THE IMPACT OF RACISM IN THE UNITED STATES

Liliana C. Duran

Intercultural Communication Dr. Martin Clark February 26, 2014

THE IMPACT OF RACISM IN THE UNITED STATES

Talking about racism in The United States nowadays is no only talking about AfroAmerican discrimination; with such an extended cultural framework we know this term has expanded and affected so many other cultures that now reside in the United States, any culturally different person or group migrating from their original country to the U.S. has also been at some point a victim of racism. These people that has been part of discrimination because of their race has suffered the consequences of the White Americas ambition of power and superiority complex which has been reflected not only in the way they relate to each other but also their human rights, privileges and various other aspects of their lives, that could be: education, jobs, media, literacy, citizen, criminal procedures, etc. In the United States, we can say that one of the historical concepts that, probably didnt initiate, but definitely influenced todays (and past years) levels of racism is slavery. Slavery, as described by Winthrop Jordan, is the complete and perpetual loss of freedom: the slave is in greatest subjectionservitude or bondage to an other, even against nature. All because of a humans origins and skin color. (Winthrop D. Jordan: The White Mans Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States of America). Even when the slave trade was internationally prohibited in 1808, and the term slavery was abolished in 1865 in the United States, the way African-Americans were seen didnt automatically change for many and the consequences of such inhuman event are still evident in our times. For years, White Americans were taught to see colored people in a very different way than the rest of them; generations of Americans were raised with the idea of having more privileges for the merely fact of being born with a particular skin color, and that those who were different have to deal with that.

That concept has changed with the course of history but it will take years before it completely disappears (if it ever does), we can still hear and see some peoples reaction when they are forced to relate with others that are different than them and how some White Americans, especially elder Americans, still see Afro-Americans as a threat or my consider offensive to call them humans or equals. According to Mary Berry, the illusions of a new era that came after slavery abolition in the United States presented lots of positivism and progress towards the American Dream for everybody, but racial repression and discrimination was still evident until the 1960s with the black liberation movement. Therefore, over those years without a law that indicated Afro-Americans had same rights and privileges as White Americans, racial discrimination and segregation was present until Afro- Americans earn their own rights and one of the results of all those years is the resentment that comes from it. (Mary France Berry: Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America). Even though African-Americans are consider a minority, there are some particular places where they are a majority and if not, most of them relay on each other and make their own subcultural groups where they can easily relate. When this happens, some may have their own way to discriminate White Americans, which again can be due to historical resentment, personal life experiences, cultural upbringing, family members or other friends experiences, etc. Of course, it will be incorrect and a big mistake to apply this theory to every single AfricanAmerican or White American living in the United States, but we can still recognize those issues in our everyday experiences. We also need to take in consideration how economy negatively affected Afro-Americans, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Depression affected every American, but African-Americans took the worst part of it; sources show that they experienced a 50% rate of unemployment versus the 30% White Americans experienced, also their wages were 30% below White Americans, and their wages were already bad enough to barely subsist!

Perhaps one of the reasons that enhanced these situations is that they didnt get any help from the government either; even when the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) law that was passed in 1933 was meant to be nondiscriminatory and to avoid a big range in wages within black and white workers, African-Americans were rarely hired by public employers, no other entity or organization offered any type of help to them, for that they tried to organize themselves but when they did, they became the perfect target for lynch, and those rare occasions in which African-Americans were employed, were only to perform really dangerous jobs that White Americans didnt want to take. Racism will become a determined key for the next few decades in regards their economy, leaving behind extreme poverty for many members of this culture and for the rest a marked wage difference compared to White Americans until years later, with the U.S. Civil Racism Movement, in which African-Americans were given opportunities to improve their economic status and life quality by promoting equality and gaining privileges that, before then, were only consider white privileges. But as I mentioned at the beginning, racism goes beyond than only black discrimination and segregation, it is true that it plays decisive role in the United States development of racism, but it is not what US racism is all about. Alber Memmi maintains that finding a particular definition for the word Racism that everyone will accept is very complex due to the idea that the concept itself is a collection of opinions; opinions that according to him rather than derive from real descriptions about things, serve instead to justify attitudes and actions that are in turn motivated by fear of others and a desire to attack them. Later he summarizes racism as biological differences (real or imaginary) that advantage the person who defines and employs them to the detriment of an other whos now subjected to that definition, and its function is to justify hostility (social or physical). (Albert Memmi: Racism). With a more extended definition, we understand then that racism is a way to justify incorrect attitudes caused by fear towards someone whos different according to us. It will be a mistake to discuss racism in the U.S.A without mentioning the many subcultures that now are part of its demographics: Asian Americans, Latin Americans, Native Americans and within these, many other subcultures must be taken in consideration.

Probably now more than ever before, the United States cultural diversity is huge and White Americans are experiencing the transition to it. For whatever the reason is (family, education, health, financial, etc.) people from different cultures decides to come to the U.S.A. and that is a fact that is still not completely accepted by SOME North Americans (black, white, any native North American) whos only mechanism of defense to different is racism. There is one common, but still wrong, metaphor that comes from racism: the Melting Pot, which assumes that immigrants and cultural minorities will assimilated by U.S. majority culture and by that, lose their own culture. (Judith N. Martin/Thomas K. Nakayama: Intercultural Communication in Context). Personally, I think that if for some reason we ought to migrate to, or visit a different country or any place that has a different culture than ours, either permanent or temporarily, we must assimilate the idea that we cannot change or adapt this countrys or any other places culture to ours, we cannot assume that people will change the way they behave to how we think they should behave when they are with us because we want it to be that way, this is wrong. In fact, we must prepare and be knowledgeable about the culture we are about to submerge ourselves into, we have to try to understand their values and behaviors and adopt those that are positive, always without forgetting where we come from. The Melting Pot Metaphor is a misconception, most of the people that migrates to the U.S. cannot and will not assimilate its culture at 100%, and proof of this is that those who are born from parents who have migrated to the U.S. adopt their parents culture even if they have never been in their country before. North Americans cannot expect for this to happen, when the do and dont get the reaction or behavior they expect from others, they start noticing and defining those biological differences that provoke fear and lead to a hostile reaction. There are several forms in which racism can be expressed, it can go be by body language, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and in some cases none of these is used, but instead, a polite denial to a human right, privilege or opportunity for no valid reason can also be considered as racism.

The impacts of racism from North Americans to these minorities is very evident; one of the recent and most controversial example of it is the fact that College students are being arrested on graduation day to be deported to their countries. For many of those students leaving this country means leaving his life and everything they have worked for, and to some of them, those graduation diplomas may not even worth anything in their own countries. The States are becoming stricter when it comes to migration laws because of the fast increase of migrants and the methods they use to get to the United States, and the reasons an especially economic situations that motivates people from other countries come to this one are increasing too. Migrants also contribute to the States economy, especially when it comes to agricultural jobs or any other physical work not anyone will take. But as it was before with AfricanAmericans, their wages are much lower than White Americans doing the same job, therefore, their economic status does not go any higher than a low-medium class, and the fact that most of them dont have high level of education or the legal documents required to either study or get better jobs makes it harder to change these conditions. Every cultural minority in the United States has been or is still victim of racism, probably, in cases we have been, if not the one aggravating others, the cause for it to happen. We have probably discriminated someone for the way they look, make fun of another one for the way they eat, talk or for doing something that we dont consider normal for us. Being ignorant to the problems other cultural groups go through can makes us part of the racist culture we proudly state we dont belong to. Not doing anything to stop any discrimination act is also part of being racist, is letting a situation grows and follows its path until it becomes a major problem instead of trying to stop it makes us as guilty as the person whos being hostile. Approaching to these minorities, having an understanding of their background, the reasons for their behavior, their culture and their motivations, can make us empathetic and gives us an ethic lens we otherwise wouldnt get as an outsider of ay culture.

Sometimes our most simple behavior can even fight against our goal of avoiding racism. As an example: when we see a person whos part of a minority culture tries to achieve something that is usually only related to a cultural majority, we tend to label and even talk about it as if it was the biggest mistake of these person, we forget were all the same; during a ladies Figures Skating competition in the 2014 Olympics, a French women with dark skin was competing, I heard a comment saying that Figure Skating is not an black sport; is there really such thing as a white and black sports? Isnt anyone free to do with their lives whatever they want to (as long as they respect others)? If this lady was competing in Figure Skating at an Olympic level is obvious that this sport is not only for light skin people. In other cases, exaggerating some situations only helps to promote labels and stereotyping, even when we honestly and sincerely mean it. This could be when a Latin men/women reaches a high position in the government, o when an African-American achieves something big; we usually make a big deal of it, on how great it is that for the first time ever a black, Latin, Indian (etc.) has achieved something like that. Even when its meant to express how great it is that we are finally seeing those changes, over reacting and constantly reminding everyone how unbelievable the situation is can only reinforce the idea that they couldnt get there and this is probably a once in a lifetime case that youll see. If its true that as one, we cannot make much difference, if everyone take a step and pay attention to work against racism in our everyday life: first, we would most likely be surprised on how many racist situations we experience each day, either as the cause, the victim or an outsider; second, our ethic sense will become stronger and we would act in an ethical way in whatever the context is, finding ways to solve problem with respect for others, not only looking for our own good; and third, once we turn against racism in every possible way, we cant accept those behaviors in others and we take a step forward to become a part of the solution, even if the racist act is not against us. As we all become more aware and exposed to the many cultural changes the United States experiments, we become more comfortable with it, learn how to relate to each other and stop and fight against behaviors that we know are not right; and even though many may

think as Albert Memmi, saying that racism will unfortunately never completely disappear, I am hopeful and think history itself has shown how much we can improve, it will not be easy, and it will take time, but hopefully, one day well talk about racism as we now talk about slavery in the U.S., seeing it as only another mistake made in its history.

REFERENCES:

Winthrop D. Jordan: The White Mans Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States of America. Mary Frances Berry: Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America. Albert Memmi: Racism. Judith N. Martin/ Thomas K. Nakayama: Intercultural Communication in Context

INTERNET SOURCES

Socialist Worker website: http://socialistworker.org/12/06/28/blacks-and-the-greatdepression AgEcon Search: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/14836/1/rr980036.pdf