What is Reverse Racism? Does it exist today? When people refer to the term “reverse” racism it is defined as prejudice or discrimination directed against a member of a dominant or privileged racial group according to the Oxford Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary also states that racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. While some may argue that reverse racism still exists today, others might consider otherwise. Anybody can be racist regardless of the color of your skin, you can even be racist within those of your own race. Reverse racism does not exist because it supports the idea that "normal" racism always has a dominant group normally referred to as Caucasians as the perpetrator and any other race as the victim which is incorrect.
According to an article written by Zebla Blay from the Huffington post, “The reverse racism card is often pulled by white people when people of color call out racism and discrimination, or create spaces for themselves that white people aren’t a part of. The impulse behind the reverse racism argument seems to
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be a desire to prove that people of color don’t have it that bad, they’re not the only ones that are put at a disadvantage or targeted because of their race.” Studies from the journal perspectives of Psychological Science stated that, Whites believed that discrimination against them had increased from an average of 1.8 in the 1950s to 4.7 in the 2000s. This idea can be very damaging towards our society because, whites so called claim they are being taken advantage of and are being treated racially unfair.
However this is unlikely the case because, an example of this issue is racial inequality in the criminal justice system. In American prisons, there is a disproportionate number of blacks in prison systems versus whites. They are put in these jails because of petty crimes such as shoplifting, public disturbance, etc, due to their socioeconomic status, and not having the means to receive proper council such as lawyer versus their white counterpart. As of today, every 1 in 15 African American men are arrested than every 1 in 106 white men. African Americans make up a good majority of U.S
prisons. Another example of why I do not believe reverse racism exists is because of very huge issue known as police brutality involving police to be extremely harsh with those who are black when making an arrest. It's not likely to see a white person being assaulted by an officer for something so little, or even killed for a misunderstanding. Whites claim they are being taken advantage of but are never but in a situation where their lives are at risk with the people who are suppose to be protecting us and keeping us safe. Some might believe that reverse racism does exist, though not to the extent of white on black racism. While others oppose that, ‘white people all over the world and throughout history have experienced atrocities like slavery and persecution. But in the very specific context of American history, white people have not been enslaved, colonized, or forced to segregate on the scale that black people have. They do not face housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, or incarceration at the level that black people do.”
Racism, a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one 's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. Racism was one of John Howard Griffin, the writer of a very well known inequality book of Black Like Me, main topics for his writings. Being born and raised in the city of Dallas, Texas with his siblings and parents he saw much racism as a young child, but he never really noticed it until he left for Europe when he was fifteen. To broaden his education and continue his studies, he moved to France at a young age. Soon after living in France and Europe,
criminal justice system. If the current trends persist, one out of every three African American men can expect to go to prison over the course of his life, as can one out of every six Latino males, compared to only one in seventeen white males (Bonczar 2003). For females, the figures are significantly lower, but racial and ethnic disparities are very similar. For instance, one out of every eighteen African American females can expect to go to prison, as can one out of every 45 Latino females, and one out of every one-hundred and eleven white females (Bonczar 2003). The racial disparities in imprisonment have been felt the most by young African American males (Western and Pettit 2010). Males are a significant majority of the prison and jail populations, accounting for around ninety percent of the population (Western and Pettit 2010). Racial disparities in incarceration are astounding when one counts the men who have been incarcerated in their lifetime rather than those serving time on any given day (Western and Pettit 2002). For instance, in 1989, approximately two percent of white men in their early thirties had been in prison compared to thirteen percent of African American men in their early thirties (Western and Pettit 2002). These extreme racial disparities disproportionately affect communities of color and have significant collateral effects such as family stress and dissolution,
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
Next, Institutional or systemic racism refers to the laws, policies, practices, rules and procedures that operate within organisations, societal structures and the broader community to the advantage of the dominant group or groups and to the detriment and disadvantage of other groups. Institutional racism may be intentional or unintentional. Jim Crowe is a great example of institutional racism. Jim Crow laws were the name of the racist caste system put in place to segregate African Americans, Hispanics and any ethnic minority. Theses laws made it so non whites could not integrate with minorities. These laws applied to hospitals, buses, toilets and drinking fountains and restaurants. For example Buses: All passenger stations in this state operated
Much progress has and is currently being made over history for the laws concerning the equal treatment, but this civil rights crisis seems like the criminal system does not follow its own laws. There are more African American males arrested and incarcerated than Hispanic or White males. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2010, the Black male imprisonment rate was 3,074 per 1000,000 U.S. Black males in total. They are incarcerated at seven times higher than Whites (The Sentencing
Let’s begin with racism, which dates back to as far as humans can remember. “It may be defined as the hatred of one person by another -- or the belief that another person is less than human -- because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes” One of the most known acts of racism was the enslavement of Africans in the new world. This racism was a result of the racist belief that black Africans were less human than white Europeans.
Racial disparity in the correctional population refers to the difference in the number of minorities versus whites represented inside institutions. “The American Correctional Association acknowledges that racial disparity exists within adult and juvenile detention and correctional systems. This contributes to the perception of unfairness and injustice in the justice system ("ACA Policies and," 2004).” “Blacks comprise 13% of the national population, but 30% of people arrested, 41% of people in jail, and 49% of those in prison. Nationwide, blacks are incarcerated at 8.2 times the rate of whites (Human Rights Watch, 2000).” This difference in proportionality does not necessarily involve direct discrimination; it can be explained by a number of combined factors.
Individual Racism- the belief that one’s own race is superior to another (racial prejudice) and behavior that suppresses members of the so called inferior race (racial discrimination). An example of individual racism in the scenario is Ms. Welch's description of how Native Indian children were taken from their communities and placed in schools away from their families. This was done in with the belief by the White European culture was superior and the desire to drive out the Native Indian traditions in future generations.
2010, “Racial Disparities in Sentencing: Implications for the Criminal Justice System and the African American Community”, African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies 4(1): 1-31, in this Albonetti’s study is discussed in which it was found that minority status alone accounted for an additional sentence length of “one to seven months.” African American defendants were “likely to receive pretrial release but were more likely to be convicted, and be given harsher sentences after conviction than white defendants charged with the same crimes.” One of the reasons behind this are the sentencing laws, it is seen that these laws are designed in a way that they tend to be harsher towards a certain group of people, generally towards the people of color than others thus leading to inequality with the sentencing
Even though racism has always been a problem since the beginning of time, recently in the United States, there has been a rise in discrimination and violence has been directed towards the African American minority primarily from those in the white majority who believe they are more superior, especially in our criminal justice system. There are many different reasons for the ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system between the majority and the minority, but some key reasons are differential involvement, individual racism, and institutional racism to why racial disparities exist in
Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system.
These statistics demonstrate that racialized mass incarceration exists in the U.S. There are a few reasons why African Americans are discriminated against by the legal system. The primary cause is inequitable protection by the law and unequal enforcement of it. Unequal protection is when the legal system offers less protection to African Americans that are victimized by whites. It is unequal enforcement because discriminatory treatment of African Americans that are labeled as criminal suspects is more accepted.
Racism is the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, place of origin, or ancestry. The term racism may also denote a blind and unreasoning hatred, envy, or prejudice (Dimensions of Racism). Racism has had a strong effect on society. Despite the many efforts made to alleviate racism, what is the future of African Americans' Racism's long history, important leaders, current status, and future outlook will be the main factors in determining how to combat racism. Racism is still present in many societies, although many people are doing their best to put an end to racism and its somewhat tragic ordeals.
Other than that, what brings racism into our nation is because of the classes of society, which draw in us into honing racial separation. Racial segregation is the point at which a man is dealt with less positively than someone else in a comparable circumstance on account of their race, shading, plummet, national or ethnic inception or migrant status. This had totally changed the world in creating division, such as the terms of “black white” or “wealthy poor”. Racist behaviour may be direct (overt) or indirect (covert) in particular. Direct racial discrimination is the unfair or unequal treatment of a person or a group on racial grounds. An example would be an employer who won't hire someone on the basis of their cultural or linguistic background.
This means that if you do not act a certain way a White person does, you do not fit in the societal norms. On the other hand, some people believe in reverse racism, acting racist towards the dominant group. An example of a saying is, “People of Color are just as racist as we are. In fact, now there is reverse racism and White people can’t get into college or good grades” (126). This perspective shows that the person of color is the blame for why white people can not get into college because diversity is needed. However, a person of color does not get into college or good grades because of their color, but because of their determination and persistence to do well in school. Reverse racism is not true because there is no institutional power within it. White supremacy is evident because of the way society portrays a White person in comparison to a Black person. An example is the Eric Garner case. Eric Garner, an African American man, was selling illegal cigarettes in the streets of New York when Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold while Garner desperately screamed “I can’t breathe” eleven times. Officer Daniel Pantaleo did not face any charges from killing a human being because he is white. This shows the corrupt society we live in because of a human being’s color, they are granted a higher privilege. If a Black man killed a White man for the same