Race continues to be influential on the United States because of physical features and skin color are used to define socioeconomic order. These characteristics are commonly used to distinguish race and create stereotypical views. These differences allow the United States to establish class and status hierarchy. Race determines which job, health care, and financial success people obtain because of the country’s socioeconomic pecking order.
Race is a valuable tool society uses to threaten or exclude one another. Grans (2008) states that, Scholars believe that color is used to decide whether strangers are to be treated as superior, inferior, or equal. Ethnicity is commonly used to establish how successful people will become in the future. Minorities tend to have less opportunities than their white counterparts because whites are on the top of the pecking order in the socioeconomic status. This leaves the darkest people at the bottom of social hierarchy to maintain social order. America is famous for intentionally using race as an indicator of both status and class, which is the reason for discrimination and unfair laws.
Also, Americans use race to enforce class positions to keep people from disrupting the order that goes on in the country. This phenomenon has sparked frequent wars because people began to revolt and stand up for themselves. Minorities have often come together to fight against injustice time and time again, however it has continuously been blocked or not allowed. An example of an unfair advantage is, “African American Professional and managerial is set lower than Asian Americans, and on-the-job harassment remains routine”(Gans, 2008, Pg#267). There are always propositions of how Whites treat African-Americans, and the reason is because of racism, yet this still does not tell us why there is extreme prejudicial views against African-Americans than any other race. “Race remains a clear marker, new variations in skin color and in other visible bodily features will be taken to indicate class position” (Gans, 2008, Pg#267). Discrimination and segregation may decline significantly in the future if the rules of competition change between the races. Skin is a very obvious way to treat someone different, and it is the number one spark of competition within job markets.
The United States is no longer a black and white society because of the growing of other races. The text states that, “In the early 2000s Americans could officially label themselves and their children as members of more than one race” (Jennifer Lee et.al. 2008, Pg#286). This is a new opportunity for American society to recognize the mixture of racial backgrounds. The growth of the multicultural population not only is the result of interracial marriage, but of people increasing their willingness to report heir multicultural backgrounds. One trend to encourage upward mobility is the increase of breaking barriers within race and interracial marriage. The growth of the multiraction population is a result both of increasing intermarriage between whites and nonwhites and of peoples increasing willingness to report their multiracial backgrounds.
An increase in diversity might imply that racial divisions are weakening. “The number of racial intermarriages in the United States grew from 150,00 in 1960 to 1.6 million in 1990” (Jennifer Lee et.al 2008). This has significantly increased over the past three decades. The current increase of trends and patterns of interracial marriage and multiracial identification illustrates that there is a remaking of race in America. The increase of blending of races and shifting in color lines indicates a strong reduction in racial prejudice. “Critics of racial labels argue that is racial and ethnic boundaries are loosening, we should abandon the use of racial categories in the census altogether and learn to get along without them in the policy maker” (Jennifer Lee et.al 2008). However, in the United States this won’t be possible because of the practice of discrimination based on physical characteristics such as skin color that continues to be persistent for African Americans. Although there are more varieties of skin color now, the fairness or darkness of someone is still an issue.
The belief is that African-Americans and other minorities have the same opportunities as their white counterparts, therefore all opportunities are equal. “If an unskilled African-American rejects such job or fails to act as differentially as immigrants, they justify white beliefs that they are less deserving than immigration of jobs” (Gans, 2008, Pg# 266). Unequal treatment is frequently justified, and it has lead to a cycle of efforts to keep African-Americans from moving up in any class or status. This not only keeps whites and blacks separated, but prevents blacks from moving toward equality within more than one community.
Daily life in a white dominated society reminds African-Americans that they will always be perceived as inferior. For generations, African-Americans have witnessed immigrants pass them in the hierarchy class. Poor minorities must compete with current immigrants for the lowest paying jobs. This creates poverty for themselves due to the competition with non-liveable wages that puts them in a deeper hole. “Popular explanations for segregation is income difference and employment” (Farley & Squires 2008, Pg#456). Race is apart of everyday lives in the United States. The relation between race and class is unmistakable. For example, our race is asked in surveys, doctors offices and when we visit government agencies. Americans tend to hear about race in the daily news, and it comes up in neighborhoods and social circles. It is a huge stigma within our society to enforce race.
Race in America determines which job, health care, and financial success minorities receive based on physical characteristics. These important inequalities constantly get overlooked. Many minorities face mental illness that is not limited to diabetes, heart disease, drug abuse, and asthma. The disparities minorities face is not having access to proper hospitals, skilled doctors, and essential medicine they need to deal with illness and disease. In addition, workplace discrimination is more focused on sexual harassment and gender discrimination than racial equality. Today, minorities face discrimination while trying to obtain jobs. They also experience it if they are hired. This later affects minorities financially, which leads to poverty. This is mainly because African-Americans have less access to stable jobs and good wages. It is the direct cause of a long history of employment discrimination and other discriminatory practices. Unfortunately, access to which job, healthcare, and financial success is widely based on race. “This is a issue for the income-poor, who have enormous day-to-day financial pressures” ( Conley, 2008, Pg#272).
In conclusion, minorities face systematic challenges in narrowing the gaps in jobs, health care, and financial successes. The gap leaves minorities in a economically vicious cycle of economic struggle. Race became a marker of class and status within the first settling of the United States. Americans of many different backgrounds say racial discrimination is a primarily factor in their daily lives. The absence of help from the government and institutional support weigh heavy on minorities in America. “The U.S is a apple pie split between poverty and welfare. There are little government help in households during financial emergencies. Minorities at some point used welfare at some point in their lives” (Rank, 2008, Pg#159). Most Americans will eventually rely on need-based government aid. That assistance often fails to save them from poverty (Rank, 2008, Pg#161). Ultimately, all of these difficulties made it difficult to narrow the gaps and perpetuate racial discrimination between whites and non-whites.
