals other issues the black community faces like segregation, anti-intellectualism, and incarceration rates. These issues and many more that plague the black community have high degree of connectedness with education probably at the core.

Race and ethnicity is something that we all have to live with because we all have a race and ethnicity that claims us. Race and ethnicity was something discussed daily at my household because I was the only Hispanic at my school until the third grade. This was difficult because as a child it’s hard to understand why my skin color, language, and ideals are different. I wouldn’t have survived school without my parents and support from my instructors that allowed me to transition into the mainstream without a traumatic effect. Throughout the year my parents would take me to activities like Cinco De Mayo, Religious activities, Independence of Mexico, and other cultural events that celebrated our history and culture. This helped feed my love for my culture and ancestors. Race is usually determined by how one looks but your

In American society, the term race entails the distinctions that are drawn from the physical appearance of the people in the community. Racial categories in the United States were developed as a result of the violent confrontations between the white settlers and the indigenous Americans and later the Spanish. Racial prejudice is perceived as unfavourable and discriminatory towards an individual or a group based on ethnicity and skin color. In the case where racial prejudice is supported by institutions and laws, this scenario is considered as an act of racism. Racial prejudice is experienced in the United States by individuals of the European descent against other groups such as Latinos or African-Americans. Racism leads to tension between people of non-European descent such as the Asian Americans and African

It has been noted that there are tremendous racial disparities in all phases of America’s criminal justice system. Kutateladze and Andiloro (2014) state that African American only make up 13 percent of the United States population, yet they are composite 28 percent of the people arrested and 38 percent of the total prison population. Various empirical research has focused on the racial discrimination that exist in police officer’s discretion to arrest a person, differences in pretrial detention based on race, disparities in the decision to prosecute, and discrimination during sentencing also has been discovered. According to Zatz (1987), plenty of early researchers believed that there was a large amount if minorities in prison because they are more involved in

The term “race” has been given different meanings throughout the years and, now, it is used to signify the differences in physical characteristics that humans possess and, therefore, it creates stratification and inequality. However, the Haviland text states that “The concept of race has no biological basis. Therefore, race is seen as a cultural construct” (Haviland et. al. 2014). Joe R. Feagin and Clairece Booher Feagin support this statement in their textbook: Racial and Ethnic Relations. To understand the concept of race, it is important to be aware of the origin of the word. According to the Feagin text, the meaning of race has changed through the centuries. Back in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, race was a word intended for “descendants of a common ancestor, emphasizing linkages” (Feagin and Feagin, 2012: 5). This means that the word “race” was intended to recognize family ties, it did not take physical characteristics into consideration, only descendants; it was not utilized to separate people by their

Racism is characterized by ideologies and social practices that cause or justify preferential distribution of privileges along the lines of racial or ethnical differences. Racism can assume forms of political

In the development of racial identity in black American youth, there are 5 stages in developing racial identity between persons of color and 6 stages in developing racial identity in whites. Differentiation of self, people of color in the United States can experience racism from one’s own race with societal stereotypes that carry a negative connotation become internalized. Prior neighborhood experience matters when examining how black youth identify with their race. How black men and women develop racial identity differs and mass media takes a affect on how youth see themselves not only how they see themselves but how they see others who are the same race as them.

Racial injustice has been a recurring problem in the United States. Americans didn’t talk about how the blacks were being treated until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr started speaking and protesting racial injustice. In modern day America, racial injustice is still an occurring problem, mostly between blacks and the police force. African American’s have felt like the police force is out to get them, with valid reason of course. People have tried to protest, using slogans such as “Black Lives Matter,” although these protests have helped bring the light on police brutality towards African Americans, they haven’t helped find a cure for this sickness. The most notable protest in modern day America is kneeling during the National Anthem, started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. I will be discussing why Kaepernick started taking a knee, how the NFL reacted to the kneeling, as well as how the world has perceived kneeling.

Race is a way to categorize people with similarly perceived biological characteristics into one labeled group. However, race has no biological standing, as race highly “depends on our social location [and] on who is doing the [classification]” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Ethnicity averts from race in that ethnicity exemplifies the ancestry and cultural heritage in which one affiliates themselves with. A “sense of belonging may center on their nation or region of origin, distinctive foods, clothing, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266). Both race and ethnicity are exceedingly interchanged with one another even though the terms have different meanings. A great example of this misinterpretation of race and ethnicity is the Jewish “race.” “Jews […] are more properly considered an ethnic group, since it is their cultural characteristics, especially their religion, that bind them together” (Henslin, 2015, p. 266-267). Despite the fact that race and ethnicity are distinctive ideas, they do come together in the way of identifying one group from another; whether it be by characteristics or cultural heritage. Race and ethnicity are also similar in that a person can identify with multiple ethnicities or races; as they may have two parents from different cultures. Albeit, race and ethnicity are related in ways, but they still

Experiencing racial disparities can permit an increasing level of stress over the years, yet buffering mechanisms can be used to decrease the impact of adverse experiences. Based on Brody et al. (2006) study, results indicated that race-related stress from allostatic load was not significant for youth with high emotional support. Accessing emotional supportive networks of family and peers can help readjust behavior and counterbalance cognitive trajectories that reduce anxiety and stress.

For centuries, African Americans have been forced to deal with racial inequality. Racial issues are not easy to deal with in this country when the main targets are black. In the African American community, we blame whites for our problems, when in fact, we should blame ourselves for adding fuel to the already burning flame. We should not ignore the problems, but learn how to deal with them in a different manner. If we do not find a way to solve our racial problems, we will have a more divided country than ever before. Now is not the time for whites to feel guilty, they need to find ways to help the healing process.