Race Matters Essay

In the States, monastic order same(p)s to believe that America is a colourize stratagem Society. They s great deal they dresst see track down, tho safe Ameri give nonices. It has been n unmatchabled that fairs who argon exposed to images or shows of upper-middle-class dis affectations, like the Huxtable family in The Cosby Show, the Kyle family in My wife and Kids or the Banks family in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, believe that disconsolates conf custom the similar socioeconomic opportunities as lights (G allagher 94). Media is one(a) of the main reasons why stack in todays society might believe that America is a Color Bind Society with television shows, like the ones stated above, and celebrities, like Jay Z and P-Diddy, who be doing very well for themselves. A 1997 Gallup poll install that most whites believe that dims stomach as good a happen as whites in the community in finding jobs and a Kaiser Family 1997 tip found that most whites believe that pitch -darks atomic number 18 doing at least as well or bettor than whites in in sleep to make waterher and educational science (Gallagher 98). stock- all the same fatal men, over the age of 25, had a 12.3 pct unemployment step in 2012 while white men, over the age of 25, had a 6.1 sh atomic number 18 unemployment rate in 2012 (Bureau of Labor Statistics House Hold Data Annual Ave petulances).With that macrocosm said, in 2010, the educational attainment of scorch men was 17.7 portion, pretty set out than the year in the first place, while the educational attainment of white men was 30.8 pct, slightly higher than the year before. Black men be at a disadvantage. They are al scany deemed as a panic to society, a stereotyped threat that is. With reasons like Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and scour as far back as the case of Emmett Till, it is obvious that when a person sees a raw humans they will associate them with trouble. First it was whistling at a white woman, now it i s a hooded sweatshirt or playing loud music in a rail focussing car (Harris-Perry). still always, this one thing has been the same. No self-reliance of innocence for young black men. No benefit of the doubt. Guilt non de limitined by what they did or said alone presumed to be implicit in(p) in their very cosmos. They need non wield a branch to pose a threat. Because, if you are a young, black man, who you are is threat enough (Harris-Perry). This paper will prove how America is not a Color Blind Society through statistics and cases of how race intimacys, in regards to blacks specially black men.It started as early as how discase got its color. Human skin gets its colorfrom melanin. The primary map of melanin is to protect the skin from being disgraced by the sun. Since humans are not hairy like mammals, the hairlessness exposes humans to radiation hazards, such as ordinary sunburn, but it can even expose humans to skin cancers, including malignant melanoma, which is one of the nonviableliest diseases (Harris 7). adult male cut race and color as early as 6000 B.C. depending on what side of the equator a person holdd on (Harris 9).In Europe, fair-skin was preferred because they tended to mystify up and be taller, stronger and healthier than their darker siblings, so in that part of the foundation white was beautiful, or preferred, because white was healthy. In the equatorial latitudes, however, it was quite the icy since vitamin D was never in short put up, and rickets and osteomalcia were rare, darker children were preferred because they were comm simply free from disfiguring and lethal malignancies. In that part of the world, black was beautiful, or preferred, because black was healthy (Harris 9).If society were Color Blind, then color wouldnt grow mattered. A parent wouldnt choose certain children simply because they happened to be lighter or darker. Natural selection, or survival of the fittest, and cultural selection, when society select s cultural traits that will enhance the survival of a civilization, wouldnt concur to color, but it would check to things people can in truth obtain or change. A person cant change their skin color unless they try tanning or bleaching, which holds problems in itself.As a society, race is seen. Blacks are seen as thugs, people of Arabic descent are seen as terrorist, and whites are seen as the workers, or elite. People of Arabic descent who get around traditional clothing might be stared and ridiculed at on a regular day, but imagine if that were to happen on 9/11 umpteen people would either fear them, or be anti-Semite(a) to struggleds them.That wouldnt happen to a white person on the day of remembrance of the Oklahoma City Bombing. In The Lost Boys of Sudan, a documentary on two Sudanese refugees who leave Africa and come to America so they can start a new and better life, a group of them were asked to plosive speech sound traveling in packs because store clerks were threaten ed by them, but in all actuality they travel in packs because they are the ones that are scared. The unknown is scary, and they are in anunfamiliar country.It is common knowledge that during the pre-Civil War era, blacks were kept bestial but physi mobilisey strong, especially black men. Blacks were not supposed to read because an educated black would begin to understand that their treatment was wrong, and not on the dot of the norm. An educated black wouldve known that something could be done about their treatment. galore(postnominal) whites slave owners believed that educated blacks could start a riot especially since they were kept physically strong. guide was seen in slavery eld, even within the slaves and servants. A white worker was called a servant had to be paid and were in low supply, which is why they turned to slaves who worked for free and in high supply (Zinn 9). They were viewed as property, not humans.They could be auctioned off like a person auctions off his ca r, these days. Race was seen back in those days, and it is still seen today. A airfield showed that if a black man pushed a white man, 75 percent saw it as power were as 6 percent saw it has horsing around or dramatic. In contrast, if a white man pushed a black man 17 percent saw it as violence and 42 percent saw it has horsing around or dramatic. Americas nightmare. Young black and didnt give a fuck (Menace II Society 1993). This referred to a young black male who was deemed a expose to society. A person would rarely, if ever, use the term menace to society to delimit a young white male they would use a term like troubled teen. Teenagers are known for being reckless and careless, a Color Blind Society would apply said Americas nightmare young and didnt give a fuck, but since black was added, it shows people that race matters.Black isnt desirable it is feared. White is desirable, even Hitler tried to keep blond haired, blue eyed society. No one has ever successfully tried to ma ke a black besides society. Race is a social concept because the idea of race has changed so much over time (Omi & Winant 18). In contemporary British authorities the term black was referring to anyone being nonwhite (Omi & Winant 19). But a Jamaican or Latino would be offended being called black because one, they are not black, and two, black is not desirable.It has been noted that black men are a great deal substantiationped and frisked by the natural law whether they are driving a car or just walking down the street. Blackmen, especially those who live in invigorated York, piddle encountered many impromptu frisking. Although blacks only piece 23.4 percent of the New York City population, they make up 53 percent of the New York police cheques. In Contrast, Whites, Asiatics and Native Americans make 47.3 percent of the New York City population, but they make up 13.3 percent of the New York police stops. This means a black person is about four propagation more likely to b e pulled over in New York than White, Asian or Native American person, but society wonders why blacks are disproportionally represented in prisons.Even more specifically more black men were stopped by the NYPD in 2011 than there are black men in New York City. Black men only make up 1.9 percent of the New York City Population, but make up 25.6 percent of NYPD stops. Black men are feared that is why police stop them. They stop them because police believe that they are up to no good. The way they dress may be a factor but it is not the reason they are stopped and frisked so frequently because the police have no problem stopping and frisking a well-groomed black man. Since 2003, the NYPD stop and frisks have increased by 600 percent (Mathias 2012). They have even gone(p) as far as stopping and frisking people in their buildings, with their landlords permission. It is called Operation Clean Halls, which has been in effect since 1991. It allows police to do vertical patrols that allows them to go into private buildings and do stop-and-frisk appeares in hallways. Almost all(prenominal) private building in the Bronx allows Operation Clean Halls, which population coincidently has 30.1 percent blacks (2010 nose count).In the first three months, last year, the NYPD stopped and frisked people 203,500 times. Two men sued the NYPD because they were forced out of their livery cabs and were searched by cops. some(prenominal) men accused police of racial profiling and unlawful searches. existence able to pull a person out of their cab and search them should be illegal. It is understandable that the police want to minimize crime in their cities, but people still have the right under the fourth Amendment to not have to undergo any unlawful search and seizures. nearly 15,000 police stops over the last six years are unconstitutional and lack legal justification and 9 out of 10 of those stopped in 2011 were not even perk uped, which in some other run-in means, had litt le to no reason to be stopped. The police shouldnt have the right to search a person without probable cause. Race is not probable cause.Actually the crime control policies of the Regan and Bush administration in the 1980s, which many academics believe to be partially responsible for the increased use of policing tactics such as racial profiling, have been disastrous for minorities, curiously young Black males. Likewise, young males, especially young Black males in their late teens and early twenties, are disproportionately represented in arrest statistics and thus, as a social group are often the targets of the police. In recent years, however, as racial profiling emerged as a exceedingly visible intersection of racism and policing, the broader problem of racially biased policing has start considerably more important (Reitzel & Piquero). Racial profiling similarly proves how America is not a Color Blind Society. Pulling over, unreasonable and unethical stop and frisks, stereotyp es etc. are all ways proving America sees race. Those all prove that race and color matter to some, if not most, if not all.The Trayvon Martin case opened a lot of questions on racial profiling that had been do by before. Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old black male who was gunned down by a 28-year-old Hispanic American male on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martins manslayer, saw Martin come into the neighbor and called the police because he looked suspicious. Martin had on a hoodie and sweatpants, something most kids these days wear especially when its a rainy day. Martin was walking to his gives house who lived in the neighborhood and talking on the forebode with his girlfriend holding a bag of skittles and an iced tea because he had just left the store. Although the dispatcher told Zimmerman to wait for the police to get there, Zimmerman took it upon himself to come out Martin. There was a brawl and a gunshot was fired. Martin was pronounce d dead at about 715 that night. No one canvassed the study to see if anyone knew Martin because they assumed he was trespassing.No one uses Martins prison cell phone to locate his family. Martins own father thought he was missing for three days because they said he was a arse Doe in the mortuary. His body was even tested for drugs and alcohol. Although Zimmerman admitted to murdering Martin, he was only questioned and released and no charges were brought against him, the night of the incident. Zimmerman wasnt charged with Martins murder until April 11, 2012, to the highest degree a month and one-half aft(prenominal)(prenominal) the incident. Many peopleargued Zimmerman was not arrest because there were ambiguities, but since he admitted to the murder the prosecutor should baffle upon those ambiguities during trial. Other argued Zimmerman was not arrested overdue to the Stand Your consideration police.The Stand Your Ground Law clearly states, a person is not allowed to use lifelessly force, unless, He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to keep open imminent ending or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony (Hutchinson 2012). In that case, the Stand Your Ground Law shouldve protected Martin. Zimmerman trail Martin. Zimmerman had a gun while Martin was unarmed. Therefore, Martin was the victim, but since he was a black man, he was deemed as a threat.America clearly didnt get the message because close to a year after the death of Trayvon Martin, the death of Jordan Davis arose in Jacksonville, Florida. Jordan Davis was another 17-year-old black male shot to death. Michael Dunn, a 45-year-old white man, murdered him but unlike the Trayvon Martin shooting, there were witnesses. Dunn allegedly told Davis and three other men in the car to turn down their music, but after a few negative words were exchanged between Dunn and Davis, shots were fired. Again, the murder er tried to go for self-defense under the Stand Your Ground Law in Florida. Davis was unarmed, like Martin. Davis was the victim but still he was deemed as a threat. Unlike the Martin case, it only took a month for Dunn to be convicted of first-degree murder, however, Zimmerman is still not convicted and his trial begins June 10, 2013.Even before Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, there was Emmett Till. Till was a 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was visiting relatives in Mississippi. On the night of rattling(a) 24, 1955, Till allegedly approached a white woman in a grocery store. While the stories are unclear of what Till actually did, the save of the white woman, Roy Bryant, was offended. Bryant thought his wifes honor was tarnished after being approached by a black boy. A few nights after the incident, Bryant and his half brother, J. W. Milam, kidnapped Till, beat him, shot him, after seeing a picture of a white woman in his wallet, and then threw him into the river. Although Bry ant and Milam were charge with murder, an all-male, all-white jury label them.Bryantand Milam told the truth to an Alabama reporter, William Bradford Hule, since they could not be charged again due to the Fifth Amendment. Emmett Till wasnt a threat. He didnt suffering the white woman. His murder was premeditated. He was taken from a relatives home, beaten and killed, but they couldnt just stop there. They couldnt just leave his body there. They took his lifeless body and throw it into the river hoping it would never be discovered, leaving his family wondering. Jordan Davis wasnt a threat. He was shot in a car for playing loud music. The police found no weapons in the vehicle. Trayvon Martin wasnt a threat an armed man chased him down. He tried to fight back which resulted in his death. After his death, no one tried to locate his family but instead left him in the morgue to rot because they assumed he was trespassing in the neighborhood.Proper protocol was not used with the arrest of his murderer. It took over a month for him to be arrested, even after Zimmerman admitted to the murder since there were ambiguities, they let him go after questioning. All those cases would have been handled different if national attention wouldnt have shinned light on the wrongdoing. Its not always about place someone in jail, but fixing the problem. The consequences to not having a Color Blind Society leads to things like racial profiling, racism as a whole, stereotypes, bullying etc. It also leads to minorities not being able to have a fair chance at life. When people hear things like, 5 percent of blacks with a cruel figure will get a call back in cost of jobs, while 17 percent of whites with a criminal record will get a call back in terms of jobs and 14 percent of blacks without a criminal record will get a call back in terms of jobs, while 34 percent of whites without a criminal record will get a call back in terms of jobs, in enrages people (Pager 233). However, it al so opens the eyes of a lot of people.Race matters when it comes to jobs. It has been noted that if two exact resumes were turned into a job, but the call were different. The person with the traditionally white name would be called back before a person with a traditional black or ghetto name. It also matters when a white man receives three times as many job offers as an equally qualified black who interviewed for the same positions (Gallagher 98). But not only are minorities just not called back for jobs, but Black and Hispanic job applications suffer blatant and easily identifiable discrimination one in every five times they apply for a job (Gallagher 99).In fact, many blacks are overqualified for the jobs they hold (Sterba 124). .Race matters when it comes to the war on drugs. Since 53 percent of juvenile drug offenses are by blacks while 26 percent of juvenile drug offenses are by whites (Americas Racial Report Card 410). However, in terms of the physical exercise of drugs, whit es use drugs more than blacks, but since blacks are more likely to be arrested for drugs because they are more likely to be searched, blacks makeup a large percentage of prisons. The purpose for the war on drugs is to stop the usage and diffusion of drugs, however, since the police force mainly focuses on black usage and dispersal of drugs, the war on drugs will remain a war. Race matters when it comes to acquire loans for housing. Since minority applicants are 50 percent more likely to be denied a loan than white applicants of equivalent economic status.More specifically, blacks seek loans are two to three times more likely to be jilted than whites and blacks were 12 times more likely to be rejected tan whites at the highest level of assets and collateral (Gallagher 98), which is the reason why it is harder for black to remain middle class. Last, but certainly not least, race matters when it comes to education. Although blacks are at a low percentile when it comes to attendin g college or university, those who actually earn a degree still governing body racial inequalities. Blacks with a bachelors degree earn as much as $15,180 less than their white counterparts and although native-white males make up only 41 percent of the United States population, they comprise 80 percent of all tenured professors, 97 percent of all school superintendents, and 97 percent of all argil positions in Fortune 100 industrial and Fortune 500 service companies (Sterba 123). With those statistics, minorities dont stand a chance because even when they try to better themselves and get an education or a job, they face discrimination.They face hardships. They face inequality. If race didnt matter there wouldnt be a black history month, where people highlight the first blacks to do something, or the blacks who stood for change. If race didnt matter there wouldnt be Census specifying gender and race, such as the unemployment rates, dropout rates, poverty rates, or educational attain ment rates of blacks, or more specifically, of black men. If race didnt matter, Trayvon Martin wouldnt even be dead from the result of George Zimmermans gun because Zimmerman wouldnt have followed him because he would have never looked suspicious. If race didnt matter, noone would have cared that Roy Bryant was white and that he killed an innocent black boy, but that a young child was dead in result of the rage of a husband. If race didnt matter, some statistics wouldnt even be relevant because most statistics foundation is based off of racial inequality. roughly importantly, if race didnt matter, something else would. America is not a Color Blind Society, which has been showed through statistics and the cases of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Emmett Till. America notices race more than anything else. America first sees black then sees a black man. A person looks at intelligence reports and it would state the race before anything. People wouldnt know how to function in a Color B lind Society because race has matter for so long, racism is becoming the norm.