Racism in the 21st Century

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Racism in the 21st Century

It sounds sound awkward and disgusting to talk about the existence of racism in America in the 21st century a thing that is believed to have been curbed many years back. How does racism exist while the Negros and other minority groups were granted a civil right in the nation? It is an alarming question, but the fact remains that the direct form of racism was changed into an indirect way where the people of color are granted citizenship in the country but segregation follows up them in all the things they do as well as where they go (Hurston, 1999). It right that the action groups such as white supremacists who directly spread racism are not active but the roots of the entire threat to the society are still prevalent in the state. Today, there is a bounty of racial aggression in the community both in the media and people’s day to day life encounters. According to Claudia Rankine, racial discrimination encounters are astonishing and rampant in everywhere in the society when it comes to workplace, television, online platforms as well as access to public amenities such as school and hospital (Rankine, 2014). The roots of racism are prevalent in American subjecting the people of color into victimization and other offensive scenarios making their livelihood in the nation demanding.

The situation in America today can only be referred as a post-race society where its citizens are a significant testimony to racism at both collective and individual level. Many advocates and policymakers have struggled to address the situation as well as expressing the pain it causes to the souls of these patriotic citizens as they face discrimination in an inhumane manner. The present condition in the modern society is a reflection of what happened during the Jim Crow’s era where the African-American were oppressed and discriminated in a way that it was inevitable to undergo through harsh conditions where they were not granted civil rights as other citizens in the nation. The situation in South America was menacing where supremacist spread white supremacy throughout the country through the Rebel groups. The case today is only different than the segregation is done in a friendly way in the name of legal actions that are unavoidable and plays a significant role in strengthening the roots of racism in the community. With regards to Du Bois in his work “Of the Passing of the First Born,” he depicts that the society is race biased as to the extent that the white was not concerned about what was going on during the tender child’s burial (Du Bois, 2017). They could only say that they are niggers and move on to their business.

The mentioned above facts are clear according to Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow” where she talks about the rebirth of a social order system in the United States where the blacks are denied a variety of civil rights resulting to their demotion at the middle-class status and the enormous number being put in custody (Alexander, 2012). It is upsetting that regardless of America celebrating victory over race, a large number of Africa-Americans in the cities are locked behind bars or in a way or the other maltreated with a criminal record of life. Michelle put it that the racial caste in the country has only been redesigned and not ended where the blacks are legally discriminated against the convicted crimes. For instance, today African-Americans are detained in the prisoned for quire offenses that do not deserve such kind of jurisdiction denying them fundamental human and civil rights such as freedom to vote. Also, the legal discrimination is extended to a greater extent where they do not have access to housing, secluded housing, and employment as well as not having the right to benefit from any social amenity.

“The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin is an excellent example of how racism has spread in the society and affects the blacks to the extent of determining where they live, what they do and where they go in the nation (Baldwin, 2013). In his letter, Baldwin advises his nephew to stay strong and tough not to follow the white ways which are upsetting and planned to victimize the Negro’s way of living. Racism in the community has made the blacks residents of the ghetto where they are subjected to poverty and other social injustices such as criminality and poor housing as well as other social facilities. They are dominated by the whites in a way that they cannot have diversification in the society and only have access to limited resources. Baldwin tells the young man never to give up or adhere to the ways of white as he has the capability of enlightening his future together with other Negros to change America into the state that it should be at free from racism and other social evils. According to Zora Hurston in her work “My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience,” she is ill-treated in a hospital where the doctor did not serve her in the actual health care rooms but in a secluded cabin where dirty working clothes are kept before laundry. She is served in a manner that depicts that the doctor was not comfortable with her passing time at the hospital as if it could lead to devastating effects on other patients.

As discussed above, the act of people of color being treated as inferior and unacceptable race in the society is revolting, and there is a need for change. The nation’s sovereignty portrays all citizens to have equal civil rights, but the case is different today. In public amenities, backs are discriminated, and into reality, they are contrary given better services like other white people. It is devastating, and the government, as well as the public at the individual level, have to play the role of eradicating the racism as well as its humiliation to enhance national growth and development.

References

Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press.

Baldwin, J. (2013). The fire next time. Vintage.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (2017). Of the Passing of the First-born. American Roots.

Hurston, Z. N. (1999). My most humiliating Jim Crow experience. Worlds of difference: inequality in the aging experience, 296.

Rankine, C. (2014). Citizen: an American lyric. Graywolf Press.