The Cost Of Color : Skin Color, Discrimination, And Health Among African Americans

886 Words2 Pages

Today a large amount of races are stereotyped, yet African Americans are one of the largest common racial groups stereotyped against. Ever since slavery, the opposing stereotypes of African Americans have been around. The stereotypes served a strong purpose and have come to affect the everyday lives of this individual group and their mental and health conditions. In the journal article “ The Cost of Color: Skin Color, Discrimination, and Health among African-Americans” by Ellis P. Monk, Jr, the negative image of dark skinned African Americans has led to a higher number of health issues and social disadvantages in our society.
The topics of race and discrimination in the journal article show disturbing data of African Americans who are more likely to have physical and mental health issues. The constant exposure to racism that African Americans face leads to serious health issues such as hypertension, depression, and feelings of unworthiness. In Du Bois’s article “Du Bois stressed the role of socioeconomic inequality, such as unit housing, unsanitary living conditions, and poor food quality”. (Monk 397) It seems as if African Americans are going through these socioeconomic inequalities because of race and how they less fortunate because of societal views. Going back to the history of slavery, light skinned blacks were favored more than darker skinned field slaves. Usually, light skinned blacks received less discrimination than darker blacks. Even the idea of socioeconomic inequality is similar to the way light skinned blacks were treated better by white minorities, when it came to buying property from real estate. It seems as if physical appearance is a crucial element for determining factors about people.
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Skin tone plays a great factor in shaping the health of African Americans. The way that society views African Americans can make them feel suppressed and vulnerable. We must look beyond race and see people for who they are. The Unites States of America is an example of the "melting pot”, inhabited from people all over the world. This melting pot has not been exactly special after it has caused diverse conflicts. There have been consistent conflicts among people of different social class, race or sex. This negative behavior reflects as discrimination. Discrimination that is affecting the well-being and lives of African Americans. To lessen the discrimination and separation of people, we must come to look at skin tone as people who are all equally the same.

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