Racial Tensions In America

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We live in a very ignorant society. Today, many Americans believe that racism has been completely eliminated from our society, which is quite far from the truth. In the American society, people see our country as virtuous and pure, believing that racism is an issue of the past. Because interracial marriage is legal, our former president was African-American, and we have the American dream, we are an example to the world. While American society has progressed in some areas, racism still runs wild through many different areas. Racial tensions still flare, and some wonder how far we’ve actually come from the days of slavery. These racial tensions are evident in our everyday lives and are all over the media. The big question is how can this …show more content…
In The Idea of Race, Robert Bernasconi mentions that racism is a system (Sundstrom). For example, there is a said to be an idea that African-Americans living in most urban neighborhoods have lower life expectancies. This is caused by the lack of funding and coverage that most receive from their less esteemed careers. As a result of their lower-status jobs, they are unable to receive health benefits (Sundstrom). These jobs were the only places that would hire them without having received a proper education. The education that is often found in these urban areas isn’t always the best because most of the teachers don’t want to work in these environments, and the ones that do don’t enjoy it. As a result, the government doesn’t fund them as much as they should. In the book The Outsiders, Howard Becker develops the Theory of Deviance. This theory explains that those labeled as “deviant” comes from the way in which they are perceived, and in most cases, the number one factor is race. In most cases, black males are considered to be the closest example of a “deviant” in our society, whether or not this label is justfully given. It has also been discovered that African-American teenagers are more likely to experience situations that can lead to poor, unfortunate results. These situations come from a variety of different factors like living in violent inclined neighborhoods, low academic structures, and a high level of interaction with “deviants.” Other factors that come into consideration when discussing racism is the effect of the economic collapse during the Great Depression. From this historical downfall, the sense of “scapegoating a minority” was born, and as a result it can be concluded that if someone is an African-American at birth, living in a poor, run-down, urban neighborhood can set you up for failure. Just like Bernasconi said, racism
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