A Report on Racial Inequality

This should perhaps be prefaced by a very obvious though sometimes understated recital of fact: racial equality or lack there of is not simply a matter of black and white. In fact, recent political rhetoric has brought to national spotlight many other prejudices that seem to be increasingly prominent aspects of the darker side of American culture. In particular, people of Mexican or Middle Eastern heritage been increasingly addressed in a way that should be universally regarded as appalling. All that said, it would be very difficult to have a discussion about racial inequality in America without addressing the great disparity between how the black and white communities experience life. Today we will take a look at all of these aspects of inequality in our culture.

What Do We Mean By Inequality

Racial inequality is not necessarily the same thing as racism, though the two do often go hand in hand. Perhaps it would be fair to say that racism is defined by a prejudice towards a group of people based on their race or ethnicity, and racial inequality is the result of that prejudice. For example, while it would be hard to point towards the racism of any one individual to account for the disparity between wealth in white families, and wealth in black families, it is nevertheless certainly an example of racial inequality. The fact that on average black people have less money than white people is very plainly a result of lack of opportunity. After all, we know quite plainly that while western culture (particularly the United States) values the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps narrative”, it is ultimately usually generational wealth that wins the day.

The racial inequality, in this case, is a result of the fact that African Americans started as slaves in this country, then suffered through Jim Crowe laws, and other circumstance that contributed to a difficulty in establishing a foothold in prosperous circumstance.It is important to note that situations of racial inequality do not necessarily pertain to every member of a given race. For example, not all African Americans struggle economically, and not all Caucasians prosper financially. In fact, there are countless examples of each case where the exact opposite is true. When people refer to racial inequality, they are talking about patterns that all to often manifest themselves in our society.

Who To Blame

Sometimes, it is very easy to identify when someone is propagating racial inequality. When someone with a large platform declares that all of a certain group of people are criminals, that is without question contributing to a problem of racial inequality in our country. These obvious incidents of racial inequality, while appalling, are also in some ways easier to mitigate. It is relatively simple to counter the notion that a single group of people is responsible for all the problems in a country. While certain groups of people will probably believe the lie, said people may already be predisposed to such opinions anyway. As a whole, facts do have power over blatant racism, even when said power is not as fast acting as a society needs it to be.Historical racial inequality is much more difficult to counteract. To follow up on the example illustrated in the previous section, it isn’t terribly difficult to acknowledge that the African American community has not historically enjoyed the same amount of opportunities as other communities in the United States. It is quite another thing to know what to do about it. In the case of systemic racism (as it were) it is not so easy knowing who to point the finger at, and even when you do know who to blame, they are usually long gone. So, what can be done about it then?

What Can Be Done About Racial Inequality

Unfortunately, no one knows exactly what to do about racial inequality. If they did, one would at least hope that we have progressed more by this point. Now that said, it is also worth mentioning that progress has been made. Slavery is over, schools are no longer segregated, and the general attitude of the nation has generally improved. But how do you reverse something that is the product of history? While there is no exact answer to that question, awareness is definitely a good first step. To acknowledge as a nation that bad things that have happened in our history are still affecting our present could potentially go a long way towards producing new opportunities. Of course, that will not ultimately be enough. Proactive initiatives that provide jobs and education opportunities to otherwise underprivileged or under represented segments of the population are key to minimizing the effects of racial inequality in our nation. While for some people these types of initiatives are viewed unfavorably by some people, I would argue that they should not be regarded as handouts. Creating opportunity for those that have been historically denied it is not charity it is equity, and it is perhaps the most definite away to ensure progress moving forward. These initiatives can be accomplished by individuals making a point of giving qualified minority job candidates an opportunity for employment, and it can also be achieved on a larger scale through grants scholarships, and other sweeping efforts. Just as no one thing creates racial inequality, no one thing can fix it either, but consistent and comprehensive effort is certainly key to the continuation of progress.

Conclusion

Racial equality will not be comprehensively achieved in matter of days, months, or even years. It is a cultural cancer that has been festering for centuries and with that being the case one can only rightly expect that it might be similarly strenuous to correct the problems of our past and present. While an individual cannot rewrite history, or even change the way that some people think in the present, they can start actively doing their part to make things a little bit better for those that need it. Undoubtedly, these efforts will not be quick, nor will they be easy. The process takes time but is ultimately worth every effort.

Works Cited

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2. Anderson, C. J. (2010). The End of the Black White Paradigm? Black-White Multiracial Americans in Contemporary Politics. University of California Press.
3. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
4. DiAngelo, R. (2018). White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Beacon Press.
5. Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk. Oxford University Press.
6. Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to Be an Antiracist. One World.
7. Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2014). Racial Formation in the United States. Routledge.
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9. Smith, R. A. (2015). Race, Class, and Power: Intersectionality and the Politics of Exclusion. Princeton University Press.
10. Tatum, B. D. (2017). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race. Basic Books.