Modern Racism Essay

Racism is a problem that has characterized the American society from the historical past and has refused to go away. Though at present, racism is not depicted in overt terms but still kept observations reveal that racism still raises its ugly head in an institutionalized manner. The dream as projected by Martin Luther King Junior where he hoped for a society in which individuals would be judged by the content of their character as opposed to the color of their skin has failed to be fully realized. This paper shall aspire to look at the evidence of racism in the modern American society by citing up specific examples from the various incidences in the country. Background: Despite the tremendous achievements that have been realized following the civil rights legislations, racism has remained one of the most pressing social issues in the American society. Racism is often treated as an issue of the past but in reality, racism is still thriving within the American society. This however can be traced not in the overt practices as the case of the Jim Crow laws in the Southern States at the height of the Civil War, but rather in the covert ways (Wheeler, 2005, p 5). The blame campaigns being witnessed in the American society is a clear example of racism in modern times. In the recent times, the victims have been blamed for the predicament that they find themselves. For instance, the unemployed are blamed for unemployment; those who are not educated are being faulted for not accessing education; and the homeless are being blamed for not having the homes (Dols, 2004, para 3). Evidence of Modern Racism: There has been some statistics that were revealed by studies indicating some biasness in events leading to unemployment and lopsided delivery of criminal justice. After the economic booms of the 1990s, majority of those affected by the economic downturn were the blacks. In the early 2000s, the rate of unemployment amongst the blacks was said to be rising at a faster rate compared to the unemployment rate of the whites (Wheeler, 2005, p 75). The lay-offs that were carried in some of the big corporations including Coca-Cola; Sears; and J. P. Morgan reflect on issues of discrimination in modern times. The African American work force in these corporations comprised of 18% at Coca-Cola, 16% at Sears and J. P. Morgan and yet the lay-offs at these corporations had high proportions of the black workforce with percentages given as 42, 54 and 30 for the respective corporations (Dols, 2004, para 5). Another study at the University of Chicago revealed that African Americans applying for a job were more likely to be denied the opportunity than their white counterparts using the name criterion. It is also worthy noting that studies indicate that African Americans are most likely be found guilty of drug offences compared to the whites (Cole and Smith, 2006, p 16). Apart from the examples provided above, the Africa Americans have continued to bear the consequences of the slavery and the Jim Crow rules at the height of discriminative policies in the United States (Smith, 1995, p 6). Conclusion: The incidences of racism are rampant in our society even though most individuals would think that we have advanced from the dark years. The government and the stakeholders need to be proactive in addressing the issue of modern day racism through the enhancement of affirmative policy actions that would bring parity and stop propagation of the racism connotations. Work Cited: Cole, George, F. and Christopher E. Smith. 2006. The American System of Criminal Justice. Cengage Learning, ISBN 0495006017, 9780495006015 Dols, Chris. 2004. Racism lives on in modern America. Retrieved on 17th August 2010 from; http://badgerherald. com/oped/2004/11/18/racism_lives_on_in_m. php. Smith, C. Robert. 1995. Racism in the post-civil rights era: now you see it, now you don’t. SUNY Press, ISBN 0791424383, 9780791424384 Wheeler, Albert, J. 2005. Racism: a selected bibliography. Nova Publishers, ISBN 1594544794, 9781594544798