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Research Paper: Racism in The United States

Bethan M Hayward
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract

Racism and discrimination have a bigger impact of peoples lives that it is made known in
respects to equality in the United States. Due to being part of the University of Texas at El Paso
tennis team, I am in a prime position to understand how different races are treated with the
diverse groups of girls. There are different types of racism, the most well know being personal
racism, however, people are uneducated with the repercussions of institutional racism in regards
to education and job opportunities. I extended my study to the history of racism along with
current society dilemmas of money related issues including jobs and education. Over the last 150
years improvements in this area have been made however not as much as people would have
liked. Awareness needs to be raised due to the lack of acceptable behaviors performed in the 21st
Century. This problem is not easy to resolve, however, improvements can be made if the
American population are educated with whats happening.

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Introduction

The terms racism and racial discrimination are thrown around loosely in relation to
this somewhat thrown under the cover problem that has occurred for many years.
Discrimination and racism share many similarities, hence why they will both be discussed in
depth. However, the direction that is being focused on is using discrimination as a sub category
to racism. Many people perceive the term racism being a view or set of beliefs about the
inequality of races, in which some are considered inferior to others (Gracia 2010) which in
many ways is true, nevertheless, there are multiple interpretations of such a controversial issue.
For others believe as Ive previously stated, focus[ing] on actions that affect adversely, or
discriminate against, those toward whom they are directed (Gracia 2010), the key word being
discriminate which supports the idea of sub categorizing the ideology of discrimination. It is
unapparent, however, as to why Americans still hold some of these views on different racial
groups. It does go way back to the nineteenth century at a point where racism was at its highest,
even though it has decreased over the years it is still occurring in the present day whether people
choose to believe it or not. A main focus is based around personal racism, but this isnt where
racism stops, circumstances like institutional racism which affects education and job
opportunities. Personal racism can be followed to the point of verbal or physical sufferings,
however, institutional racism falls under the category of discrimination as it produces inequalities
among different racial groups.

This problem of discrimination was selected as I feel a lot of people can relate to this
community problem. Considering UTEP is based on the border of Mexico there is a higher
chance of discrimination based on ethnicity or the fact that I play for the UTEP tennis team with

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an extremely diverse group of girls from all over the world, again this puts us in the position of
being discriminated against. Ive always found it interesting in a way as to why people treat
others according to their appearance per say, for example, in respects to race, why is a man of
color any different to a white man? Hence why Ive decided to write this paper in the exploration
into the reasoning behind this phenomenon. Years have passed since events such as slave labor
have been demolished, however, discrimination is something, which cannot be understood to the
naked eye. Some people dont realize they are discriminating against others surrounding them
due to the lack of awareness of their behaviors.
History of Racism
At the end of the nineteenth century after the Civil War had finished the United States had
been declared as a new nation and for the first time wholly free (Foner, 2014), the fact that we
are talking around only 150 years ago is astonishing. Going from extreme slave labor to the idea
of African-Americans being allowed to be free should leave many speechless. At the time
freedom meant escaping the numerous injustices of slavery[physical] punishment, separation
of families, denial to education [and] sexual exploitation to woman (Foner, 2014). This was all
because African-Americans had a different color skin pigmentation, therefore, it being truly
shocking as to what they had to endure. African-Americans were speaking out however, one-man
Henry Adams stated If I cannot do like a white manI am not free which supports the idea
that true freedom was based upon the equality of opportunities and rights with American citizens.
In 1866 gradually there was recognition into making a change with the development of the
Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery (Foner, 2014), however, this did not mean that
discrimination of African-Americans had been reduced by any means. For African-Americans
were unable to vote still, this still had not been recognized until later in the year of 1866 when

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the Fifteenth Amendment was passed. To refer back to a previous statement of discrimination
being a sub category of racism, American History in itself supports this idea due to the countless
mentions of discrimination in relation to racism. Especially, with the different laws that were
placed to in effect try to prevent such discriminating events. After a brief description of some
American History it provides a foundation for the comparison of present day dilemmas.

Today Money Related Issues

With the slow improvements in the last 150 years African-Americans have found
themselves in a position to build a life how ever they please, to an extent. For after graduating
from college [African-Americans] are twice as likely as whites to struggle to find jobs (US
News, 2015), this figure really saying it all. As well as an even more discouraging scenario of
people with black-sounding name ha[ving] to send out 50 percent more applications [in
comparison to] white-sounding names (US News, 2015). These are two individual statements
which in itself outline how racial discrimination is still alive in the twenty-first century. The
problem does not end there however, as one someone is lucky enough to obtain a job, the pay
rates do not add up. The case being for every $10,000 increase in pay, [African-Americans]
are7 percent [less likely to hold the job] (US News, 2015). Back 150 years ago AfricanAmerican jobs were focused on agriculture and farming with very little pay, all thats come about
these years is a tease if anything. Now African-Americans are allowed jobs but will struggle to
maintain there standing and status in the workforce, with not many people aware with what is
happening.

Today Education

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Racial discrimination does not just apply to those who are at the working age, the same
applies for children as young as 3 years old. A child who has only been on this earth for 3 years
is already suffering from the consequences of having different color skin. For it is the case for
infant children, regarding African-American race, having an increasingly higher chance to be
suspended in comparison to white children (US News, 2015). This discussion is based upon
preschoolers, children who would have no idea what is going on, they would not have developed
mentally enough, so how is this fair? Statistics can be thrown around a lot, however, these
numbers are fact, real life proof of racial discrimination even at the most innocent age. A lot of
children attend pre-school with African-Americans mak[ing] up 18 percent of the pre-school
population, but represent almost half of all out-of-school suspensions (US News, 2015). This is
only the beginning, as for continuing a childs education once you get past pre-school, AfricanAmericans are three times more likely to be suspended than white children (US News, 2015).
Suspension isnt necessarily the main punishment, for African-American students account for
40 percent of expulsions (US News) as well as students even being referred to the police being
of Hispanic or African-American heritage.
Without trying to heavily focus on the African-American community, there are multiple
circumstances where other races are also undergoing the reprimands of racial discrimination. For
instance, a young man called Michael Wang, with an outstanding list of achievements including,
earning the highest possible ACT score of 36, struggled heavily when wanting to apply for
college. After writing to the various Ivy-League colleges trying to obtain an answer as to why he
did not get in, no replies gave him an answer he needed (Economist, 2015). Further into this
article it discusses not only the historical background of the Asian-American population but
attributing how much more is needed from Asian-American students to get a place at a private

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university. Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Walton

Radford of Princeton examined data on admissions which
produced results of Asian-Americans needed 140 out of
1,600 more SAT points than white students for this precise
reason (Economist, 2015). For example, as shown in the
corresponding graph how all the Ivy-League institutions
acceptance rate is a lot lower than a regular private
university, Caltech.

White Privilege
Why not take a look at racism at a different

Figure 1. University Acceptance. This figure illustrates

undergraduate enrollment in Ivy-League colleges in
comparison to Independent Private College in California.

angle, instead focusing on something called white

privilege. White privilege is something which isnt necessarily formed or done with any motive
in mind, it is however, a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates society (Holladay,
2000). There are many perks and advantages that white people gain, however, people of a
different race do not benefit from. Things as simple as, when at school needing a band-aid,
typically it would match your skin tone or needing to buy pantyhose, the nude color appears
nude (Holladay, 2000). People who have white skin do not struggle with these small things,
however, nor would they have noticed that these would be perk. The main struggles for people of
a different race is dealing with Store security personnel or law enforcement officers do not
harass me, pull me over or follow me because of my race. (Holladay, 2000) Yet, if a white
person were put in this situation it would be interpreted as an insult, because this is not the kind
of treatment they are used to.

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In 2015 a Youtuber, JoeySalads, performed a very basis social experiment in relation to

people being treated differently according to their different color skin, this is just to show a small
white advantage/ racial discrimination example. A white man and an African-American man,
were both put in the situation of asking to borrow a phone. Unfortunately, on both occasions the
white man was successful and the African-American man was turned down. The way people
responded to an innocent request to borrow their phone, differed due to skin color, which proves
racism still exists in today society.
Conclusion
This topic is sensitive to say the least, however, there is definitely room for further
investigation as it is so broad. Even though years have passed since events such as slave labor
have been demolished, discrimination is something which is still occurring in the present day.
Some people dont realize they are discriminating against others surrounding them due to the
lack of awareness of their behaviors. It seems through my research that people are in denial of
the fact discrimination still exists, as of course things have improved but a difference still needs
to be made. Education of this issue is key and the increase of awareness is the next step forward,
but is that a step that people are willing to take?

References

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Economist. (2015). The model minority is losing patience. Retrieved March 20, 2016, from
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21669595-asian-americans-are-united-statesmost-successful-minority-they-are-complaining-ever

Foner, E. (2014). Give me liberty!: An American history Chapter 17 (4th ed., Vol. 2). New York:
W.W. Norton.

Gracia, J. J. E.. (2010). Racism: Negative and Positive?. The Monist, 93(2), 208227. Retrieved
from http://0-www.jstor.org.lib.utep.edu/stable/41418989

Holladay, J. R. (2000). On Racism and White Privilege. Retrieved March 24, 2016, from
http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege

J. (2015). Racism, Black vs White (Social Experiment). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPjF4_yKRMw

Nesbit, J. (2015, May 6). Institutional Racism Is Our Way Of Life. US News Retrieved March
20, 2016, from http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2015/05/06/institutionalracism-is-our-way-of-life

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