African American Culture Case

Racism is not a topic that is fresh to the African American culture. [Unfortunately], America faces a racial fracture whose severity is not sufficiently recognized (Brown). Years ago, in the late 1800’s, African Americans struggled to find their place in the world, following the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Considering slavery at that time, had just been abolished. “Several decades after the war, slavery’s demise had not brought about an integrated society” (Burghardt). Some people believe that racism no longer exist. However, there is evidence that supports how very prevalent it is in our society. There are three specific areas of race discrimination; one being in the workplace, second being politics and the third being in our communities.

There are several reasons as to the cause of discrimination in the workplace. “The focus of much of the early civil rights legislation in the USA, was on access discrimination and the ways in which ethnic minorities and women were impeded from entering the workforce” (Joseph). People would like to believe that anyone should be able to walk into their job, and never have to encounter any type of discrimination at all. That, however, is not the case; there is a thing called treatment discrimination. This simply means, one race of people are discriminated against, when it comes to recognizing their hard work. In an article, the authors point out a man by the name of Justin, who is a 40 year old white male that says, “I always work very hard, and the only thing I have ever felt like that held me back was in 1986 involving a promotion between myself and an African-American female, whom I respected a great deal …” (Joseph). Some might be lead to believe that Caucasian men and women feel like they are better deserving of jobs over black men or women. The thing that people tend to overlook is, African American men are always in a position where they have to prove themselves, in order to move to the next level in their career. It is often understood by African American men that, if and when you are promoted, there is in most cases, a reason for it. An African American man by the name of Will who is in his mid-50’s, and a mid-level manager in city government says, “I knew when I was recruited here, that it was all not based on qualifications. Even though I was qualified and knew it, I had to accept that the city was trying to increase its numbers as it relates to managers, and it was a big career move for me. So we both won.” African American men have had years to learn, and adapt to the discriminations that are encountered in the workforce every day.

The idea that discrimination also comes in the form of politics is mind blowing. In fact, the 2008 Presidential election, where Barak Obama was crowned President of the United Sates, proved that white America was not pleased with the decision. With his new role, he received additional disrespect and discrimination than one may have ever witnessed, in the history of America. “Among whites, racial resentment had a powerful impact on vote choice, as the least resentful whites voted heavily for Obama while the most resentful went heavily for McCain” (Phillip A Klinkner). Not one person ever imagined having an African American in office, as leader of the free world. In an effort to diminish the win over John McCain, anything and everything that one could think of, was thrown at President Obama. “Had the impact of racial resentment among whites been at the average for 1988-2004, the white vote for Obama would have been 10.2 percentage points higher. Overall, they indicate that had Obama's race not been a factor, he would have won with a landslide of just over 60% of the vote” (Phillip A Klinkner). Moreover, the influence of ethnocentrism is still unresolved. Most African Americans believe that this holds true, even with race. It was also made clear in 1996, when Colin Powell came forth with the idea of running for President. Because of his lighter skin complexion, “Powell's standing as a victorious general allowed whites to look past his race” (Phillip A