How does Racism Affect Society? Most Discriminated Group in America………..7 Oppression………………………………………..9 Racism Statistics (Education)…………………..10 Racism Statistics (Housing hardship)…………11 Reasons Racism Still Exists……………………...8 Reflection………………………………………….3 What is Racism?

This is a topic that is very intriguing to me. And it is because I myself am diverse, yet I feel this is the most aware I have ever been about racism in my life. I think that for so many years I blocked it out, I never paid attention to it, I laughed it off, I ignored it, I “swallowed it”. I am interested in doing research on this topic because I want to know if I’ll be able to find out why even though I can go back and recall instances when I myself was discriminated against I never really felt as strongly about it as I do now. Was it fear? Was it easier for me to ignore it than to fight it? Is it because I didn’t feel confident enough to stand up for myself and laughing it off was more convenient? Recently I’ve come to question if the oppressor is aware of its actions, and are the oppressed aware that they are being oppressed? Is it intentionally? More than knowledge about racism, I have questions, for so long I never really thought that it actually existed. But reality is that it does. Society simply chooses to ignore it. Both the people who are discriminated and the people who discriminate.

 Racism is defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief that humanity is divided into different biological groups called races. And that the members of these have certain characteristics that makes them superior or inferior.  Racism and Racial discrimination are often used to describe discrimination towards a certain group of people based on their ethnicity and/or culture.  Practices or racism are Universally condemned in the United Nations in the declaration of Human rights.

 Racism closes doors and opportunity to people who are visibly identifiable as members of an ethnic group that is socially oppressed. This leads to greater ethnic competition and more economic, social and political oppression.  Racism affects people who are part of oppressed group in various ways. Some of these are. Education: The educational system often denies access to quality education based on student’s race. Employment: People of color are often the least hirable, people of color are under-represented among higher employment positions and over-represented on lower positions. Housing: A lot of people of color have little choice of where they live and pay higher amounts in rent for inadequate housing. Urban Development and the Urban Institute have found persistent discrimination against African Americans and Hispanics by financial institutions, landlords, and real estate agencies. Which is against the law, but it is continues to be an issue.

Healthcare and Mental Health Services: Health care costs are not affordable to people of color, and they go without care. Public Welfare: Social services tend to direct people of diverse backgrounds into a system that is designed for European Americans and serviced by workers from European American groups. Often the result is nonuse or underutilization of available services by people who confront racial, cultural, and linguistic barriers. Although desperately needed, social services often mask symptoms of larger problems, such as racism, unemployment, illiteracy, and poverty. Political Activity: People of color are often underrepresented in federal and local elective and appointive positions. A 1991 study by Mary Sawyer found patterns of harassment against African American elected officials in the United States using tactics of Internal Revenue Service audits, surveillance, phone taps, recall movements among others.

More people say Hispanics then blacks or women. According to a Poll is not only Hispanics that feel that way. An Associated Press-Univision Poll found that 61 percent of people overall said Hispanics face more discrimination, 52 percent said blacks do and 50 percent said women. The survey also underscored how perceptions of prejudice can vary by ethnicity. While 81 percent of Latinos said Hispanics confront a lot or some discrimination, a smaller but still substantial 59 percent of non-Hispanics said so. It is not unusual for members of a group to feel they face more prejudice. In this survey, that was especially true when people were asked about "a lot" of discrimination. Fifty-five percent of Hispanics but only 24 percent of non- Hispanics said Hispanics encounter that.

Some of the reasons why racism still exists are the ongoing never ending stereo types about other ethnic groups. For example:  It is believed that blacks have lower academic progress and test scores. The truth about this is that they are compared with Anglos whose living conditions are better and not with Anglos whose living conditions are the same as theirs.  Erroneous theories about minorities behaving more violently. According to this article, ( reason-why-racism-still-exists-in-america/) many white gang member kill each other and that is never shown in the media…

 Every person is locked into both oppressed and oppressor roles.  Out in the wide world the realization that everyone in our societies has been forced into operating within both oppressor and oppressed roles is still almost unknown and enfaced. Until we understand the deeper nature of oppression our struggle to end it will be in vain. We will continue looking for "the enemy out there" and thus carry on the long sad history of desperate, bewildered human beings substituting a Czar for a Stalin, a Shah for an Ayatollah. ( pictures.com/english/racism/oppression.htm) pictures.com/english/racism/oppression.htm  The person who functions as an oppressor has always first been oppressed and then manipulated onto the other end of the oppression pattern. This is old human knowledge. For example, child abusers have usually been abused themselves as children.

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