Racial Discrimination in the United States Essay Example

As recent protests broke out this past summer, making our country rethink and evaluate all things that come to race, but one question has remained. Should there be new or strengthened legislation to address racial discrimination? I believe there should be new or strengthened legislation. Racial discrimination has been shown heavily in America and new legislation should be put in place to address and to prevent it. The current legislation that is in place is doing an inadequate job of preventing racial discrimination, as people of color do not have equal opportunities to get jobs, houses, and an adequate education.  

As we reflect on all the things that have taken place in this country, we can see that racial discrimination is almost like the center piece of American history. “From the earliest European incursion to the present, discriminatory practices and ideologies have informed state and institutional structures and have framed national popular consciousness and culture as well as social, economic, and political discourse. (Mankiller)” This shows that discriminatory practices are still upheld to such a high standard almost higher than before the legislations were put in place showing that the legislation is not doing anything.  

People of color have a challenging time excelling in a society that is set up against them. The continuous discrimination causes them an inequal chance at a proper education. Racial discrimination shown in schooling dates all the way back to segregation. People of color had a worse education experience than white students because of the intentional lack of funding and supplies put into black schools. This happened over sixty years ago is the same thing that is happening right now. “In many cases, this was an intentional result of the design of school district and neighborhood school assignment boundaries. Since 2000, for example, 128 communities in states from Maine to Utah have attempted to secede from larger school districts. (Chatterji)” There is more funding going into whiter school that schools that have people of color. This inequality cause people of color a fair and equal education. 

Other than education, people of color have a tough time finding and keeping a house. “black homeowners, who purchased homes with rate terms and conditions less favorable than those offered to white homeowners and experienced higher foreclosure rates. Many have still not recovered financially. Systemic racism created a society in which white households have 10 times the wealth of black households. (Wahington Post)” While homeownership is the most powerful tool in wealth building and if black homeowners cannot keep a home how can they excel and build wealth in this country. This is a prime example that people of color are meant to be oppressed under and never be equal. 

If people of color cannot build wealth and accumulate money through homeownership their next choice would be to get a job. But because of racial discrimination that is another hurdle that people of color have to jump over. “They continue to face systematically higher unemployment rates, fewer job opportunities, lower pay, poorer benefits, and greater job instability. These persistent differences reflect systematic barriers to quality jobs, such as outright discrimination against African American workers, as well as occupational segregation—whereby African American workers often end up in lower-paid jobs than whites. (Weller)” People of color don’t even have less access to jobs. Since people of color have such a challenging time accessing and getting a job, they have higher unemployment rates and the wealth gap between widens every day.  

Some people may feel that new or strengthened legislation is unnecessary. “Anti-discrimination laws do not seem to reduce hiring discrimination and may even increase it.(Valfort)”  However, it does not acknowledge if there is new or strengthened legislation people will be held higher and more accountable to carry out the law.  

In conclusion, new or strengthened legislation is crucial in moving forward in this country and not backwards.