Racism in America: White Supremacy and Boundaries of Identity - Essay Sample

Introduction

From the era of slavery to the Jim Crow era, and even the contemporary American society, the issue of racism, whether on the individual, institutional and national levels, has been consistent. America has often been regarded as an inherently white nation, and this phenomenon has been cemented by the widely accepted and appraised ideology of white supremacy. This ideology has created a tendency of people erecting boundaries in their identities, with those identifying as white gaining systemic advantage, while the other minority races and ethnicities are facing systemic racism. Systemic or institutional racism is a diversion from individual racism. It focuses on the policies, resource allocation formula, and stipulations that result in racial discrimination, exploitation, inequality, and domination within organizational contexts (Clair & Denis, 2015). Racism qualifies as a social problem as it results in patterns of behavior, malpractices, and policies that bear negative consequences on a significant portion of the population within a society. It emanates from deviations from the typical assertion of normalcy, and results in interrelated problems of social nature. Racism is a problem that stems from the concept of the tendency of societies to erect boundaries and map out strangers and outsiders, and this hence results in inequality in access to social amenities, and an impairment in justice and fairness.

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Boundaries and Outsiders

Human beings are social beings, which creates the need to belong and associate with each other. However, in this process, many societies attempt to create boundaries, become part of differences that define them, and create chances for other fissures to come up regarding the inclusion and exclusion of people within such societies. The concept of boundaries aligns with either symbolic meanings that people form as part of their identities, to the social contexts that demand the exclusion of some people and the inclusion of others hence creating barriers and inequalities in the distribution of opportunities and resources (Bauman & May, 2019). While each society erects its boundaries, the similarities this need eliminates any chances for a sharp, unambiguous, precise, and exact locking down of societies from others, and there is a tendency for these boundaries to mix up. In cases where these boundaries mix, whether social, symbolic, or state, the sense of disequilibrium creates abjection where anxiety and fear dominate the possibility of the outcomes of such a mix. The majority and minority populations emerge from this mix. With the majority owning most of the skills and resources within this newly formed boundary, the minority is often susceptible to negative categorizations and stigmatization. Racism emanates from such a concept, where the mixing of races creates the tendency for stigmatization ranging from mere insults to policies that bar minority races from accessing essential services and opportunities.

History of Institutional Racism

Institutional racism as a social problem has a history of its development as well as the contexts surrounding its manifestation. Racism emanated from slavery, where African, native Indians and other races considered as minorities were subjected to forced labor, deprived of their rights and limited to participate in the social, political, and economic aspects of the American society. e However, this concept evolved gradually to less avert cases more so after the Emancipation Proclamation that granted African Americans certain rights that were previously unavailable. Racism in contemporary American society, therefore, include less avert patterns, through implicit bias (Clair & Denis, 2015). Previously, racism was considered a prejudice by intent, especially regarding the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation, to the Emancipation Proclamation (Guess, 2006). However, a shift has been realized from the individuals based biased to organizational bottle-necks against minority races. This shift therefore introduced racism by consequence, within which institutionalized racism belongs. The macro-level aspect of racism, therefore, incorporates aspects of institutionalized discrimination bureaucratic procedures, the inertia of customs, law, and impersonal routines. Racism, by consequence, therefore manifests through residential segregation, the difference in education and healthcare access, economic disparities, and death rates. Many of such cases are witnessed in the American society today.

Systemic Racism in Healthcare

Disparities in access to healthcare is one of the facets of systemic racism, where minority races face a threat of limited access to care due to barriers as well as disparities. One trait of institutional racism is that it is in constant interaction with other systems, and this, therefore, makes healthcare disparities, for instance, interact with other systems such as the legal, political, and financial institutions that gradually shape the policies that create further disparities. Health inequalities result in poor healthcare outcomes in patients, from their infant mortality rates to morbidity rates of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. Systemic racism in healthcare operates through the iceberg analogy, where while the tip contains avert cases of racism which can be easily changed through sensitization, the base of the iceberg is more complex and hard to eliminate even with policy changes aimed at the iceberg tip (Gee & Ford, 2011). Therefore, this form of racism, although hardly detected, can persist for ling, evolve to diverse forms and affect many people, yet change can be hard to attain. The criminal justice system faces a similar dilemma.

White Supremacy in the Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice systems encounter systemic racism, from law enforcement to the judiciary arm, and even the correctional facilities. African Americans and other minority races are often faced with inequalities and injustices, resulting in high incarceration rates, death in police custody, unfair charges and sentences, and unfair parole awards. One of such cases is the recently seen wave of “Black lives matter” demonstrations after an unarmed 46-year old African American man identified as George Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis (Horton, 2020). This has resurrected white supremacy issues and the fact that racism cases, whether at the individual or institutional level, are a tip of a deeply rooted culture of racial prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, and segregation of the needs, rights, and values and cultures of the minorities. Law enforcement, for instance, has been rooted in a culture of racial prejudice, since, even before the Emancipation Proclamation, it was the same system that was utilized to subjugate the rights of African Americans. Police officers were even utilized to catch runaway slaves, and this shows its foundation of racism.

Conclusion

In conclusion, systemic racism is a complex, deeply rooted, and widely spread form of prejudice that targets racial minorities through policies, regulations, and strategies that isolate them. The tendency of people and societies to erect boundaries creates these differences, and the tendency of the labeled strangers to reclaim their legitimacy to belong by resisting such systems. Black lives matter is one of such resistance that targets police brutality and other forms of injustices directed against African Americans. The history of systemic racism stemmed from slavery, and segregation shows that this issue is too deep a social problem to be rectified by a few policies.

References

Bauman Z. & May T. (2019). Thinking sociologically. Third edition. Wiley Blackwell.

Clair M. & Denis J. S. (2015). Racism, sociology of. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 19. Pp. 857-863. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.32122-5

Gee, G. C., & Ford, C. L. (2011). STRUCTURAL RACISM AND HEALTH INEQUITIES: Old Issues, New Directions. Du Bois review: social science research on race, 8(1), Pp. 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X11000130

Guess J. T. (2006). The Social Construction of Whiteness: Racism by Intent, Racism by Consequence. Critical Sociology, 32 (4). Pp. pp. 649-673. https://www.cwu.edu/diversity/sites/cts.cwu.edu.diversity/files/documents/constructingwhiteness.pdf

Horton A. (2020, June 8). John Oliver: US policing is 'a structure built on systemic racism'. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/08/john-oliver-us-policing-is-a-structure-built-on-systemic-racism