Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Although I am not an American, I have very close connection with the Black community. This particular group of people has faced prejudice, segregation, and racism. It basically began when Africans sold Africans to the Arabs who sold them to the French who sold to them the English who then brought them over to America as slaves. Most of these slaves where uneducated and came without skills and without any social sophistication which was very prevalent in Europe at that time. As slaves they were not necessary looked at as humans but as property.

“Since slaves were considered property they could be bought and sold at will. This 1835 broadside issued by Thomas Griggs of Charlestown, South Carolina, offers the "highest price for men, women, and children" to be paid in cash” (Hope, G 2001).

Once the idea of slavery was abolished those attitudes did not go away, you can pass a law to change the status, but you cannot pass a law to change the feelings. So it remained, especially in the South where the people were very resentful for the laws, the attitude remained and therefore so did the prejudice. Most, basically assumed that the Blacks were stupid and ignorant because they came from Africa. Whites felt superior against the Blacks and did not want to mingle with them, thus segregation began. Segregation in this case was improper because it was forced, and not by choice, people did flock together not because they wanted to, but they were forced into. Blacks were forced into different schools, forced into different bathrooms, different restaurant, forced onto different buses and different communities.

Racism is when one race decides that they are better because of whatever racial traits they have where other people do not. And of course, the Blacks have undergone this and are still going through.

Personally I was not effected or have participated in any form of discrimination, but been impacted by them indirectly due to associates with the group. Opportunity can change, advancement can be there but emotions and feelings does not necessarily change they are just expressed differently.

Similarly today with the Hispanic, jobs were given to Blacks that nobody wanted. Blacks are not considered management level or seen as executives or business owners. They are seen as laborers, all these had to change but the attitudes still lingered in some parts of the country much more than the others. It derives from having the mental attitude that Blacks are inferior because they are stupid and ignorant, where they are not qualified to hold high position in the corporate world.

Affirmative action was put in place to allow Blacks and other minorities’ opportunities that Whites seem to have.

According to Plous, S. (2003) “Although this statement sounds intuitively plausible, the reality is that color-blind policies often put racial minorities at a disadvantage. For instance, all else being equal, color-blind seniority systems tend to protect White workers against job layoffs, because senior employees are usually White (Ezorsky, 1991). Likewise, color-blind college admissions favor White students because of their earlier educational advantages. Unless preexisting inequities are corrected or otherwise taken into account, color-blind policies do not correct racial injustice -- they reinforce it”.

However, the affirmative action created reversed discrimination which now starting to have a major backlash and is costing minorities the progress they have achieved in the past 30-40 years. People are feeling that they do not have to pay for what their forefathers did and that everybody should have equal opportunities