Essay Example on the USA: A Rich Culture Marred by Racial Discrimination and Stereotyping

The United States of America is considered one of the most developed countries with a rich culture despite its diverse population. This nation has tried to keep its culture within checks and balances to ensure that it augurs well with the set morals and ethics of the society. Despite the effort to make the American culture perfect, the issue of mistreatment and stereotyping of members of the black race has remained a mindboggling element that taints the otherwise progressive culture of the united states. Blacks form a minority group in the United States. Since the days of slavery, the black community has struggled to exist among the white majority. It is factual that the practice of stereotyping and mistreating blacks in America does not augur well with the American culture that fosters prosperity, equality and justice for all; such a practice also elicits hate and contemptuous attitude towards Americans by outsiders.

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The war on drug dealings in the United States has intensified. Unfortunately, this war has unjustifiably targeted the black race, whereby white law enforcers and the entire justice system associates blacks with this vice. For instance, in the years 1965 to 1975, the arrests of African Americans were double the arrests made on the whites, as far as the war on drug dealing was concerned. In the 1980s, the arrest of African American youths surged significantly while the arrest of their white counterparts only increased slightly. Such arrests portrayed a message that African Americans were the major cause of the drug dealing problem in the United States. Surprisingly, a survey using self-reported data carried out in the year 2011 reveals that young African Americans formed a group of the least users of drugs compared to their white counterparts (Alexander, 2010). Consequently, there is no doubt that the judicial system targets African Americans in crimes related to drug use and drug trafficking. Such acts by the judicial system tantamount to new Jim Crow rules that seek to undermine, mistreat and stereotype the black race. The legal system is at the forefront of applying laws that target blacks (King, 2016). Nations, especially those with black minorities do not take this treatment lightly, and it is likely to cause diplomatic disputes with the United States.

The police shootings are on the high rise in the United States. According to the FBI report, at least three people get killed by police shootings across the United States. Out of these, blacks make a considerable percentage. The following are statistics of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Supplementary Homicide Report as of 2012. The United States population had 63% whites, 17% Hispanics and 13% blacks. Among the people killed by the police, 31% represented the blacks, represented the Hispanics, and 52% represented the whites. The percentages of people shot by the police when they were not committing any crime are as follows: 39% blacks, 12% Hispanics and 46% whites (Lopez, 2018). The statistics point at the vulnerability of blacks in the hands of the police. The police are trigger happy when dealing with African Americans since they have a stereotype that associates blacks with criminal elements. This perception angers not only black Americans but also society members or other nationalities that believe in equality.

The stereotyping of black people and associating them with the crime has seen a massive number of blacks in prisons, which is five times that of whites. In states like Oklahoma and New Jersey, for example, the discrepancy could be as high as ten times. Baz Dreisinger appreciates the fact that there are racial disparities in the prisons (Puglise, 2017). He avers that the United States prison system releases very few whites to his college compared to their black counterparts. Dreisinger is the founder and the CEO of the Prison-To-College Pipeline program, which targets inmates from New York prisons to offer them training on skills that can help them survive in the society. Oklahoma is a state with the highest number of blacks incarcerated in state prisons. This state has only 7.7% of blacks in its population. The Sentencing Report Project indicates that 2,625 inmates in every population of 100,000 of Oklahoma are African Americans. Such a huge number compared to the small percentage of blacks in Oklahoma points at two things: black mistreatment and stereotyping.

Black mistreatment and stereotyping are evident whereby there is a rampant calling of police whenever whites encounter blacks. In colleges, cases of white students dialing 911 to call the police when they meet their black counterparts are at an alarming rate. A Yale University student was interrogated by the police when a white student called them claiming that Syonbola was out of place. Similarly, in April 2018, the manager of Starbucks called the police when two black men, Donte Robinson, and Rashon Nelson sat in the restaurant without ordering anything as they waited for their business partner to show up (Cullen, 2018). Such a move sparked uproar from the world. From the above examples, it is clear that the mistreatment and stereotyping of blacks does not augur well with the mainstream culture.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is compelling evidence that mistreatment and stereotyping of blacks is a common practice, which has adversely impacted on the socio-political and economic aspects of the blacks. Such vices have denied African Americans their access to the cultural desires of the nation, which are equality, justice and access to opportunities. These vices range from disparities in incarcerations, police brutality and targeting, to social alienation. Such vices have seen many people across the world condemn the United States government for its failure to tame the vice. It is, therefore, important that the African American community rises to fight against their mistreatment and stereotyping.

References

Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.

Cullen, T. (2018, April 20). Starbucks manager called the cops on black men two minutes after they arrived for a business meeting. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/starbucks-manager-called-cops-minutes-black-men-arrive-article-1.3942931

Getty Images. (n.d.). TOPSHOT - Demonstrators from the Black Lives Matter movement march... Retrieved April 18, 2019, from https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-from-the-black-lives-matter-movement-march-news-photo/545831580

King, J. M. (2016). Letter from the Birmingham Jail. Scotts Valley, CA: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Lopez, G. (2018, November 14). There are Huge Racial Disparities in how US Police use Force. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from www.vox.com/identities/2016/8/13/17938186/police-shootings-killings-racism-racial-disparities

Newsone. (2019, March 22). 56 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from https://newsone.com/playlist/black-men-youths-who-were-killed-by-police/item/13

Puglise, N. (2017, July 14). Black Americans incarcerated five times more than white people? Report. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/18/mass-incarceration-black-americans-higher-rates-disparities-report