Racism as a Reason of Black Lives Matter

Violent acts against African-American citizens in the United States had been the reason to discuss about racism, which is, according to Schaefer, the belief that one race is supreme, and all others are innately inferior. It has not been enough the effort and commitment that American society had created to achieve social equality. It is so evident that race and racism topics remain an obvious problem in this country when we think about existing movements like Black Lives Matter. By this time of a developed level of social rights, the fundamentals of the word equality are unclear.

Assassinations of African- Americans such as Philip Castile, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice to only mention a few, had turned on the alarms of social indignation and had caused anger within the American community in the past. About these murders Ex-President Obama, for example, had explicitly expressed the idea of discrimination and racism behind the United Stated criminal justice system. Prejudice obviously prevails in the American criminal system. Moreover, prejudice always leads to discrimination, which is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons (Schaefer, Sociology in Modules, p. 232). Data statistics had pointed out that African- Americans and Hispanics or Latinos are more likely than whites to be registered when police detained them. In addition, African- Americans have more probabilities than whites to receive a gunshot by the police. In the United States population, afros and Latinos represent more than a half of the population behind bars.

It is uncertain that African- Americans commit more crimes in this society. More than a half of the incarcerations in the country are for drug consumption or possession, and more than fifty percent of the imprisoned authors of these illegal acts in American society are Afros; nonetheless, African- Americans account for twelve percent of the total number of drug users. Despite drug use like marijuana between whites and afros are equal, an African- American is more vulnerable to be caught by the police for this kind of law break. Whites consume drugs five time more than African- Americans. Sadly, the afro-descendent population is incarcerated for the practice of unlawful acts more quickly than whites. In addition, gunfire by police to African- Americans doesn't appear to be in response to the suspect’s possession of weapons or violence.

Statistics show racial distinction and tell a lot about how Africans-Americans are treated compared with the rest of the population. The wrong concept of African- Americans viewed as delinquents leads to greater ratings of imprisonment. It is so hard for a person with criminal records to be accepted back into society. So many closed doors appear when ex-convicts are trying to make their normal life again having a second chance. Opportunities are restricted for a person who had been deprived of liberty, however, all these negative effects are doubled when we talk about African-Americans.

Without common sense, the American justice system clearly discriminates African- Americans as Michelle Alexander says in his book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 'we have not eliminated racial caste in the U.S, we have only redesigned it”. Mass incarceration and incongruity in the U.S system are a huge part of the issue, but the problem with racism and discrimination goes above its limits. The issue goes beyond gun shots and the racial tension that have aroused. Racism in the United States is a big concern and deserve a deep analysis. Consequently, we find structural problems such as the justice system, the war against drug and the extreme social disadvantages that African-Americans are facing in this country.

In the actual government of the United States, African-Americans have a profound inequality over the white population. For example, a Pew Institute survey points out that 63% of African- Americans considered a bad situation between races, while 46% of whites think it is in good shape. It is real that African-American had increased the number of graduates from colleges or universities, but it is still a concern in actual society that the numbers are bigger for whites. Studies had showed that for an African-American citizen it is more difficult to get a job in comparison with a white citizen. According to the Constitution and federal laws of the United States, whites and African-Americans must have the same benefits in American society, but the consequences, inertia and racism weight within the framework of an increasingly unequal society. A recent study of the Inequality of Opportunity Project concludes that afros and whites count with a huge imbalance on income that persist within the American society. The United States is known as the country of equality, freedom and opportunities, but the reality of the present time is contrary to these facts where racism and discrimination is truly latent.

Racism needs to be stopped in order to defend human rights and accept diversity in skin color, race, ethnicity, caste or origin. Although it would be extremely difficult for most governments to eradicate all traces of racism in society, governments have an obligation to do everything possible to ensure that the state does not promote or tolerate racism in any way. The Constitution and the laws must clearly prohibit all forms of discrimination, and these laws must be enforced rigorously. Racist manifestations based on prejudice or stereotype have been constantly affecting societies. Racism promotes discrimination, violence and crisis in general. The negative consequences of racism are countless for human behavior. An example of these consequences is aggression and hate.

Discrimination and racism manifested over the course of life against people of African descendants had been a violation of human rights. Historically, African descendants had suffered from this type of ignorant behavior, and they had experienced isolation and slavery. It is repugnant to think about the times of slavery where civil rights were invisible for the white domination. The rationality of the exploiters even questioned the human nature of these people. Above all, society constantly needs to combat this issue. Today, the skin color difference is still a problem that influences the way a person is treated or viewed. Undoubtedly, the skin color for better opportunities in life still matters in American society.

Summing up, we must be conscious and consistently combat racism in our society. We should respect skin color diversity and construct open societies staying away from discrimination. To construct a dream society, we need to understand racism as abuse of not only human rights, but also civil and social rights. We need a deep reflection about the supremely negative consequences of a racist taught or behavior. Positive ideas like equality, tolerance and fairness should build our society in the era of social development and technical advances. We all belong to a unique race that is human. Skin color varieties should be viewed as a gift to us making our world less boring. People should think more about inside virtues than outside biological characteristics. What really matters for humanity is our actions or way of thinking, not the appearance of skin color. It is a fact that it is hard for an entire society to totally exterminate racism and discrimination, but it could be worst to think that we have not compromised ourselves to try at least to change the minds of future generations.